Well worth a read (claymation article)...

I came across this article on www.fastcocreate.com - it's a piece about claymation animator Lee Hardcastle (one of my "Stuff I Dig" links down there on the right of this blog), and it's well worth reading.

Hardcastle is the demented genius behind the likes of Pingu's The Thing, Claycat's The Raid, and Chainsaw Babe 3D. If you're not familiar with his fantastically graphic claymations (he's currently animating a version of Evil Dead II, which I'm eagerly awaiting), then head over to his website or YouTube and get watching!

He's also made a bunch of excellent 60 second shorts based on real movies - below are my favourite two of these:

"Pingu's The Thing" - Lee Hardcastle claymation...

UPDATE: Click here to view the re-upload on YouTube.

What with my review, and twenty-point gripe-list, for the 2011 version of The Thing, it was a nice little co-incidence that Lee Hardcastle's latest YouTube video was his take on the 1982 version of The Thing.

If you're not familiar with Lee Hardcastle's clay animations, then you're in for a treat. I first discovered his work through Edgar Wright's blog when he was in-competition with "The Evil Dead in 60 Seconds" - it was an excellent, gore-filled clay animation, and from that point on I was hooked.

The above video is his latest - a typically humorous combination of Pingu (a claymation childhood favourite) and John Carpenter's 1982 sci-fi chiller The Thing.

Check out Lee Hardcastle's website HERE and view many more of his fantastically gory claymations on his YouTube Channel.