Class of Death by Pavel Soukup

Rybnicka Grammar School has a new tradition – one pupil dies in Miss Zimova's class every year. Is it some kind of morbid coincidence, or are those pupils really cursed? If so, are they cursed by some supernatural power or does human cruelty play a role?

A film that stands between the demonizing children of Village of the Damned and the ominous (but open-ended) situation of Haneke's White Ribbon, Soukup's Class of Death (Třída smrti) uses masterfully the expressionistic techniques to get the feeling of being followed, haunted, and finally left alone.

First-person narration does not make the event less frightening, but instead focuses attention on the masterful play between black-and-white shadows and creatures on the one hand, and terrified children's faces on the other.

The fact that the film is inspired by real events adds an air of inevitability to the cinematic image.

Pavel Soukup is a Czech animator whose previous outings include the morbid but powerful Tumorrow Never Knows.

 CREDITS

Cast: Matouš Ruml

Direction / Graphics: Pavel Soukup / Story / Based on: Josef Blažek / Script: Pavel Soukup, Josef Blažek / Animation: Anna Heribanová, Bára Anna Stejskalová
Music: Daniel Patras / Sound: Dominik Sauer

©2013 Pavel Soukup
©2013 UMPRUM, Studio of Film and TV Graphics
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