A grieving husband. A body he can no longer control. This week, we revisit Corpus Meum (2006), a gothic machinima horror film made in Lionhead’s The Movies, and discover how an archive playback problem changes the viewing experience.
Phil Rice, Ricky Grove, Tracy Harwood and Damien Valentine explore The Light in the Dust, Part I: Corpus Meum, created by Sherwin Liu, Kate Lee and Lizard3209 aka Decadent Pictures (later becoming Chat Noir Studios). Ricky’s archive pick opens a discussion about grief, possession, fractured identity and the ambition of early machinima filmmakers.
There’s a twist: some of us watched an archive playback consisting of still images, while others found the fully animated WMV. We compare how movement, editing and facial close-ups affect the story, alongside Sherwin Liu’s atmospheric original score, which prompts a comparison with Twin Peaks.
We also discuss the filmmakers’ cited influences - Anne Rice’s The Tale of the Body Thief and Quantum Leap - and ask whether dated game graphics still deliver convincing emotional horror. Plus, Ricky shares his own unexpected Quantum Leap connection.
If you watch the film, look for the fully animated WMV on its Internet Archive page so you can compare the viewing experiences.
Which version did you watch, and did you read the story as supernatural possession, psychological collapse, or something else? Tell us in the comments (and feel free also to comment on Damien's new headgear).
YouTube Version of this Episode
Film link: https://archive.org/details/TheLightInTheDust1 (not on YouTube or Vimeo) - make sure you check the WMV version for the full film!
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