The Return of Hiryu The Fire Dragon

When I was eleven, I made a stop motion film called Hiryu The Fire Dragon. It was rough. The monster was a lump of clay stuck to a Bionicle frame, wobbling across my bedroom floor. But that film, as bad as it was, set something in motion. I knew then I wanted to be a filmmaker. Years later, while making KENOPSIA, a cosmic horror short about the end of the world, I found the perfect chance to bring Hiryu back. This time, he wasn’t made of clay. I rebuilt him in Blender as a full CGI model. But I didn’t want to lose the spirit of where he came from. So I animated him the same way I did when I was a kid: frame by frame, limb by limb. It was a callback to the first spark—the moment I realized filmmaking was what I loved. Hiryu may have started as a janky creature feature, but in KENOPSIA, he came full circle.

What I remember about the end of the world is how quiet it was...

Kenopsia is a short cosmic horror film, directed by Cole McCormack and narrated by Billy Rowlands of Woodstock Roadshow, told through fragments—half-memories, still moments, and images that feel like they were left behind. There’s no big explosion, no final battle. Just silence. Just the feeling that something enormous has already happened, and now we’re left trying to understand what it was.

The film draws from the eerie atmosphere of H.P. Lovecraft, the visual language of early Godzilla movies, and the reflective narration style of Terrence Malick. It’s not about destruction in the usual sense but it’s about absence. Empty rooms. Static on a television. A giant creature in the fog that no one is left to witness.

Every shot was designed to feel like a glimpse into something bigger. Some kind of forgotten apocalypse.

If you’re into slow, haunting short films with cosmic horror undertones, if you love quiet kaiju stories or experimental visuals that stick with you, this is for you.

🎥 Shot on location with a blend of stop motion animation and digital composites VFX in Blender
📼 Influences: Godzilla (1954), The Mist, Annihilation, The Call of Cthulhu
🌌 Themes: Isolation, cosmic insignificance, memory, apocalypse

#Kenopsia #KaijuShortFilm #CosmicHorror #Lovecraftian #AnalogHorror #ExperimentalFilm #Godzilla #ShortFilm2025 #EndOfTheWorld

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Видео The Return of Hiryu The Fire Dragon канала Firewood Media