Will Animated Horror Ever Catch On?
I find it amazing that the horror genre hasn’t found it’s way to mainstream animation yet. Movies, novels, television, video games, and comics have all found a place for it in one form or another and had great success. As we watch the super hero cartoons grow up right in front of us (BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD, SUPERMAN/BATMAN: PUBLIC ENEMIES, etc..) it’s only a matter of time before we get some quality CGI scares with some adult themed plots, right? Right!? What is it, exactly, that makes it so difficult to blend horror and animation, two genres made for each other.
The actual animation is a big first step. CITY OF ROTT (above) is a fun little story but comes off as some sort of underground web-series that’s just happy to exist. I understand the amount of work that goes into creating an animated film, so don’t think the effort goes unnoticed, but in a world where Pixar and Dreamworks exist – it’s kind of hard to not expect the zombies to look realistic (does that even make sense?). There’s a darkness that’s hard to capture in the horror genre when you’re working with cartoons. Much like most of the CGI added to live-action horror films, making the effects not stand out like a sore thumb seems as difficult as avoiding the 3-D trend.
DEAD SPACE: DOWNFALL (above) took a lot of steps in the right direction. Slick looking animation, some competent voice talent, and some genuine frights. In the end though, it only exists to sell another product. I’ll always feel I’m missing out on something because I haven’t played the video game. It’s made for such a small audience that there really isn’t a chance to break out and lead the way for bigger better films of the like. Unless there’s another video game to sell.
The closest we’ve come to mainstream in this non-existing genre would be Tim Burton’s and Henry Selick’s stop motion efforts, THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, THE CORPSE BRIDE, and CORALINE (above). And while there’s plenty of creepy moments scattered throughout, they’ll always feels like cleverly disguised children stories. I enjoy them for what they are but always think what could have been after watching. Who knew claymation blood and guts could be so promising?
Which leaves us with the next great chance at getting some respect in animation. Take a proven genre franchise, add some respected genre voice talent (Danielle Harris, Tony Todd, Bill Moseley), and add a heavy dose of 3-D zombies and we might just have our breakthrough film. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD: ORIGINS is being sold as “American style anime” and takes an original route at the endlessly remade Romero classic. Here we’ll get some back story to the main players we thought we knew all there is to know about in a format we’ve never really seen before. It finally seems a decent idea has skipped the comics and gone straight to screen. Trend-setting? We can only hope.
Maybe it’s the booze talking but I love shit like MONSTER HOUSE and can’t wait until I can watch it with my kids. When it’s over though, and I need something to watch after everybody else is asleep, I wish there was something to satisfy my own inner (demented) child.