The Worm | Animated Horror Story

A psychologist attempts to uncover the mystery behind his teenaged patient's strange behavior and finds more than he bargained for...

CHECK OUT THE PEOPLE WHO HELPED BRING THIS VIDEO TO LIFE:

EARLY CONCEPT EXPLORATION

STORYBOARDS
- Christian Larocque

DESIGNS
- Francesca Falcioni
- Shi Chang
- Melanie Chabot
- Jordan Voth

BACKGROUND ARTISTS
- Jordan Marchand
- Shannon Carty
- Naomi Devenport
- Bonnie Badour
- Robert Lautenschlager

RIGGING
- Nathan Dickey
- Rick Gi

CG CAR
- Russ Klawitter

ANIMATION
- Liane Savioe

- Sarah Connelly
- Stefan Frank
- Natalie Westrup
- Trisha Hartnett
- Rob Zilio
- Jason Kelly
- Colin Hovila
- Alex McGowan
- Chantal Williams
- Heather Wood
- Krystalle-Ann Innes
- Ryan Wright
- Barry Kennedy
- Danielle Hodgson
- Melissa Courville
- Christine Dy
- Kate Hanchuk

FX ANIMATION
- Matt Stewart
- Dany Xenos
- Matthew Timms
- Darren Bird
- Glenn Wright

COMPOSITING
- Chris Goettler
- Vu Nguyen
- Andrzej Neugebauer

EDITING
- Mike Stefanelli

MUSIC

VOICE ACTING
- Erin Scott

SOUND
- Connor B
- Julian Rudd

PRODUCTION MANAGER
- Niya Mirtcheva

[DWHAAD]

A lot of people have been asking questions so I'll just pin this here!

- What is that song on the radio at the beginning?

It's an original song we made for the video. We called it "Thinking It Over" and it was written by my buddy Ryan Carlson who did all the music you hear in "The Worm". He's awesome. Ryan's friend Carmen Elle did the vocals for us.

- Where can I listen to the full song?

Here you go!

- Is the opening sequence a dream?

Yes. It is one of Sparrow's dreams.

- Are you going to make more stories?

Absolutely. It'll probably take a while though. I also have a regular job and animation takes a lot of time and work. I make this stuff because I love doing it, so I'd rather just take my time and be happy with the things that I make than rush out videos just to chase some algorithm or something. This is just for fun.

- What did Sparrow actually do?

What she had to...

[luznoceda]

I was wondering why the animation of this channel was so familiar. It turns out the director of Hilda The Series is behind this channel. He's impressively talented and I wish his channel will reach millions of subs

[doodlebuglet]

“It gets passed on when you tell people about it.”
*Proceeds to tell everyone on the internet*

[lnx]

The second the guy said that he started dreaming about the worm, I immediately went "Oh, it's a Cognito Hazard. Oh no, I'm screwed"

[ProfJamie]

This has two of my absolute favourite horror tropes in it!!

1) Cognito hazard type thing that gets “passed” to the viewer at the end

2) The LITERAL monster is not actually the TRUE monster (while The Worm is indeed terrifying, the psychiatrist is the one who allowed it to escape, infected everyone else with it, and also abused his power to violate a vulnerable patient’s consent and a whole bunch of other malpractice things — The Worm wouldn’t have spread if it wasn’t for him)

This was SO fantastic, the atmosphere and everything else was SO haunting and beautiful and just brought everything together, I just discovered this channel today and these are all so amazing!!! 💕💕

[alexfrancisco]

It's a small (and obvious) detail, but demonstrating the passage of time through the character's hair is brilliant.

[DMCMaster]

I like how the narrator, isn't recounting events to warn people away, as seen in stories like "At the Mountains of Madness", but for selfish reasons, so he doesn't have to deal with it anymore.

I also like how his curiosity, is what helped The Worm to live. Sparrow knew, had the capacity to do awful things, to keep others from spreading The Worm, but also the strength to keep from spreading it herself. What she didn't count on, was a curious doctor, who had the moral flexibility to not only undergo a frowned upon practice for answers, but to spell it all out, in order to free himself. She almost won, if it weren't for him.

[frozenjackal]

I adore the detail of Sparrow's hair returning to it's birth color. You can see a photo of her with it completely dyed, then see it progressively get "pushed" out until the end it's back to normal. The doctor made the complete wrong assumption that she looked healthier and stronger. The parasite may be out of her system, but what it took from her will never be something she will ever get back.

Fucking perfect.

[KyuubiDragon]

"I am sorry for this." Sure you are.

This is fantastic work. I love slow-burn horror like this, it's so much more thoughtful and intriguing than jumpscares and gore. Definitely giving you a sub.

[elizabethk]

This was even better than the first one! I loved how fluid the dream sequences were. The minimal movements during the doctor's narration makes the dreams more jarring.

[Latinriver]

This is so good. The idea that a curse is being passed onto you, the viewer, always ends a slight chill down my spine. Even if I know it’s just a story.

[unicornfishhh]

I love how you used her hair dye to express the passing of time so creative!!

[xkavarsmith]

8:35

I can tell, even as abstract as it was drawn, that poster on the cell wall is the Hang In There Cat.

Which adds to the cuteness of the animation and the horror of the situation. Why would the hospital remind patients that suicide is an option?

[MC-ygmq]

Cool how the song at the beginning talks about sparrow hosting the worm

"In the mist of memories remains, yeah I've had this dream before, I always wanted more"

[mistercrool]

This is one of those 15 to 20 minute videos that makes you positively feel like you’re watching a 90 to 120 minute long film. I’ve been getting interested in indie shorts (live action and animated) lately and this one is definitely going to my list of favourites.

[minecraftpogfam]

Wow, I am blown away at this remarkable short film. The build up to the end, it pulls the whole thing together making me feel more in the story. It left me with goosebumps, not only from feeling uneasy but also how good it was. I just subscribed and can’t wait to see more

[DaisyLefay]

bro this is better than 98% of the stuff hollywood is producing these days

[melanieodhner]

I love how the doctor's moral flexibility and her vulnerable position adds its own layer of horror, and puts a hauntingly relatable twist on the "horror as morality tale" trope.

If you cross people's boundaries for their own good, it turn out well...

But keep in mind, you might just get your brain eaten by a contagious lovecraftian dream worm! 🙃

[keenanhaasbroek]

You understand horror and terror really well, terror is when you understand it and it scares you, horror is when you don't. A monster will terrify you, a concept will horrify you. Very well done.

[Roronoa]

I love this, I usually listen to Reddit horror, because not much of the mainstream horror scares me, and I’ve found out that by having nothing visual, it leaves it to my imagination, and it caters to my personal worst fears, this left just enough to my imagination to be quite chilling. I loved it. As a big fan of Hilda, I adore the animation style and really appreciate the horror film 🫶🫶