SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2026 REVIEW! Creepier than a Hitchcock adaptation of The Hungry Little Caterpillar is the sweetly sinister animated short Hungry Hollow, by writer/director Sarah Ruyle. The forest is full of colors and joy. All the happy woodland creatures are dancing with fairies and mushrooms. Everything is bubbling and alive. This is because there is a very special celebration today in the grove among the trees.
There you will find the unmoving body of a girl sprawled in the grass. All the happy critters are having a huge picnic on her. The mushrooms are busy breaking down the body, while hungry spirits chow down on decomposing flesh. One creature (Philip Walker) shoots the breeze with a fellow feeder (Sarah Ruyle) while they feast. They all laugh, play, and dance while they eat. The partying goes on for days, on top of the corpse of the girl, rotting unfound.
“The partying goes on for days, on top of the corpse of the girl, rotting unfound.”
Animator Ruyle totally rules. You will want to taste every color seen in Hungry Hollow; I can’t wait for a scratch-and-sniff version. The designs are deceptively simplistic and mouthwateringly cute. The details are numerous, with all sorts of surprises to be found, like a psychedelic Where’s Waldo. I swore I spotted a frog wearing a hat with his junk hanging out. Ruyle keeps the tone gleeful to the max, with fun spilling all over the underlying horror. This was the perfect strategy, as the gleefulness makes the whole thing more sinister.
The causal dialogue exchanges between Walker and Ruyle contrast with the presence of the corpse they are feeding upon. Is this an acceptance of the natural way of things? Is this a condemnation of a self-indulgent society ignoring underlying tragedy? I felt both at once and a whole lot more. Hungry Hollow is a truly magical six minutes of tripping without acid. It is f*****g great.
Hungry Hollow screened at the Slamdance Film Festival.
"…a truly magical six minutes of tripping without acid. "
