Like some kind of lunatic carnival, “Spike & Mike’s Sick & Twisted Festival of Animation” returns to Eugene every year, filling the Bijou Art Cinema screens up with an assorted collection of freaks and geeks. The 2005 edition of the long-running festival is not much different than any of the previous years, though it could be said the level of technical sophistication has risen a notch or two.
For those not familiar with this particular cultural entity, “Spike
& Mike’s” is a national tour of
depraved animated offerings
which revel in the disgusting and
offensive, taking aim at any taboos left standing in our culture and
pulverizing them with glee. Though some of the festival’s shock value has worn off over the years, it still manages to push the right buttons with frequency, managing to be both an argument for and against the rise of animation as a serious art form in the public consciousness.
The collection in this year’s festival continues the trend of diversity “Spike & Mike’s” has been on over the past few years. Computer animation and foreign language entries are given further prominence, though never taking away from the slapdash hand-drawn style that has been the festival’s bread and butter since its inception.
Fans of the festival will be happy to see that most of the mainstays are back, with the perennial Craig McKracken “No Neck Joe” shorts making a particularly deep impression in the skulls of the audience this year. A few “Happy Tree Friends” shorts are here, those cute and fuzzy animals becoming more and more disturbing with each passing year. A excerpt from Bill Plympton’s film “Hair High,” entitled “Krazy Kock,” is one of the best Plymptoons the festival has ever shown, while Don Hertzfeldt’s festival staple “Ah, L’Amour” is as cynical and brilliant as ever.
Some of the new material is also more than worthwhile. Toby Grauberger’s faux video game preview, “Baby Hunter,” rips its target to shreds, while Arthur De Pins’ “The Crab Revolution” is one of the rare festival entries that manages to be a beautiful piece of animation in its own right.
Of course it wouldn’t be a “Spike & Mike’s” fest without a few duds. This year’s low point is Chris Crossland and Ryan Reznick’s “Hippie Juice,” which is as confused as it is pointless. Eric Merola’s “Fly Boy” ain’t no great shakes either, never rising to anything more than a cheesy “Scarface” parody.
But as usual, the good material outweighs the bad. A classic from last year’s festival, “Here Comes Dr. Tran,” is worth any number of one-joke time wasters. Concerning a 5-year-old boy who finds his home invaded by a Hollywood movie preview, the short is one of the best to come out of the festival in years (it’s a shame, however, that they didn’t show animator Breehn Burns’ other classic, “Beyond Grampa 2”).
Now in its 15th year, the festival has celebrated many landmarks. Having jump-started the careers of Mike Judge, Matt Stone, Trey Parker and Eric Fogel, it seems the festival might have nowhere else to go and no new ground to break. But if Spike & Mike can keep up this level of consistency, that really doesn’t matter.

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