Thumb Snatchers from the Moon Cocoon

Here's a link to the film:
http://vimeo.com/34316926 

"Death, they say it can kill a man."
-Sheriff Huckiss.

"Thumb Snatchers from the Moon Cocoon" is a stop-motion animation film that is an homage to the b-movie scifi-genre.  In part it is reminiscent of the type of film you might find on the now defunct Mystery Science Theater 3000.  I feel it rounds out nicely our viewing assignments for the week.  "Natives" was a very serious gender/race/sex study where everybody was wrong, so no one was right.  "Anti-Social Network" cleverly warns of the threat of unchecked disengagement that things like Facebook can cause, and "Sniffer" shows us a surreal world (perhaps the future) where there is no gravity and everyone seems to be obsessed with hygiene.  These threes short films are serious, either in tone or subject matter.

While there are some "message" moments in "Thumb Snatchers," it is mostly all about outrageous fun.  One can't help but make some connections between immigration issues in the USA and the "space aliens coming to Earth (Texas)" theme in the film, but it isn't explicitly stated.

These aliens come to Earth (aliens always seem to come to the USA) with the intention of taking our thumbs away as punishment for humanity's brutality and destructive ways.  One alien ship lands in a cow pasture in Texas where they find Sheriff Huckiss exploding a cow into a stack of hamburgers using a hand grenade. The aliens offer him "a long and patronizing origin story," after which Huckiss promptly dispatches them as only a Texas sheriff can.  What follows is a montage of massacre.  Aliens descend on Earth and commence to taking thumbs.  But the bigger part of the massacre is Huckiss on the aliens.  These aliens are no match for him and the short film ends in an outrageously funny testament to the power and force of the good old US of A, and specifically Texas, the details of which I will not give away, but let's just say Sheriff Huckiss (and Texas) comes out on top.  Think Walker, Texas Ranger vs. Space Aliens, animated and profoundly over the top.