First and foremost. I wanted to state that this is a very artistic film. I love the imagery. It reminds me of things I seened before in films like the Conjuring and It. However, I wished I felt the weight and dread of the situation. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I wished it had been a feature length narrative. Instead of a short that felt like an acid trip. You are so right in your analysis. Animation hasn't really pushed the envelope with the horror genre. It tip toes around it. It's as if people think horror is just about grossing you out with gore or scaring children.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments, Shakeem. Good analogy with Disney/crying: it's important to remember that things we now take for granted with animated cinema were once novel. By the way, The Wolf House is a feature—perhaps it isn't clear in my article, but the video I've embedded is the trailer. It's worth tracking down the full film!
This is what happens when you try to read or watch something when you're tired. 😩. Thanks 👍 for the course correct. I will track down the feature. Thanks Alex.
Yes indeed. There is not enough info on this topic. Thanks for posting this. Yes. Japan anime and animated shorts from around the globe have featured legit nightmarish imagery but, I dream of the day when one of us creates a horror animated film that is on Par with the Exorcist, Hereditary and other frightful cinematic classics. Walt Disney asked himself this question when he and his team were in the midst of making Snow White. Can an animated film make you cry? He learned that yes. It could. What we as filmmakers need to ask ourselves now is this. Can an animated film make the hairs stand on the back of people's necks? Can animation make audience members faint or run out of the theatre in legit terror, the way the Exorcist did in the winter of 73'? I don't know. However, those of us who love Horror as a genre and animation as a medium should do everything in our power to find out. That should be our life's mission. I know that it's mine.
Thank you for this post and the great examples! There is of course a lot of horror in animated shorts- examples I like to discuss with my students usually include the body horror of Robert Morgan‘s films. However it is the big studio productions that audiences know and associate with animation - this might change with technologies becoming more available and more indie films - just have a look at 36 feature films in this year‘s Annecy festival (not all finished yet, but still!)
Thanks Alex. You may enjoy (re)watching these: The Cat with Hands. 2001. Robert Morgan. Halo. Aardman. 3’30”. Based on Miner’s Dream by Will Godwin & Leo Dryden. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4PR9NZlAB4
I will never forget the 1980 Czechoslovak animated short film Mrňous a čarodějnice (Teeny-Tiny and the Witch Woman), made by the late Czech-American Gene Deitch. Although it's a fairy tale for children, it's also partly a proper horror film (at least from a child's point of view) that scared a lot of kids. Me included. It can be seen on YouTube, both in Czech (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a80KoR8CrEs) and English (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuOIgpS9DR8)
I've always thought it was strange there was so little horror animation (compared to other genres). As a kid, things like Hexxus from Fern Gully, the Great Owl from The Secret of NIMH and even Preston the robot dog from Wallace and Gromit freaked me out way more than slasher movies.
First and foremost. I wanted to state that this is a very artistic film. I love the imagery. It reminds me of things I seened before in films like the Conjuring and It. However, I wished I felt the weight and dread of the situation. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I wished it had been a feature length narrative. Instead of a short that felt like an acid trip. You are so right in your analysis. Animation hasn't really pushed the envelope with the horror genre. It tip toes around it. It's as if people think horror is just about grossing you out with gore or scaring children.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments, Shakeem. Good analogy with Disney/crying: it's important to remember that things we now take for granted with animated cinema were once novel. By the way, The Wolf House is a feature—perhaps it isn't clear in my article, but the video I've embedded is the trailer. It's worth tracking down the full film!
This is what happens when you try to read or watch something when you're tired. 😩. Thanks 👍 for the course correct. I will track down the feature. Thanks Alex.
Yes indeed. There is not enough info on this topic. Thanks for posting this. Yes. Japan anime and animated shorts from around the globe have featured legit nightmarish imagery but, I dream of the day when one of us creates a horror animated film that is on Par with the Exorcist, Hereditary and other frightful cinematic classics. Walt Disney asked himself this question when he and his team were in the midst of making Snow White. Can an animated film make you cry? He learned that yes. It could. What we as filmmakers need to ask ourselves now is this. Can an animated film make the hairs stand on the back of people's necks? Can animation make audience members faint or run out of the theatre in legit terror, the way the Exorcist did in the winter of 73'? I don't know. However, those of us who love Horror as a genre and animation as a medium should do everything in our power to find out. That should be our life's mission. I know that it's mine.
Thank you for this post and the great examples! There is of course a lot of horror in animated shorts- examples I like to discuss with my students usually include the body horror of Robert Morgan‘s films. However it is the big studio productions that audiences know and associate with animation - this might change with technologies becoming more available and more indie films - just have a look at 36 feature films in this year‘s Annecy festival (not all finished yet, but still!)
Thanks Alex. You may enjoy (re)watching these: The Cat with Hands. 2001. Robert Morgan. Halo. Aardman. 3’30”. Based on Miner’s Dream by Will Godwin & Leo Dryden. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4PR9NZlAB4
IL Gatto (the cat). 2020. Donato Sansone. Italy. 7’13”. https://vimeo.com/454313954
Best wishes, Tsvika
This is great stuff! Awesome analysis of what makes this film so disturbing. (And thanks very much for the shout-out!)
I will never forget the 1980 Czechoslovak animated short film Mrňous a čarodějnice (Teeny-Tiny and the Witch Woman), made by the late Czech-American Gene Deitch. Although it's a fairy tale for children, it's also partly a proper horror film (at least from a child's point of view) that scared a lot of kids. Me included. It can be seen on YouTube, both in Czech (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a80KoR8CrEs) and English (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuOIgpS9DR8)
I've always thought it was strange there was so little horror animation (compared to other genres). As a kid, things like Hexxus from Fern Gully, the Great Owl from The Secret of NIMH and even Preston the robot dog from Wallace and Gromit freaked me out way more than slasher movies.