Macabre Manor

Macabre Manor is a 2001 horror brickfilm by Jared Gilbert. It is about a man who is paid to explore in a haunted manor. Two versions of the film exist, as the original version being shot with the LEGO Studios camera was not finished due to poor quality, and the project was restarted with a new camera.

Plot
A man is given a sum of money to go explore a large manor, and goes to get his car. As the payer walks away, a dark figure appears and throws a knife at him, and he is turned into a tree. When the man in the car arrives at the manor, he finds the door locked, so heads around to hop in through the window.

The man explores around the manor, and decorations begin to move around. The dark figure materializes in an altar room, and reports back to a skeleton. The man finds a room with a Goliath, and runs in fear. The Goliath kills a cat. The man arrives in the altar room, and the dark figure appears and captures him. The man is sacrificed on the altar.

Production
Jared Gilbert had felt there were not enough horror brickfilms, and he was inspired in part by The Thing by Andy Thornbery and Doctor Death by Klaus "Bob Bongo" Wagner. Macabre Manor entered production while Gilbert was still filming with the LEGO Studios camera. He later decided that he wanted the quality that other people were getting with better cameras, and stopped production. In early 2002, he released the amount he did film with the LEGO Studios camera, and this was the first brickfilm he had shared online.

After acquiring a Sony MiniDV camera, Gilbert completely restarted the project. The new version of the film was submitted as a final project for his Advanced Digital Media class. The film was premiered on July 20, 2002 as part of the BrickFest 2002 Animation Festival Competition. It was shared online on August 1.