The Butcher (lost Nickelodeon puppet short film; existence unconfirmed; 2001)
An animal bone marionette similar to what was described in the short film.
Status: Existence Unconfirmed
The Butcher (name disputed) was a reported puppet live-action short film from the early 2000s, featuring puppets made out of actual animal bones. It was brought to semi-popular attention through a post on the r/tipofmytongue subreddit by user "deaduser00". After describing the film, the National Film Board of Canada, who was partnered with Viacom at the time, began searching their archives for a production code of The Butcher, but found no evidence of the film's existence.[1] Since there is very little evidence of the film, beyond deaduser00 and a few other's recounts, many speculate the film to be either a made-up hoax, a false memory, or a simple confusion with another movie or show such as Odokuro[2] or Courage the Cowardly Dog.[3]
Description
According to deaduser00's recount, The Butcher, as they believe it was named, was a short film that aired sometime on Nickelodeon between 2001 and 2004. It was reportedly much darker than many of the other short films at the time, such as Strange Invaders.[4] The intro showed the title card in white with a black background, and the film itself was entirely in black and white. The detail that caught the most attention from deaduser00, however, was that the puppets used in the film appeared to be made of actual animal bones, such as cats, dogs, birds and rabbits. There was also a pair of human hands holding a butcher's knife, who would chop up the animal puppets. Additionally, there were reportedly scenes of animals inside glass containers, and one scene in particular where the animals fuse together to create "an abomination". The film also contained no dialogue, only ambient music and sound effects.
According to a followup post on Reddit,[5] deaduser00 has said that he believes the short film Butchers Hook by Simon Pummell might be the movie in question, aside from a few missing or different details from the original description. deaduser00 is also unsure if this film aired on Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network.
Gallery
External Link
- National Film Board of Canada's official website. Retrieved 21 Jun '20
References
- ↑ r/tipofmytoungue subreddit page where the film's existence was first mentioned. Retrieved 21 Jun '20
- ↑ YouTube upload of Odokuro. Retrieved 21 Jun '20
- ↑ YouTube clip of the Courage the Cowardly Dog episode "The Great Fusilli". Retrieved 21 Jun '20
- ↑ YouTube upload of Strange Invaders. Retrieved 21 Jun '20
- ↑ Another r/tipofmytoungue subreddit page about the film's existence. Retrieved 21 Jun '20