DbcultAccessing Vault...
5.6/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 5.6/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Pin Feathers remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have an itch for early animation that feels a bit rough around the edges, sure. It’s snappy, short, and doesn't overstay its welcome. If you need a coherent story or characters you can actually care about, you should probably skip this and go watch Nosferatu instead for something with a bit more... gloom.
The whole thing feels like a fever dream of squawking. Walter Lantz definitely had a specific kind of rhythm in mind, and it is exhausting. You can tell they were just throwing ideas at the wall to see what would stick. Some of it lands, but most of it just bounces off.
There is a sequence where a bird tries to take flight, and the animation gets so frantic I thought my screen was lagging. It is not, though. That is just how these things were drawn back then. It’s jittery in a way that modern stuff just isn't anymore.
It’s not trying to be high art, which is kind of refreshing. It’s just a bunch of drawings moving fast. Sometimes that’s enough. When you compare it to something like The Dark Angel, you realize just how far apart these genres were pulling the audience at the time.
I don't think I'll ever watch it again, but I'm not mad I saw it. It’s like finding a weird old postcard in a used book. Neat, but mostly just confusing. Did they really think that joke was funny? Probably. Or they were just tired. We've all been there.