Stille Nacht I: Dramolet (1988)

Good movie but grossly overrated

Absolutely Brilliant!

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

"Stille Nacht I" is an American (very) short movie with a runtime of only one minute. It is black-and-white and was shot by the Quay Twins (among America's most famous animators in the first half of the 20th century) as the first of so far five entries to their "Silent Night" short film series. We see creepy dolls, spoons and just feel a general aura of discomfort. The creepy music certainly helps the overall picture. However, I was not scared once and this should usually be the goal of a horror film. It was just strange and weird somehow. All in all, I would not recommend this and I really hope that the next entries to this series will be superior to this forgettable one here.

This is the kind of short that I could see several times, and it never fails to impress me: In only a minute, and without any dialogue, this fascinating short directed by the Quay Brothers ("Street of Crocodiles") has not only a wonderful, dream-like atmosphere and a magnificent visual style, but also posses a unique sense of beauty and lyricism that is hard to find in any other kind of film, even in those movies that try to hard to be "poetical" and "subjetive".However, this manages to work incredibly well, turning the whimsical qualities of the dreams into stop-motion animation. I think that if this short were made in live-action, it just won't have the same effect.

This short is utterly delightful. There's not much to it in terms of what is available to be seen and commented on, but there is a lot to it in terms of what was done and how. Instead of flecking their sets with dust and hair, the brothers Quay place a magnet in a field and let the magnet play with all the little magnetic fragments. It's creepy... but it's fun! I honestly don't know what to make of the babydoll that watches the whole thing, eventually to turn and attempt to eat a meal, but it doesn't make me want to eat anything anytime soon! I think this is more something the brothers have done in order to experiment with something they haven't yet put into a longer film, but wanted to do regardless.--PolarisDiB

This movie comes straight out of your worst nightmares. I remember watching it when I was 13 years old; I had a fever and was staying at home. I could not forget this film until 16 years later, when I finally found who did it (and got the DVD).There's no plot whatsoever in this movie - I guess that's what makes it so special. As every other film by the Brothers Quay, this is a disjointed trip into someone's imagination. The best description I can find of it is that it's the closest thing I've ever seen to a dream - no wonder I thought for a while this movie didn't exist, and that I had dreamed it!The only thing going against it is that it's just too short - it was ideal for MTV, circa 1988, but it definitely leaves you expecting something more out of it.