Indie Animation Review - Mandelbrot Hall

Hello and welcome to our first indie review! I've been growing Cut the Mustard's industry footprint in the indie space for a while, and it's honestly been a breath of fresh air – the corporate world is amazing and fulfilling, but we've always been a small team in a big ocean. Collaborating with other independent studios has led to a feeling of camaraderie, community and like there are others who share our desires to make original stories on a large scale.

So I'm beginning our indie animation reviews with a big one - the pilot for Mandelbrot Hall. Created by Studio Flimpo, who are kind of like if Cut the Mustard possessed American charm, confidence and camera presence. As an animation studio based out of a basement (much like we were in the dark days - I won't elaborate) I've always had a soft spot for the studio, their story and their underdog spirit. Going from graduates to indie darlings has been a really fun journey to be a part of, and I'm really happy to see Flimpo be a poster boy for success in a difficult age.

But - my warm feelings aside - is their pilot episode good? Let's put our objective hat on and talk about what I like, what I don't like, and what I see for the future of this IP.

Spineless art student Jackie's first semester curdles into cosmic horror as people, places, and concepts begin to vanish from reality. She alone shoulders the memory of all that's been lost.

Initial feelings - yes, this pilot is a home run!

In truth, for the first few minutes I was a little worried. Indie animation has a reputation for too many sound effects or for its overly zany, colourful, random characters who quip a mile-a-minute. Obviously I've covered these issues before on the blog, and it can often give indie animation a sort of 'band kid' energy that may put off those who aren't younger or clinically online. This all stems from the need to fit as much in as possible into a pilot so it can carry the weight of the story and/or be chopped up into as many clips as possible. Indie animation has to justify every second so the worst offenders have no time to breathe before the next bit hits you. It's a completely natural thing too - when your fans have paid for every second of screentime, it's really difficult to justify not filling it to the brim with active stuff.

I digress – this doubt begins with the character of Jimmy, a clowncore RA of protagonist Jackie's student accommodation (by the way, voiced by Weird Al! Crazy), who certainly isn't out of place at an arts school but a character who immediately makes me think Amazing Digital Circus, FNAF or any well-trodden clowncore trope in the last decade. On a younger audience this will be fine, but for my cold, black heart, I was worried this had been mislabelled as a horror, and I was going in with the wrong mindset.

We love you really, Jimmy.

The pilot immediately proved me wrong in the best possible ways. Like a plane taking off or a bike losing its stabilisers, Mandelbrot Hall slowly let go of any similarities to other indie shows and forges its own path. Equal parts cosmic horror and slice of life, I found this story hyper-focused on theme in the best ways. Jackie is a really solid protagonist to root for. As I was once an anxious art student who knew no one in my new home, I feel that isolation and paranoia she feels, which only escalate as it goes on.

In the end, Mandelbrot Hall ends up being equal parts 'Stranger Things', 'Last Night in Soho' and 'Backrooms', which is a combination of genres made just for me, honestly. The central SCP of it all, with people erased from time and memory is a really solid way to turn an everyday setting into the prime location for Jackie's own personal nightmare. The difference between a good story and a great one, IMO, is how the characters and the story react to one another. A good story has a central mystery and recognisable characters, whilst a great one has the cast and the central plot work in tandem to push the story forward. From the beautiful stop-motion sequence by Apartment D Films to Iris' reserved doubt, the series is able to flesh out a unique cast whilst also having each character push Jackie over the edge unknowingly.

Overall, Mandelbrot Hall is a really impressive pilot. I'm genuinely most impressed by its restraint. It screams confidence. The usual approach with indie is to plant as many threads as possible. Lore, exposition, history and teases of the other world in the laundry room. I was really surprised that by the end of the pilot we barely know anything about that world, what it is or what the grand mystery is leading to. For a smaller team, this may not be enough to carry a fanbase through the large content drought into episode two, but with Flimpo's impressive audience size, they can take bigger swings and let people sit with not knowing.

I do think Mandlebrot Hall will be able to pass the biggest indie hurdle - getting more episodes crowdfunded. I wonder if, instead of committing to another 20-minute episode, they'd be best suited to (which will take them less time than before but still a while) keeping Jackie's story moving along by splitting that into five- or ten-minute episodes. Now the groundwork has been laid; the next phase is expanding that journey without losing audience interest.

I do think this show has the potential to go traditional too. With a clean, professional pilot, a network may pick this up to series, which would be the best possible route to tell this story with the detail it deserves, and the next step for studio-that-could, Flimpo. Whilst the style is quite simple, it reminds me of 'DeadEnd: Paranormal Park', a fellow show with queer characters, a colourful style and a spooky tone. While DeadEnd was sadly cancelled, MH has the advantage in the sheer dark places it could go. That, plus the mixed-media art style, means they can expand into some interesting places visually and do some really ambitious horror. The Coraline-esque portal is really intriguing, and with mixed-media rising in popularity post-AI, this is the direction to embrace going forward. The only thing that was obvious as not studio level to me was that Jackie vocalises a lot, maybe too much, for a western animated show. Obviously she's anxious and going through it, but not every single emotion needs a corresponding sound – let facial expressions do the work sometimes. Still, small potatoes in the grand scheme of things!

I'm not in the game of doing ratings or stars or whatnot, but know I had a solid time with this pilot. The plot did such a good job building paranoia that I was like Jackie in missing Jimmy by the end. After everything I said at the beginning, I found myself feet off the ground, looking down for some indie animation familiarity to ground me. Just like that, Flimpo's premise worked – taking me from familiar to the unfamiliar, just like Jackie.