Chris Higgins
Creepy Animated Short “Alma” Online Now
by Chris Higgins - December 23, 2009 - 2:04 PM

Here’s a short animated film done by former Pixar artist Rodrigo Blaas, available for a “limited time” at Christmas. I’m not sure why he decided to make this available at Christmas — it is winter-themed, but not exactly uplifting. You can watch it in HD here or just click the video below to see it in pretty-good quality. It’s actually surprisingly creepy — involving dolls that move and a generally distressing combination of live action and doll action. Watching it in HD, fullscreen gives the best effect.

Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.

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Comments (16)

  1. i’ll never touch a doll again.

    posted by grace on 12-23-2009 at 3:01 pm

  2. That was creepy. I don’t like dolls anyway, especially ones with realistic eyes.

    posted by Dave on 12-23-2009 at 3:05 pm

  3. Once again MentalFloss as made me make another note to self!!!

    posted by Jennifer on 12-23-2009 at 3:32 pm

  4. If I’d seen that as a kid, I’d have nightmares forever… I might anyway. One can only hope that Alma was a super naughty brat (or something)… ;)

    posted by ann on 12-23-2009 at 3:48 pm

  5. I was always afraid that dolls would come to life. Thanks for the nightmares!!

    posted by Christina on 12-23-2009 at 4:04 pm

  6. Ditto, grace.

    posted by Bethany on 12-23-2009 at 6:28 pm

  7. “Alma” is Spanish for soul. The doll stole her soul!

    posted by Amanda on 12-23-2009 at 7:34 pm

  8. Whoa! Very twilight zone-esque. Also, mad props to the foley artists – the sounds were amazing! (As was everything else)

    posted by swss on 12-23-2009 at 8:17 pm

  9. That’s right, Amanda! I hadn’t thought of the meaning of “Alma”. Beautiful and haunting.

    posted by Shaia on 12-23-2009 at 10:11 pm

  10. That was pretty wild. Did not see that ending coming. Great short!

    posted by Lina on 12-23-2009 at 11:38 pm

  11. It was like a Cartoon Twilight Zone. Loved it.

    posted by Sue on 12-24-2009 at 8:54 am

  12. Watched this twice now and I have so many questions!

    Are all the dolls children from over the years? Some don’t move their eyes, and there’s at least one teddy bear in there.

    Is the evil smiling doll in front the one who’s in charge of all this?

    Does writing your name on the wall pretty much condemn you, i.e., does it start the bait of the doll in the window?

    Will a little red-haired girl in a red flowered dress be next? She’s not outside to take the bait.

    If the boy on the bike doll had gone out the door, would he have turned back into a little boy?

    Maybe I’m thinking too hard about this…but I think I need answers for the cartoon that will haunt my nightmares tonight!

    posted by MarMar on 12-24-2009 at 1:09 pm

  13. ^^^
    Yea…. you are thinking waaaaay to much into it.

    It was a great short that was made to show off the artists involved skills. The sound was on point, the animation was SUPER clean especially in HD.

    It was a good little film. If it was turned into a “Coraline- esque” movie, Id definetly see it.

    But good things should be left how they are.
    Good one.

    posted by Chrystani on 12-25-2009 at 1:22 am

  14. It reminds me of the game, The 7th Guest, at least the into to the game anyway.

    posted by Paul G. on 12-25-2009 at 3:20 am

  15. What a wonderfully creative video. I love how the people that have been involved with Pixar know how to tell a story without any dialogue. And I don’t think the doll stole her soul, but rather the \shop\ stole it, and looked very happy yet evil at the end.

    posted by Eric on 12-27-2009 at 5:09 pm

  16. I adore the sounds. especially her walking on the tile. creepy but awesome little short! id watch it if it were made into a movie for sure

    posted by Ashley on 8-24-2011 at 1:26 am

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