Special Afflictions by Roy Harryhozen

Special Afflictions by Roy Harryhozen combines live action and animation and is a surreal meditation on man’s hopeless relationship with his own consciousness. Bonnie Camplin’s film is inspired by the British horror film of the 1970’s The Mutations (dir Jack Cardiff, 1973) and a homage to the creator of animated special effects Ray Harryhausen. Special Afflictions by Roy Harryhozen presents four hapless sideshow features gossiping about their employer and ‘creator’ Roy Harryhozen who has altered them each with a ‘special effect’ which has gone wrong and left each with an abject temporal affliction. The notions of ‘effect’ and ‘affliction’ have become confused for one person’s (Roy ‘s) ‘vision’ resulting in the wretched condition of his subjects.