Blood Tea and Red String is a 2006 Stop Motion animated film directed and written by Christiane Cegavske.
The story begins with the White Mice commissioning the Creatures Who Dwell Under the Oak to create a doll for them. The Creatures work tirelessly in their craft but over time they ended up becoming attached to the doll and are reluctant to let her go, even giving back their payment when the mice finally arrived. Not one to be refused, the White Mice snatch the doll for themselves in the dead of night. Distraught, three of the Creatures set off to take back their beloved doll.
While the Creatures brave the lands and risk their lives, however, the White Mice live comfortably in their abode with their prize as they get drunk on blood tea and descend further into hedonism. Over time, they would find out why the doll is so important to them.
This film provides examples of:
- Aristocrats Are Evil: The White Mice end up stealing the doll for themselves and setting the Creatures on a path to take it back. They're much more unscrupulous compared to the Creatures.
- Beast with a Human Face: The spider the Creatures encounter while traveling to recover their doll. The bird that bursts out of the doll itself also counts.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- The creatures stuff an egg inside of the doll. It eventually hatches and leaves the White Mice's clutches.
- One of the Creatures snags a hallucinogenic yellow fruit within their belongings. It's thankfully something the doll-faced spider is willing to trade the bird over.
- Chest Burster: A doll-faced bird rips itself out of the doll while the White Mice are busy partying and flies out the window. While the doll itself is obviously not alive and came from the egg, the way the scene is framed gives this impression.
- Frog Men: The Creatures come across one that saves them from being eaten by man-eating plants. After getting their barrings they come across the frog again outside his hut and spend the night outside his abode. They come to him again to help free the bird from her webbing and wrap her inside some leaves.
- Horse of a Different Color: The White Mice’s carriage is pulled by a turtle.
- Man Bites Man: Or mouse bites spider, in this case. Desperate to hold off the spider and take back their turtle, one of the White Mice bites one of her limbs.
- Man-Eating Plant: The Creatures nearly fell victim to some in their sleep-induced high after eating up some nearby yellow fruit.
- Mix-and-Match Critter: The Creatures appear to be a mix of crows with their black beaks and either some type of rat or bat.
- Mushroom Samba: While exploring a stone structure the three Creatures come across a garden with some strange yellow fruit. Ingesting the fruit causes them to hallucinate and fall asleep on top of man-eating plants. Thankfully for them, they are broken free thanks to a frog who proceeds to substitute some meat in their place.
- Nice Mice: Averted with the White Mice, who kick the story off by stealing the doll. They likewise have no problems stealing back their turtle mount or wrestling with the spider.
- No-Dialogue Episode: No dialogue takes place in the film. The closest equivalent are the noises the Creatures and the White Mice make.
- Spiders Are Scary: While on their way the three traveling Creatures come across a doll-faced spider who has been devouring birds that get caught in her web. She leaves them be and doesn't become a problem for them until the doll-faced bird gets caught in said web, though the problem is solved nonviolently. The same cannot be said for the White Mice where two of them fight the spider after the third traded it for some feathers.
- Tear-Apart Tug-of-War: What ultimately becomes of the doll when one of the White Mice spends the night above the Creatures' house with the doll while their fellows follow suit. In the end, having recovered the doll-faced bird, the Creatures decide to hand over what remains to the White Mice.
