Homunculus

Directed by Ayesha Walker

2025

A jaunty upbeat keyboard riff opens Homunculus, a new short from Ayesha Walker that imagines an intriguing world of model dioramas.

For those not in the know, a diorama is usually a small 3-d scene made with models, and here the filmmakers have used toy figurines to represent a number of surreal environments.

Rather than create a smaller-scale environment of our world, the miniature models of people are cleverly arranged with larger real-life items to create warped dreamlike images.

A man climbs a ladder up to a chess piece, making the Rook model look huge whilst a model of a ‘sweet’ couple on a bench appropriately sits atop a tasty-looking glazed doughnut, and another shows a scooter riding down a guitar fretboard.

But the whimsical little compositions are suddenly interrupted with a flash of blood - looking like jam given some of the food-oriented connections made so far. Yet we just as quick return to a genteel moment where a few figurines watch a film at the “cinema”.

One of the highlights of the short is definitely the sound. The film was nominated for Best Sound at the Midlands Movies Awards 2025 for Josh King, Ayesha Walker and Luke Brightmore. And together they edit in real-life sounds like crowds, birds, engine sounds and much more to add realism to these bizarre arrangements.

Sometimes the sound is of the “fake” scenario and other times includes audio of an actual dice or clinking ice cubes we see in the shot. It excellently mixes the diegetic and non-diegetic sound with an appropriate music soundtrack that changes tone in a heartbeat.

And oh boy does the tone sure shift. Away from these model-village moments, the music glitches and we see what looks like real handheld footage of someone stalking a woman at a window before the model scenes themselves break down as little people burn - and, of course, with added screams.

As we head to its (intense) finale in just two and a half minutes, the film pulls a LEGO Movie twist revealing a real-world outside of the model illusions. Is this a dream? Who is creating these twisted little creations?

Well, The LEGO Movie this isn’t and a far more horrific and frightful premise is hinted upon - possibly involving an abductor who enjoys both chaos and control. But I won;t spoil any more here.

There’s also an influence of French film A Town Called Panic (2009) too. And although that movie uses stop-motion animation to make its tiny models move, the same dark undercurrent of black humour is present in Homunculus.

With dramatic switches in direction, Homunculus may be quite experimental for some as it takes a few huge swings, moving from a jolly picnic tone to hints of homicidal manipulation. Oh yes.

But its messed up horrors contain more themes, ideas and great sound in its limited runtime than many longer films, making it a very curious but satisfying slice of model mayhem.

★★★★

4 / 5

Michael Sales

X @midlandsmovies