Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness is a 1994 surreal comedy brickfilm by Andy Boyer and Dave Lennie. It is (at least partially) based on the story of its namesake, the novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. It is the third main installment in the Biff and Mario series and was the last for 8 years, until Taco Trouble in 2003.

Plot
"I was trying to write overly complicated stories just for the sake of complexity. “Heart of Darkness” was a combination of “Dune,” Star Wars,” “Blue Velvet,” and “Apocalype Now” with some incest thrown in. It’s a mess."

- Andy Boyer

The plot of Heart of Darkness is complicated, fractured and surreal. It includes many seemingly unrelated plot lines and continuously introduces new characters, some of whom seemingly have no real purpose. It was summed up eight years later in a tongue-in-cheek explanation in the Taco Trouble release thread thusly: "Heart of Darkness is an unsettling glimpse into the warped psyche of Mario Strativarius. In a fever dream, Mario's personality fractures into a gaggle of troubled souls: Bobby and Sally, siblings who represent Mario's lost childhood; Paul and his mother, a sad reflection of Mario's own maternal guilt; the giant worm, a gross abstraction of Mario's impotence; Mr. Death, mortality in the flesh; the mysterious Black Knight, who embodies Mario's desire for the power to control his future; and Biff and Mario themselves, the yin and yang of Life itself. The film is a meditation on love, disappointment, and failure. In the end, Mario is still unfulfilled as his world crumbles around him and his soul drifts away down the Eternal River."

- Andy Boyer

Cast

 * Dave Lennie
 * Andy Boyer
 * Jeff Laird
 * Kari Smith-Boyer
 * Shelley Fritz
 * Heather Matanock
 * Mike Fritz
 * Hank Hughes
 * Matte Edens
 * Chad Dillefeld
 * Mike Morrison
 * M. Strauss
 * D. Bisby

Crew

 * Andy Boyer - Writer, Director, Producer, Animator
 * Dave Lennie - Producer, Animator

Production
Heart of Darkness was animated mostly by Andy Boyer during the summer of 1990, but the audio and editing were not completed until 1995. After TE, it is the second film by Boyer and Lennie to approach half an hour in length and, after completing it, the pair decided to never make a film as long and complicated again.