Stop-motion animation has the potential to charm and unnerve, often at the same time; here are the ten spookiest to enjoy this Halloween season…
It’s October; the leaves are falling, the days are growing shorter, and there’s a cool wind in the air. As Halloween approaches, we start to crave comfort viewing with a certain chill factor; but have you noticed how much of this is brought to life through the art of stop-motion?
Stop-motion, the painstaking craft of moving models, puppets and props and taking photos each time, to create the illusion of movement, can yield hugely charming and endearing results, or dip into the uncanny valley, with unnatural characters moving in unpredictable ways. Often, stop-motion productions find themselves in a middle ground, catering to the comforting creepiness of the spookiest season of the year.
With the release of Aardman’s Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom, and Laika’s Wildwood, stop-motion seems to be having a moment this Halloween. So, in the spirit of the season, I’m rounding up the ten spookiest stop-motion films for this most macabre time of year. Be prepared for family-friendly frights, grown-up horror, and movies that occupy a strange space between worlds.
Oh, and prepare for a lot of Tim Burton and Henry Selick. They’ve got a shared monopoly on this thing.
Mad Monster Party? (1967)
A little-known but significant example, Mad Monster Party? was produced by Rankin-Bass, marking a departure from their made-for-tv Christmas shorts to a theatrical Halloween extravaganza, bringing in the vocal talent of the great Boris Karloff, in his final Frankenstein-related appearance, this time voicing the mad doctor.
That alone should be reason enough to check out this hidden gem, which essentially plays out as a loose, long-form adaptation of Bobby Pickett’s The Monster Mash, with a series of recognisably ghoulish characters travelling to Castle Frankenstein to celebrate the doctor’s retirement, and find out who’s next in line. Watching the film, one gets the feeling that it was pitched this way, but that Rankin-Bass couldn’t secure the rights to the famous tune – its absence on the soundtrack is notable.
Oh, did I mention it’s a musical? While the songs are not all that catchy or memorable, it’s made up for by the charming animation, achieved with Rankin-Bass’s ‘Animagic,’ a form of stop-motion that incorporates puppetry, bringing to life versions of the Monster and his Bride, Dracula, the Wolf-man and more, in the hauntingly-realised Castle Frankenstein and its eerie island location. While it gets little recognition, Mad Monster Party? truly set the stage for things to come.
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
While it’s not explicitly a Halloween movie (there are plenty of pumpkins, none of them carved), the feature-length debut of Aardman’s most iconic characters is worth a rewatch this time of year, with its rich autumnal atmosphere and pitch-perfect monster movie pastiche.
The film finds Wallace & Gromit fronting a pest control service in the lead-up to their town’s annual Giant Vegetable Competition, which is disrupted by the arrival of the legendary Were-Rabbit…
Director Nick Park, creator of the W&G shorts that preceded it, took influence from horror/comedy classics like An American Werewolf in London when developing the film, while filtering it through a more light-hearted lens.
As such, the movie plays with horror tropes, while keeping things within a cleverly spooky safe zone, striking the perfect mood for the season.
Alice (1988)
In 1988, Czech surrealist filmmaker Jan Svankmajer, known for his uncanny stop-motion short films, adapted Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), through a mix of live-action and stop-motion, bringing the creatures of the story to life through the use of animated taxidermy animals.
Yes, you read that right. And it doesn’t stop at the waistcoat-wearing reanimated corpse of the White Rabbit; he introduces some other morbidly fascinating hybrid creatures, made up of various animal parts both preserved and skeletal. Meanwhile, Wonderland (though it’s never referred to by that name) is depicted as a seemingly never-ending network of doors, tunnels and rooms, evoking a haunted house.
Despite not being a full-fledged horror film, it’s profoundly unsettling, in a way that truly captures the dark spirit of Carroll’s books. As Alice says, it’s “a film for children. Maybe.”
Wendell & Wild (2022)
Wendell & Wild marks Henry Selick’s return to the medium he does best – spooky stop-motion family frights. The title characters, a pair of lowly demons voiced by Key & Peele, (with remarkably resemblant designs), spend their time toiling away in the underworld, restoring their father’s hair follicles with a magical cream, until a fortunate accident leads them to discover that the cream, and a mysterious girl named Kat, may be their ticket out of hell, into the life they want.
Despite the title, and the demonic duo’s scene-stealing shenanigans, they take a backseat to the protagonist, Kat, voiced by Lyric Ross, an earthbound girl to whom W&W are somehow linked.
Despite some struggles with narrative focus, Selick’s style remains as sharp and distinctive as ever – going so far as to deliberately leave ‘mistakes’ such as visible joins in the character models, to retain stop-motion’s tactile charm, which he felt was being lost as the medium progressed.
Despite its flaws, Wendell & Wild is well worth a watch this time of year, for its distinctive style, atmosphere, animation, and Key & Peele’s hugely entertaining presence.
Mad God (2021)
Phil Tippett’s Mad God, a thirty-year labour of love, follows a mysterious assassin, who descends into to the depths of an underground hellscape to plant an explosive device. On his way, he encounters a succession of beings who are in turn tragic, predatory and transient – not many live long in a world like this, bound by no laws or ethics, just survival and exploitation.
Despite the relentless horror and nihilism, Tippett imbues humanity into his distinctly non-human creations; maintaining empathy for their suffering in this brutal nightmare realm they’ve been born into. It’s neither plot nor character-driven, but more experiential; just sit back and let the horror wash over you, while gawping at the sheer dedication to the craft.
Frankenweenie (2012)
Following the sudden death of his beloved pooch Sparky, a young Victor Frankenstein (Charlie Tahan) harnesses the power of electricity to bring him back to life. But despite his best efforts of secrecy, word spreads among his jealous classmates, each striving for first place at the school science fair. Yet his imitators are less successful, and their creations soon start running rampant through the town of New Holland.
While it may not reach the heights of some of Burton’s more renowned works, Frankenweenie is still a hugely charming stop-motion romp, with a sweet story at its centre, and plenty for the classic monster movie fans to enjoy, with obvious nods to Frankenstein (1931), as well as Dracula (1958), Nosferatu (1922) and Godzilla (1954). A real Halloween treat with appeal that’s both broad and specific.
Corpse Bride (2005)
Co-directed by Mike Johnson, Corpse Bride was Tim Burton’s first true stop-motion film (no, he did not direct The Nightmare Before Christmas), and tells the story of another Victor, this one voiced by Johnny Depp, who is dragged into an arranged marriage with Victoria (Emily Watson). After screwing up their wedding rehearsal, Victor inadvertently offers his hand to the deceased Emily (Helena Bonham Carter), who rises her from her grave, and whisks him away into the Land of the Dead.
Tim Burton’s distinctively macabre fantasy style transitions so smoothly into the realm of stop-motion, you wonder what took him so long to try it. Not only does the craft work in favour of Burton’s visuals, but his storytelling too – the time-consuming nature of stop-motion leads to a brutalist approach, cutting out the excess fat that bloats many mainstream movies.
As a result, Corpse Bride wastes no time, clocking in at a tight 77 minutes, doing everything in needs to in that slim timeframe, and leaving a lasting impression.
ParaNorman (2012)
2012 was a good year for family-friendly stop-motion horror-comedy. ParaNorman follows a young boy who must use his ability to communicate with the dead to end a witch’s curse, and save his town from being overrun by zombies.
Much like Laika’s previous film, Coraline, ParaNorman takes some bold creative swings from its conception – a zombie movie for kids isn’t exactly an easy sell. But the movie works because it refuses to talk down to its young audience, willing to give them a few frights while trusting that they will understand the film’s themes, and undercutting the tension with well-placed humour. The animation is strikingly vivid and expressive, capturing a sinister late-autumn feel, while drawing on the Massachusetts location and its history of witch trials.
Despite modest box-office returns, the movie went down well with critics and audiences, and has endured as something of a cult classic, receiving a theatrical re-release last year. It’s easy to see why, and one can imagine ParaNorman sticking around as a Halloween favourite for years to come.
Coraline (2009)
Perhaps the scariest mainstream family film in recent memory, and the source of Gen-Z nightmares the world over, Henry Selick’s Coraline is truly a wonder to behold.
The film taps into universal childhood experiences of fear and wonder – Coraline’s desire to escape her usual drab existence is relatable, and her discovery of a world that’s brimming with life and colour has an enthralling appeal, while building an underlying dread. Much of the horror comes from the uncanny effect of defamiliarisation – the ‘other mother’ with her button eyes is a genuinely disturbing presence.
It may be a little much for younger viewers (I saw it on release aged six and have never been the same), but Coraline is a great introduction to the horror genre for older kids, unafraid to scare its audience, without losing sight of who they are. It’s arguably Henry Selick’s best film, but there’s one that’s just a bit more iconic…
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Come on, was it ever going to be anything else? Of course, it technically qualifies as a Christmas film too, but there’s nothing like the opening rendition of “This is Halloween” to get the spooky mood going.
In the unlikely case that you’re reading this having never seen The Nightmare Before Christmas, you most likely know the world and its characters from merchandise, costumes and more – the movie and its iconography have been embraced as Halloween tradition like no other, and it’s always showing in a cinema somewhere this time of year.
And for good reason – director Henry Selick embraced traditional Halloween aesthetics, while redefining them for a new generation. Beyond the visual design and groundbreaking animation, the film remains a highly entertaining and charming adventure, full of memorable characters and songs that simply refuse to leave you. Of course, people still debate whether it’s a Halloween or Christmas movie; but honestly, it’s both – so grow up and watch it twice a year.
What are your favourite spooky stop motion movies? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Dan Carville
