The Sandman (Paul Berry, 1991) 

Mad respect to a single father just trying to feed his kids Lmao

Gorgeous look, music and direction, but... still... the scariest and most cruel short story EVER !!

I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere

This is very specifically based on the details of Hoffmann's dark reworking of a benign folk tale. Superb short. Makes you wish they'd done the whole Hoffmann story. Very sad that Berry died in 2001 at the age of 40; there's real talent here.

No wonder this thing won an oscar truly terrifying.

Sleepless children over their room A light of beam entering their room As the cresent moon floating above the sky A man will come and fly A sprinkle of his magic sand,He will make sure every children will sleep tight And they all going to have a good night But at terrible cost it will be the food of his own children Who knows that this man only was a pair of eyes So that his children will sleep peace and tight Every children who sees a beam of lunar cresent moon All alone and terrified in their room want to sleep or not Parents still don't know the truth,the room is left by their own little ones body, eyeless Sleepless children now they see only is darkness and that is so true The sorrow of their own parents is the joy of the man in the moon His routine will keep repeat as long as he live,unfortunately he never dies So,make sure you will sleep tight and a have a real good night don't let the man sprinkle some sand in your eyes Just keep your eyes shut if your hear a noise don't open your eyes if you don't want to loose it in the hand of the Sandman

Reminds me of coraline

Damn that kids forehead Also that is the cleanest eye removal I've ever seen, professionals look up to this guy

R.I.P. to the genius that was Paul Berry! Thank you for bringing fright and delights to my childhood

easily scarrier than most of the horror films I've seen lately

Count Olaf, the depths you've sank...

This would almost pass for a Tim Burton shot film or Laika.

make sure you watch 9:00... most people click away by then

My fav stopmotion short ever. The way the sandman moved still hunts my dreams.

The Sandman reminds me of Count Olaf.

I've been looking for this animation for years! I watched this when I was little kid (around 5-6) and it fucked up my life forever. Almost 20 years later and I still can't sleep with the door open and I'm terrified of the dark and refuse to open my eyes when it's dark

So dark and one of the best animations I have seen.

When the sandman moved his arms to wake up the kid it sounds very much like when Coraline’s climbing the web in Coraline

A classic, glad it exists online, its timeless.

This is so, SO much better than the other version on RU-vid. This is pretty great. Thank you so much.

The moon is shining through my window now. I'm scared.

He’s just a caring father

This thing traumatized me when I was little.

I would KILL to see Stefan Karl portraying this sandman!!!

saw this on MTV back then.

Anyone else find the mother creepier than the monster?

This is the most fucked up thing ever.

I am sure that this animation is based on the novel of the German writer, E.T.A. Hoffmann. The title is 'Der Sandmann'; „Das ist ein böser Mann, der kommt zu dem Kindern, wenn sie nicht zu Bett gehen wollen und wirft ihnen Händevoll Sand in die Augen, daß sie blutig zum Kopf herausspringen, die wirft er dann in den Sack und trägt sie in den Halbmond zur Atzung für seine Kinderchen; die sitzen dort im Nest und haben krumme Schnäbel, wie die Eulen, damit picken sie der unartigen Menschenkindlein Augen auf.“

Damn is this some real stop motion terror, and to top it off, it looks to be based on the E.T.A. Hoffman short story of 1816.

this is one of my bloody childhood traumas!!!

I watched this in English class a few years ago, and I haven't slept since

I'm ngl, I need me some acylics like the sandman got. I find the noise his fingers do when they wiggle kinda satisfying.

We were forced to watch this video in school ... man I hate school!

Oh my God...I've been searching for this for over twenty fucking years. I saw it as a kid and it scared the ever loving shit out of me!

The kids haircut is the scariest thing of all

teacher made me watch and Now i have to get a pistol with me

Remember watching this as a little kid in school, the ending haunted me. Beautiful work though!

I was not expecting that ending. If I had watched this as a kid this would have haunted me to my grave. Still creepy af.

Saw this shortly after it came out, on public broadcast TV. I'm 38 now. This is the first time seeing it since that one fucking time, and yah. It is pretty firmly engraved on my mind.

Remember, the monster can only take your eyes if you look at him....

why am i watching before bed!

I went on this video and paused right before a second to look at comments... I refuse to press play

"OMUL DIN LUNA"... "OMUL LUNII"; o poveste de adormit copiii :) un OM... tot un OM... OMUL meu? si TU"tu"/ EL"el"? TU"tu"/ EL"el"? TU/ EL "umbra"/ TU/ EL " masca"/ TU/ EL "schinduf" EU"eu" Petrariu Aura (Izaura/ Isaura/ Issaura; IEDERA Hedera helix "I")

Dude why do i keep coming back to this I like alot😂

THANK YOU-I have been looking for this short for years. ( not easy when you don't know the title.)

Great dark animation film! And I love the nod to German Expressionism in the design of the staircases, the bed, and such. Beautifully done!

If there was dialogue in this short film, the title character would be voiced by Tim Curry.

The music is so creepy

It seems most likely this child was blinded my falling down the stairs because the room he is in with is mouther looks normal but the more he hose up the weirder it gets. So the child was getting sleepy fell down the stairs got blinded and his concession created the story we see unfold and he believed it was the sandman who blinded him, the same sandman who was told In stories around this time. ( my opinion of what the heck is going on)

I remember watching this on silent in 2014 when I was 26 and being terrified. The main horror lies in the visuals.

I was watching Alma (the girl in the toy shop) earlier and it got me thinking about this... I remember this short from when I was really young, about 4ish I'd say. As a child, The Sandman was always supposed to help you sleep until I saw this, in early 90's it was once classed as suitable to be viewed by children since it had no dialogue and was only a short story. (Surely 10 minutes wouldn't hurt anyone right? Obviously many didn't agree). I'm 30 now and it's still just as creepy as it was back then. Executed brilliantly! One of the best shorts I've seen. The old classics are always better than the new in my opinion.

Vi esto en locomotion cuando niño, me creó traumas en ese tiempo 🥺

Sandman:I can only take your eyes when you open them and I blow my sand into them blinding you for a bit Me:wears sleep mask throughout the night

I like when the Birdman clicks his elbows!! 😊😯

OH DIOS MIO, MI INFANCIAAAAAAAA este video me lo mostró mi papá cuando tenía 6 años :)

nightmare....especially like you watch alone in middle night like me :/

I showed this to my four year old cousin. I'm a terrible person.

The sandman looks fabulous

In the extended ending, the kid gets his back by using puffs plus with lotion.

I saw this on MTV when I was like 12, sleeping over at a friend's house. It just so happened he lived up on the second story, with a staircase much like the one in this video. It just so happened, there also was a big spooky window by the couch where I was sleeping. My friend was asleep, so I was all alone when this came on, and I don't think I've ever been more spooked in my entire life. Didn't sleep so well!

you know they should make a Creepypasta story of this sandman

This is so awesome!

Master piece of stop motion

One of the darkest, creepiest, and best animations I've seen. One of my favorite animations.

Although brilliant, many thanks to my primary school English teachers for traumatising us with this among others before we were 10

Reminds me of both Tim Burton's "Vincent" & the "Puffs Lotion Plus" tissue commercials. Well, what do you know... Collin Batty worked on The Corpse Bride.

My God!!!!!!

There goes my childhood

Thank goodness I found this. Now I just need to find the original toy story. It was a black and white silent film I believe? My favorite scene is when the toys start ripping each other part in their small asylum from humans. The main boss I remember was a Devil who was burnt alive at the end. Going on memory here to find it. Can't believe I don't remember the name.

Watched this about 6 years ago as part of an illustration course

Good memory of art lessons at school, when i was 11, in France

here because of blameitonjorge & clock man.

I’m gonna tell my kids that this was Freddy Krueger And yes I did watch this in English class!

The kids eyes just got yeeted

I remember watching this with my brother and it scared the shit out of us.

6:23 no me lo olvido mas, me acompaño en toda mi niñez desde "Caloi en su tinta". El final es buenisimo... siempre quise matar a el "arenero"...

If I had seen this as a kid I would have been terrified and traumatized!

I don’t know what the heck my parents were thinking when they showed this to 7 year old little girl (me)?!?! I didn’t sleep for a week cause I was afraid my eyes were gonna get stolen!!

Geez the puffs plus comercials used to be dark!

I love this

Poor Sandman, he needs to feed his babies too !

6:23 Y E E T

So this dude will fuck around to wake you up then if you do take your eyes?

RIP paul berry. You are a great creator.😔❤️🙏

This is how I imagined Clockman was like before it got found

RIP Paul Berry

Watch till after the credits.

Truly disturbing!

Am sure I remeber seeing this on channel 4 as a kid!

Omg.. I’m almost 30 and I can’t remember when I saw this.. but it’s stuck with me since. Even though I’ve tried asking friends about it, I haven’t even able to describe it well to others. All I remember is a little kid losing his eyes and walking around with his hands out because he couldn’t see. But in my head it was much more terrifying than the description I gave. It’s here. I can’t believe it. It wasn’t a dream, it wasn’t me making stuff up.. this is insane. I wonder how old I was when I saw this.. because it’s branded into my brain.

8:35 when your parents catch you eating your 4th bag of shredded cheese

Legend say that kid still looking for his eyes to this day on

I literally watched this in class for english-

I just realized that the kid looks like uncannily similar to those kids from the Puffs commercials.

so can he only take your eyes if you open them? aka if you keep them closed you're safe?

Pause at 1:40 Add some facepaint and try to imagine him as an adult. ... That's Pennywise (2017) as a kid.

The first and last official real Creepypasta

I saw this almost 30 yrs ago, (I was about 21,so not a kid) but tbh thinking back -I wished I hadn't afterwards! 😨 Just been watching a vid about creepy and weird lost media and it reminded me of this. It's still creepy and gruesome, but not as bad as I remembered. That's probably because I knew where the story was heading watching it this time round. Had no idea what it was at the time, in fact, I don't know how we managed at all pre - Internet! Encyclopaedia Brittanica was about all us old people had!😅

Ive noticed references to the sandman in a couple things. Invader Zim, in the commentary the sandman is mention during the best friend episode. The one where the boy gets his eyes ripped out. In the movie the Cell, Carl does the same freaky move out of the shadows like the sandman does before he goes in for the eyes.

The E.T.A. Hoffmann story this is based on manages to get weirder than this part, believe it or not. And it's by the author of "The Nutcracker" - well, the story the ballet is based on but, yes, THAT Nutcracker.