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5.4/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 5.4/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Bosko's Knight-Mare remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Should you watch Bosko's Knight-Mare today? If you’re a fan of vintage animation or just want to see how much of a fever dream these early cartoons really were, sure. It’s short, it’s bouncy, and it’s completely unhinged.
If you need a coherent story or characters that make sense for more than five seconds, you will probably hate it. It moves at the speed of a caffeinated squirrel. 🐿️
There is this moment where Bosko is just riding his horse—which is really just a broomstick or something equally silly—and the sheer plasticity of his body is wild. The way he stretches like taffy makes me wonder if the animators were just testing how far they could push the human form before it snapped.
It’s nowhere near as polished as The Manxman, obviously. But then again, nobody is expecting a dark drama here. It’s just Bosko being a goober.
The pacing is a total mess, but that’s the charm. It feels like someone was just doodling on the screen and decided to add sound effects later. Some of those sound effects, by the way? They sound like kitchen appliances dying. 🍳
I found myself staring at the background art. It’s so sparse. Sometimes the characters are just floating on a beige void. It reminds me a bit of the blank, uncomfortable energy in The Vagrant, though for totally different reasons.
The damsel-in-distress thing is played so straight it’s almost funny. It’s not deep, it’s not smart, it just is.
Anyway, I probably wouldn't watch it twice. But for a seven-minute break from reality? It does the trick. Just don’t try to analyze the plot too hard. There isn't one.