Pica Towers is dark.

It's dark, dirty and windy. It's a black and white nightmare world of savage cruelty, tales of mystery and horror in the Apartment Building from Hell, where the characters are doing unspeakable things to one another.

So, why is it so appealing?

Appealing not in the Family Fun Hour sense, nor the Saturday Morning Cartoon sense, but oddly shocking and funny at the same time in the darkly humourous fashion of a Terry Gilliam movie; some violent crossbreed of Brazil and an animated Toaster Pastry commercial.

As a Terry Gilliam fan, that kind of humour appeals to me greatly, as I'm sure it does to director Marc Craste. Marc and his band of animators at Studio aka did these little films in and around their work schedule, between assignments, and after work.

I have it on good authourity that another longer film from the world of Pica Towers, "JO JO IN THE STARS", is on its way. While you wait for it to arrive, pop over to the Studio aka website and have a look at some Picas, and then think on this in the darkest recesses of your mind: Where is Marc going to take us next?

"Pica Towers came about partly as a reaction to 15 years of making commercials. 'The Good News', 'Hound of Flesh' and 'Pizza Sangre' were made back to back (waaaay before Peter Jackson got the idea), and released on the studio's website. There were no commercial considerations. The films were black and white - hurray! They had really long shots for no other reason than they looked pretty and I wanted to look at them for a long time. And some talented people rose to the challenge of creating suspense and fear in characters whose range of facial expressions didn't stray far from bewilderment.

As the films progressed, the faint outline of a larger story emerged. I could see myself making another ninety of these 1 minute films, and then joining them all up to create a blood-soaked feature, until I was reminded that someone (Studio aka) was footing the bill for all this.

But it seemed a shame to leave it there, when we were just getting warmed up, and perhaps because of the violent nature of the films, the studio seemed eager to indulge me in anything that would prevent me becoming too agitated. So they agreed to finance a ten minute film (well, six at the time), featuring the same characters, the same settings, but without a single murder.

Inspired by a wonderfully melancholic piece of music by Austrian outfit 'Die Knodel', Jo Jo in the Stars eventually emerged.

Jo Jo is a love story. (...not only would it be free of murder, it would be about lurve! EEEEUGH!) It takes place in the basement of Pica Towers, and stars Madame Pica, the well-loved dominatrix from 'The Good News'. For her debut in her first film over a minute long, she's sporting a nice set of rabbit ears - as are all the picas in Jo Jo.

Jo Jo in the Stars has all the elements needed for a classic tearjerker; freak shows, underground dungeons, pointy bras…its all there. It stars Madame Pica, Jo Jo the silver-plated trapeze artist, the nameless hero who worships her, and a cast of hundreds of identical looking picas…"

       --Marc Craste, August 2003