About The Creature

“Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.”
― Cesar A. Cruz

Join me in my
Deadly Wonderland

Electric Press Kit

Best Animation – Colaiste Dhulaigh Film Screening Awards 2025

Logline

After being ushered by his friend, a young boy must enter the haunted attraction where he unwillingly discovers a gruesome secret that slowly spreads throughout the town…

Synopsis

Luka scoffs as he reads the message from his jokester friend, rushing him to come to the haunted attraction. Being half convinced that this is a prank, he challenges himself and heads to the supposed haunted place. Unbeknownst to him, a mysterious host awaits his arrival and leads Luka to their playground, and ultimately to his demise..

Director Statement

This short film was produced as the final year project for BA in Animation at Colaiste Dhulaigh Dublin, and created using Procreate, ToonBoom Harmony and After Effects.Highly inspired by survival horror games such as Silent Hill and Resident Evil, this film aims to express a sense of dread and foreboding, with special emphasis taken to create an atmospheric and unsettling tone. The story came about with my fascination of Frankenstein’s monster and other ways to create such creatures through human experimentation or genetic manipulation. What kind of person would do such a thing, and for what reason? Join them in their deadly wonderland to (hopefully) find out!The sound design and mixing was achieved by piecing together royalty free music and sound effects from Pixabay, while the voice acting was provided by Paddy C. Courtney.

Director Biography

Xion is a recent animation graduate based in Ireland, originally from Hong Kong. Having grown up in the countryside, feeling isolated and detached has been the norm for them, and as a result they have developed a unique and unusual view on the world. Their inner subconsciousness is a great inspiration for them, having an innate attraction to dark aesthetics that may be unsettling for others. Mostly self-taught from a young age, they are largely passionate with traditional media and expressing emotions through art.When not drawing, you can find Xion immersing themselves in the world of fiction and their subconsciousness; playing video games, watching anime, reading comics, and brooding.

Specifications

Distorted and Disordered

Electric Press Kit

Best Animation – Dublin International Film Festival 2025
Official Selection – Lift-Off First-Time Filmmaker Sessions Film Festival 2025, UK
Official Selection – Wolverhampton Screen Awards 2025, UK
Official Selection – Student Cuts Film Festival 2025, Slovenia
Official Selection – Dublin International Film Festival 2025
Official Selection – Animation Dingle 2025, Ireland
Official Selection – Damnation, 2024, Ireland
Best Animation – Colaiste Dhulaigh Film Screening Awards 2024

Logline

A chronic insomniac tries to sleep but experiences their inner emotions manifested while struggling to separate delusion from reality, yet again.

Synopsis

Can't sleep... How many hours, days, months has passed by?
With time escaping from their grasp, reality begins to warp with their subconsciousness. Once again, they are inevitably troubled by their lingering thoughts, resurfaced wounds, ruminating about past and present traumas that haunt them even to this day. Questioning everything, they succumb to their subconsciousness and their world is consumed.
Is everything just a figment of their imagination? Is anything real at all? And thus, the boundaries between dreams and reality begin to blur as the flow of time is askew. Where is the end, and where is the beginning?Inspired by personal experiences, this piece documents the events during one of many sleepless nights, where there are no limits to the subconsciousness.

Director Statement

This short film was made for my 3rd year major project as part of the HND2 course in Coláiste Dhúlaigh. The piece expresses a sense of detachment from reality and the self, stemming from personal experiences.Through this abstract story, I depict some of the many struggles living with mental disorders and chronic insomnia, along with the trauma and pain that consumes one on a daily basis, their descent into madness, how they choose to deal with their chaos, and eventually succumbing to negative energy altogether.Ultimately, I wanted to highlight how real mental illnesses are. I try to portray how this can affect someone massively, how a simple everyday act such as going to bed can spiral into something bigger and lead them astray, losing their grip on reality.For some, this madness is a never-ending loop, depicted at the ending; Are they finally able to get a good night's sleep? Or do they give in and inevitably succumb to their distorted and disordered mind?

Director Biography

Xion is a recent animation graduate based in Ireland, originally from Hong Kong. Having grown up in the countryside, feeling isolated and detached has been the norm for them, and as a result they have developed a unique and unusual view on the world. Their inner subconsciousness is a great inspiration for them, having an innate attraction to dark aesthetics that may be unsettling for others. Mostly self-taught from a young age, they are largely passionate with traditional media and expressing emotions through art.When not drawing, you can find Xion immersing themselves in the world of fiction and their subconsciousness; playing video games, watching anime, reading comics, and brooding.

Specifications