Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining has been reimagined many times—as a feel-good family film, by anthropomorphised fruit, and perhaps most famously by The Simpsons.
But The Chickening, which is an official selection for this year’s Sundance Film Festival, might be the most, well, imaginative reimagining of all.
According to their official website, the video’s creators Nick DenBoer and Davy Force, say they’ve created a whole new genre that they’re calling “Cinegraffiti.”
The Chickening is the first of its kind in remixed, augmented cinema. It is a theatrical trailer for a fictional film in which Stanley Kubrick’s classic film The Shining has been artfully transformed into a new, poultryinfused comedy adventure by digitally altering the film to create a new narrative. This new style of filmmaking is a hilarious collision of classic films with modern day visual effects; “Cinegraffiti” — the ultimate neonostalgic visual feast for this digital age.
It’s certainly eye-catching, and, in its own bizarre way, as terrifying as the original.
DeBoer, who has also made comedy videos for Conan, told the Poke that the video was created as demonstration for an actual television show they are pitching to Warner Bros.
We were shooting for 22 minute episode format where every episode is a different classic film, remixed into a new, short story. Davy Force and I worked on it for about 9 to 10 weeks back in March of last year. It caught the eye of a festival programmer at TIFF which dominoed into a festival run of over 30 fests around the world.
But could DeBoer and Force really sustain the manic energy seen in this video for a full 22-minute show? We’d like to find out.
Oh and if you’re like half the commenters on YouTube, you’re wondering where you can get your hands on that song. It’s a mere 57 seconds long, and you can pick it up on SoundCloud. It’s listed under “easy listening.”
H/T The Poke | Screengrab via Nick DenBoer/YouTube