The Quays’ familiar puppet animation is here enhanced by the use of animated iron filings, which suggest the rapid formation of frost over every surface, the swaying of the individual particles suggesting a hefty buffeting by a keen, piercing wind.

Part of the Quay Brothers’ Stille Nacht series, this hypnotic 3-minute animated short assembles a curious cast of assorted odds and ends—a ping pong ball, a white rabbit, a rag doll—to perform a magical, menacing dance. As ever with the Quays, here lies the stuff of dreams: or is that nightmares?