The Addams Family set the stage but the sequel outdid its predecessor. It’s not even necessary to see the first one to understand the events of the second. Despite not meeting the criteria of a holiday-themed movie, it was released on November 19, 1993, and yes, all the semi-wholesome weirdness still holds up 29 years later (as does Tag Team’s Addams Family theme and “Whoomp! (There It Is)” remix).

Addams Family Values begins with eternal lovebirds Morticia (Anjelica Huston) and Gomez Addams (Raúl Juliá) welcoming their third child, Pubert (Kaitlyn and Kristen Hooper), whom homicidal siblings Wednesday (Christina Ricci) and Pugsley (Jimmy Workman) immediately hate. With the addition of the little mustachioed baby, the Addamses need a nanny. Enter the beautiful but seemingly ordinary Debbie Jellinsky (Joan Cusack), who’s a black widow serial killer with a growing body count. 

Oddly enough, this plot is very similar to The Addams Family, which sees the greedy Abigail Craven (Elizabeth Wilson) and her son Gordon, aka Uncle Fester (Christopher Lloyd) with amnesia, trying to con the Addamses out of the family fortune. But Debbie is a much better villain. She may be a blonde bombshell dressed in white but her wickedly dark sense of humor immediately vibes with the Addamses, making her quite the unique normie. I mean, her reaction to Thing (Christopher Hart), a sentient disembodied hand, is putting its finger in her mouth. 

Wednesday sees through Debbie just like she saw through Craven and Gordon/Fester before he was struck by memory-restoring lightning. In true evil stepmother fashion, Debbie gets Wednesday and Pugsley sent off to summer camp where they can’t derail her plans. Soon after, the literal golddigger Debbie “I want you dead and I want your money” Jellinsky becomes an Addams and the newlyweds move into a McMansion decked out in pastels. Her failed attempts to kill her rich husband are more like murderous foreplay since it’s implied Fester is somehow immortal, or at the very least extremely durable.

Over at Camp Chippewa, Wednesday and Pugsley meet Gary Granger (Peter MacNicol) and Becky Martin-Granger (Christine Baranski), the demented, painfully cheerful counselors who mostly speak in platitudes. There’s also the quintessential ’90s era mean girl Amanda Buckman (Mercedes McNab), who immediately critiques their black outfits. (McNab appeared in The Addams Family as a Girl Scout selling cookies.) Among their fellow outcasts is the sweet and nerdy Joel Glicker (David Krumholtz). He’s entranced by Wednesday’s boldness, and she tolerates him, sparking a beautiful awkward romance.

Addams Family Values called out white privilege before it was cool. In a 2018 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Paul Rudnick discussed the film’s political commentary and the conservative “family values” slogan of the early 1990s, saying, “In Republican terms, ‘family values’ is always code for censorship and exclusion…I like to believe that the Addams Family is far more loving and accepting than their enemies.” Camp Chippewa is essentially a camp for Young Republicans where everyone is white, blonde, and khaki’d. Anyone outside those parameters is the “other,” and therefore, cast as Native Americans, or as Amanda’s Sarah Miller calls them (twice) “savages.”

Why this summer camp is putting on a whitewashed historically inaccurate Thanksgiving play is never addressed but it seems to further illustrate just how out of touch these people are. Gary’s (racist, ableist, classist) vision crumbles when Wednesday gets real about the holiday’s genocidal origins and leads the other outcasts in setting everything ablaze. 

Wednesday’s not the only one who delivers an epic monologue. Gomez has an on-brand over-the-top theatrical breakdown about his brother, and Debbie gives an impassioned speech justifying her criminal past, complete with a slideshow. If she didn’t want to specifically kill them, the Addamses would have lovedhaving her around. They’re advocates for chaos but a brotherly bond comes first.

But let’s talk about Debbie’s majorly covetable wardrobe. Her soft, light-colored ensembles are quite striking against the usual gloomy gothic surroundings. As she maneuvers her way into Fester’s life, her look goes from chic nanny prospect to virginal seductress to husband-killing femme fatale, headscarf, and all. Costume designer Theoni V. Aldredge (Ghostbusters) perfectly crafted all the Addamses’ signature looks, though Gomez’s dashing suits and Morticia’s tight black dresses are standouts. The Addams matriarch always has an unearthly glow highlighting her eyes (thanks to Huston’s contractually required key light). 

Addams Family Values is an endlessly quotable ’90s gem that should have a place in your Thanksgiving movie rotation if there is such a thing — not because it takes place on the actual holiday or teaches us about sharing with others, but because the bizarre family unit celebrates their love for one another daily. They’re ghoulish and they revel in violence, but they’re also a deeply devoted family. It’s also just a genuinely hilarious movie with a talented cast playing their collectively strange characters to perfection. 

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The story begins with Buster the Bird (Blaze Berdahl) planning to run away from his family nest. But before he hits the skies, he chats with a friendly Tyrannosaurus rex, cleverly named Rex (John Goodman), who takes a break from playing golf to tell the birdie about his journey to becoming a talking dinosaur. It’s an odd tale to bookend the movie, but not the weirdest thing that will happen. 

In a flashback, we see Rex in his natural carnivorous form as he’s plucked from prehistoric times by inventor/time traveler Captain Neweyes (Walter Cronkite) and his alien assistant Vorb (Jay Leno). He’s fed Brain Grain Cereal, triggering a visual and mental transformation that softens his terrifying appearance and gives him enough intelligence to become sentient. Rex then meets his fellow talking dinos — Woog (René Le Vant), a Triceratops, Elsa (Felicity Kendal), a Pteranodon, and Dweeb (Charles Fleischer, aka Roger Rabbit), a Parasaurolophus.

Neweyes shows them his Wish Radio, which captures kids wishing that dinosaurs were real. The quartet excitedly agrees to visit the American Museum of Natural History in New York City because every whimsical children’s tale takes place in NYC. Within minutes of descending into the city, they stumble upon the most New York kid ever, Louie (Joey Shea), who’s running away to the circus because his parents are too loving or something. 

A chase sequence ends with him and Elsa flying into a massive and empty penthouse where they find Cecilia Nuthatch (Yeardley Smith), a Harry Potter character name if I ever heard one. The lonely girl, whose parents are too busy to pay attention to her, joins Louie as another adolescent human runaway and friend for the lovable dinos. 

The most memorable scene of We’re Back is when they attempt to blend in at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as giant dinosaur robots. That doesn’t last long because Rex decides to appease the kids in the audience and ends up singing the super catchy “Roll Back the Rock (To the Dawn of Time),” a song that’s covered by Little Richard in the end credits. 

The kids are the first to meet the movie’s underdeveloped villain, Professor Screweyes (Kenneth Mars), the unhinged, evil opposite brother of Captain Neweyes whom the dinosaurs were warned about. He has a Fright Radio that lets him hear everyone’s fears, an implement which is essentially an idea machine to help him add scares to his Eccentric Circus. He has also created his own transformation concoction, which he dubbed Brain Drain, but instead of cereal, it comes in the form of pills. 

This is where We’re Back gets dark. Louie is so desperate to join the circus that he willingly accepts a mysterious contract, signing his name in blood. Cecilia follows, presumably to stay with her friend and not because she wants to become a scary actor. 

What makes this scene so creepy is that Screweyes seemingly has no interest or use for these kids but lets them sign themselves away anyway. However, it works out for him in the end because he gets something better. The kids’ dinosaur pals track them down and agree to be frightening attractions in exchange for letting Louie and Cecilia — who are temporarily turned into monkeys — break out of the binding contract. 

Louie and Cecilia wake up human to find Stubbs (Martin Short), a jovial yet anxious clown who stands out amongst the decidedly dark atmosphere. Now they hatch their own plan to rescue their friends, who’ve devolved into ravenous monsters. 

As you can see, the plot of We’re Back is both thin and kind of messy. But considering John Patrick Shanley (Moonstruck) penned the script based on Hudson Talbott’s 20-page book of the same name, it’s not that bad. Production began in 1990 with a rotation of directors working on the film at different times including Phil Nibbelink (Who Framed Roger Rabbit) and Simon Wells (Mars Needs Moms), along with brothers Dick and Ralph Zondag (Dinosaur). They probably could’ve expanded the story more if the runtime was longer than 71 minutes. 

The music was composed by James Horner (Casper), the master of hauntingly whimsical scores. However, in a 2018 interview with SYFY Wire, Phil Nibbelink claimed that while the score was written by Horner, it was actually conducted by others. Either way, the score is perfect for the film’s shifting tones. 

A noticeably odd aspect of the movie is the ensemble cast of big names. News anchor Walter Cronkite does well as the kind-hearted explorer, but it’s a bizarre choice, though maybe not as strange as chef/media personality Julia Child voicing museum curator Dr. Juliet Bleeb. The magnificent cast overall speaks to the draw of working with a giant like Spielberg.

We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story is a strange and forgettable tale that begins as a lighthearted yet melancholic story about friendship and temporarily descends into full-on nightmare fuel. It’s the type of deep-cut 1990s media you might vaguely recall, but since it’s talked about so little, you assume it must’ve been a fever dream. While the animation still holds up and the odd array of voices make it a fun watch, We’re Back! likely only appeals to those with a sense of nostalgia for the obscure title.  

We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story is available to rent on Prime Video. 

The post Cult Classics: Revisiting the Strange and Obscure ‘We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story’ 30 Years Later appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.

In the pre-show film, directed by Joe Dante (Gremlins, Small Soldiers), The Twilight Zone’s legendary host Rod Serling tells them about Halloween night 1939, when five hotel guests aboard the elevator vanished after it was struck by lightning. The hotel closed after that fateful night and the five unlucky souls were trapped in the fifth dimension.

In 1997, Disney brought back The Wonderful World of Disney, a weekly series that aired every Sunday night on ABC, which began in 1954 and has seen multiple eras since then. When the studio decided to make an original made-for-TV movie based on Tower of Terror, they went to kid-friendly horror extraordinaire D.J. MacHale, co-creator of Are You Afraid of the Dark?, to write and direct. This was Disney’s first movie based on a ride, though it was soon followed by several more titles that would overshadow it, such as Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, and of course, Pirates of the Caribbean.

MacHale was tasked with expanding the pre-show story into a feature-length film, all while trying to “emulate the ride experience.” Unable to close down the actual ride for filming, the production team, including production designer Phil Dagort (American Horror Story) and set decorator Archie D’Amico (Ugly Betty), had to replicate the hotel lobby in a Los Angeles warehouse, taking a quarter of the already small budget.

The movie opens with the basic premise of the ride. It’s Halloween night, 1939. Panning around a table covered in melting candles, random trinkets, and a spellbook, we hear an unseen person reciting a mostly indistinct spell. Outside the Hollywood Tower Hotel, it’s all thunder and lightning (sans rain). Inside, there’s a hopping party with big band music and swing dancers at the Tip Top Club on the 12th floor.

Amid flashing cameras and busy bellhops, five passengers board the main elevator — Shirley Temple-esque child star Sally Shine (Lindsay Ridgeway) and her scowling nanny Emeline Partridge (Wendy Worthington); actor-singer Carolyn Crosson (Melora Hardin), actor Gilbert London (Alastair Duncan), and cheery bellhop Dewey Todd (John Franklin). But before they arrive, the elevator is suddenly struck by lightning, zapping them into thin air. 

Sixty years later, we meet disgraced journalist Buzzy Crocker (Steve Guttenberg) working for a tabloid magazine a la The National Inquirer. With the help of his teenage niece Anna (Kirsten Dunst), Buzzy stages fake alien and ghost photos for his articles. Years ago, the once revered journalist wrote about a corrupt mayor that turned out to be false. He lost all credibility and his job at the Los Angeles Banner, where his ex-girlfriend Jill Perry (Nia Peeples) still works as an editor. 

There’s at least one person who thinks he’s the man to solve a decades-old mystery. He’s approached by Abigail Gregory (Amzie Strickland), an elderly woman who lived at the hotel 60 years before. According to her, the accident was the result of a botched curse cast by Emeline Partridge, a witch who tried to damn young Sally to hell for no apparent reason other than hating the girl. Since that night, their ghosts have been trapped in limbo and Abigail wants to set them free.

As someone who makes their living faking supernatural encounters, it’s no surprise Buzzy is a skeptic. But writing about the infamous mystery could be his big comeback, so he jumps at the opportunity to redeem himself. He enlists the help of the hotel’s caretaker Chris “Q” Todd (Mike McShane), a descendant of Dewey Todd and sole inheritor of the property. But because of his great-grandfather’s odd stipulation in his will, the hotel cannot reopen until the mystery is solved. 

Buzzy loves the idea of a true story but can’t help himself when it comes to photos. He has Anna don a Sally dress and puts an ad out for an actor to play Partridge. Claire Poulet, who we immediately recognize as ghostly starlet Carolyn Crosson (Hardin), shows up looking radiant.

Meanwhile, the other specters go full Beetlejuice trying to scare them off. Sally appears in a green-hued phantom rain, singing and tapping to a haunting rendition of “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring” (from the ride’s pre-show). There’s a headless man in a tuxedo holding a meat cleaver and a bellhop with a noose. The alleged witch nearly pushes Anna into a fiery elevator shaft. 

As an adult viewer, old Abigail is sus from the get-go, and the more they investigate, the less her version of events makes sense. Thanks to Jill’s solo investigation, we find out that this sweet elderly woman was the spellcaster all along. Her totally logical reason for intentionally murdering Sally (and accidentally killing the others)? Abigail was jealous of Sally, her famous little sister, enough to want her to suffer for eternity. Plus, no one remembered Abigail’s birthday on Halloween. 

Why try to redo the curse 60 years later? Well, Abigail had been in a sanitarium since she was 10 and just recently earned out privileges. Other than “the accident had a profound effect on her,” there are no details about her mental health, who let a child be committed to a sanitarium, or why a 10-year-old was dabbling in black magic. Her obsession with condemning their souls to the underworld also seems unnecessary. So many unanswered questions. 

However, the joke’s on Abigail because ghost Sally tells Buzzy how much she adored her big sis and couldn’t wait to see her at the Tip Top Club’s Halloween soiree in 1939, which was Abigail’s surprise birthday party. Whoops! Still, she gets a happy ending along with everyone else. Sally forgives her, breaking the curse. Even though Abigail is very much alive, the sisters’ spirits unite and float away.

If there’s any Disney movie that deserves a remake, it’s Tower of Terror. Thankfully, one is in development with Scarlett Johansson attached as a producer and Taika Waititi as a director, which is still happening as of 2023.

Disney’s Tower of Terror is a family-friendly mashup of The Shining and Ghost Ship, the perfect gateway into the horror genre. While the low-budget made-for-TV movie has its flaws, the creepy imagery, intriguing mystery, and golden age of Hollywood setting make it a Halloween staple that continues to hold up. 

Unfortunately, Tower of Terror isn’t streaming anywhere, not even on Disney+. Your best bet is tracking down a DVD at your local library or purchasing it online. 

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Saw had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2004, followed by its theatrical release on October 29. From 2004 to 2010, horror fans lined up for the next installment in the franchise, which hit theaters every October. After a seven-year hiatus, the seventh film, Jigsaw, came out in 2017, followed by Spiral: From the Book of Saw in 2021, and the most recent Saw X, released in September 2023. 

While the next chapter, Saw XI, doesn’t come out until September 2025, there’s still something to celebrate. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the first film, so let’s celebrate by looking back to the film that started it all.

Some spoilers ahead for the Saw franchise…

Inspired by 1999’s found footage classic The Blair Witch Project, Australian filmmakers James Wan (The Conjuring universe) and Leigh Whannell (The Invisible Man) set out to make their own low-budget horror film set in a single room with few characters. These restrictions helped Wan think of the initial concept of two strangers trapped in a bathroom with a corpse lying between them, which evolved into the premise of their feature film debut.

Saw begins with photographer Adam (Leigh Whannell) and Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) waking up in a pitch-black room. Lawrence turns on the blinding fluorescent lights, revealing they’re chained to opposite sides of a large, disgusting bathroom with a dead body lying in a puddle of blood between them. Each finds a microcassette tape addressed to them and when played, a menacing voice tells them what’s up (sort of).

Lawrence’s tape is detailed, condemning him for being the bearer of bad news as a doctor and telling him to kill Adam by 6:00 or his wife and daughter die. Adam’s tape is incredibly vague; the voice criticizes the voyeuristic nature of his job, calls him pathetic, and gives him the option of “watch yourself die” or “do something about it.” 

While most of the film takes place in this one room, we get flashbacks to detectives David Tapp (Danny Glover) and Steven Sing (Ken Leung) working on the case of the Jigsaw killer (Tobin Bell). They’ve been to multiple bizarre crime scenes where a deceased victim has seemingly died in elaborate obstacles like a man who failed to escape a cage filled with razor wire. 

Listening to the tapes left for each victim, we can piece together that this anonymous tormentor wants people to quit committing bad deeds, whether they’re to others or themselves. In Jigsaw’s twisted logic, these nearly unbeatable traps test their will to live, forcing them to physically harm themselves in some way within a time limit. The ideal outcome is that they’ll survive and finally appreciate their lives. 

Tapp interviews Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith), a survivor who managed to escape the now iconic reverse bear trap before it could rip her jaw open. To Jigsaw, her crime was being a drug addict and ungrateful for living. She credits the unseen captor with helping her get clean.

The back-and-forth between Amanda’s interview and her harrowing near-death experience plays out the same in Wan and Whannell’s short film they made in 2003. It’s Adam who has to break out of the reverse bear trap, a somewhat different version of the character that we see in the film, more of an amalgamation of Amanda, Adam, and Zep (Michael Emerson), one of Jigsaw’s victims whose game was to capture and potentially kill Dr. Gordon’s family.

The short also gave a glimpse of what would become Saw’s visual language that’s similar to the grimy feel of Seven. The camera does a 360 around the victim with flash frames, quick cuts, and metal music, like a nu-metal music video. It’s chaotic and disorienting, conveying the absolute terror of trying to escape the contraption. The small budget meant limited time and resources but it created the grunge aesthetic that mostly stayed consistent in the sequels. Charlie Clouser (American Horror Story), the former member of Nine Inch Nails, also provided the instantly recognizable, ominous score. 

While Saw is often credited as kicking off the “torture porn” era, the film isn’t nearly as gory as we remember. Dr. Gordon sawing off his foot and Amanda rifling through guts for a key are easily the goriest parts. Everything else is mostly implied. Still, Wan and Whannell were lumped in with what was dubbed the “splat pack,” a group of filmmakers known for ultra-violent horror films, which included Eli Roth (Hostel), Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses), Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes), Neil Marshall (The Descent), Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II–IV), Greg McLean (Wolf Creek), and Robert Rodriguez (Planet Terror).

Saw II premiered exactly one year after its predecessor, this time with director Darren Lynn Bousman at the helm, who co-wrote the script with Whannell. With each sequel, the mythology of Jigsaw expands (real name John Kramer). In the first film, we heard his voice more than we actually saw him, and when we did see him, his face was usually obscured by the hood of his warlock fit or by blood when he was pretending to be dead in that bathroom. 

Part of its “torture porn” label stems from the sequels, which focused more heavily on elaborate traps and plot twists than characterization. In a 2010 interview with The AV Club, Whannell said, “I think the sequels have retrospectively tainted that first film with the impression that that’s what the film is about.” 

One thing that became somewhat clearer in the sequels is the reason why certain people were chosen to be in traps: various criminals, corrupt law enforcement, predatory lenders. However, they also tried to make too many connections to past characters. The original’s nonlinear structure made the mystery more interesting and harder to solve. 

By Saw IV, at least, the continuity was all over the place with convoluted, overlapping narratives that played out like soap operas. The increasing number of new and old characters who are revealed to be Jigsaw minions and/or protégés gets pretty ridiculous, especially when motives make no sense. 

The first film isn’t perfect but its simplicity still made an impact. The final shot of Adam screaming as Jigsaw shuts the bathroom door, essentially locking him inside a tomb, is still one of the most chilling scenes I’ve ever experienced. 

Saw is a mystery thriller as much as it is a psychological horror with a morality tale at its core, though often mistaken for pure exploitation cinema. The influential film established James Wan and Leigh Whannell as masters of their craft and led to one of the most successful horror franchises in history. While the sequels amped up the graphic violence, the OG’s gritty, contained nature will always stand out among its successors.

All eight Saw films (including Spiral) are available to stream on Max and Peacock.

The post Celebrating Over 20 Years of ‘Saw’: The Horror Franchise Evolution appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.

As we’ve seen in recent years, notably the 2025 release of Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s upcoming horror-musical, The Bride!, hitting theaters next year, Shelley’s story still resonates with artists and audiences.

To cap off the spooky season, here are some great Frankenstein adaptations worth checking out during Halloween. We love these uniquely monstrous retellings.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

The ultimate midnight movie, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, is a cult classic that has stood the test of time, thanks to the brilliance of Richard O’Brien, the talented cast, killer music, fabulous costumes, and diehard fans. 

When a young couple, Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon), break down in the rain and warily visit a spooky castle for help. What they actually get is a bizarre yet exciting experience with the lingerie-clad mad scientist and his eerie underlings, Columbia (Nell Campbell), Magenta (Patricia Quinn), and Riff Raff (O’Brien). They’ve arrived on the night of a party, the unveiling of Dr. Frank-N-Furter’s (Tim Curry) creation, Rocky (Peter Hinwood). Instead of the classic nuts-and-bolts and a lumbering gait, his Creature is a fit, “man with blonde hair and a tan.” What follows is a celebration of sex, science fiction, and horror.

This year marks Rocky Horror’s 50th anniversary, the perfect time to do the Time Warp again, or for the very first time.

Where to watch: Hulu (or find a midnight showing near you!)

The Monster Squad (1987)

Often considered a Halloween staple, The Monster Squad brings iconic movie monsters to suburbia. In this horror comedy, Frankenstein’s Monster, played by Tom Noonan, has a tenderness that leads to him befriending a little girl named Phoebe (Ashley Bank). With the friendly looming figure by her side, she finally gets to join her older brother, Sean (Andre Gower), and his friends, Patrick (Robby Kiger), Horace (Brent Chalem), and Rudy (Ryan Lambert), as a member of the Monster Squad. It’s up to the young gang of horror aficionados to save their town and stop Count Dracula’s (Duncan Regehr) diabolical plan.

In search of a powerful ancient amulet that will allow him to rule (or destroy) the world, Dracula assembles a team of monsters, including the Wolfman (Jon Gries/Carl Thibault), the Mummy (Michael Reid MacKay), the Gill-man (Tom Woodruff Jr.), and a trio of vampire brides. Frankenstein’s Monster isn’t on board with the cause and decides to help his new friends instead. Noonan’s portrayal as the benevolent creature is a favorite among many.

Where to watch: Prime Video

May (2002)

Lucky McKee’s May is one of the best horror movies of the 2000s, a time when genre remakes were popping up left and right. Instead of a narcissist with a god complex, May (Angela Bettis) is a lonely, awkward girl whose only friend is a doll she’s had since childhood. She longs for human connection, but between her overly flirty coworker, Polly (Anna Faris), and Adam (Jeremy Sisto), the cool guy she’s crushing on, May isn’t finding the kind of friendship she craves. So, the next best thing is to create her own. On Halloween night, she goes out looking for parts to stitch together. 

May is an underrated gem that isn’t talked about nearly enough. Indie scream queen Angela Bettis delivers a captivating performance. Even during the most uncomfortable scenes, of which there are many, it’s hard to look away.

Where to watch: Tubi

Penny Dreadful (2014–16)

Throughout its three seasons, Showtime’s Gothic horror drama Penny Dreadful never received the attention it deserved. The series follows former explorer Sir Malcolm Murray (Timothy Dalton), enigmatic clairvoyant Vanessa Ives (Eva Green), and American gunslinger Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett ) as they search for his kidnapped daughter. It also features a lineup of famous literary figures, including Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney), Henry Jekyll (Shazad Latif), Abraham van Helsing (David Warner), and, of course, Victor Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway).

As one of the lead protagonists, the young doctor helps Murray’s crew by examining a corpse that may lead to his daughter’s captor. But most of his interactions are with his abandoned Creature (Rory Kinnear), who goes by various names, including John Clare and Caliban. Loosely following the storyline of Bride of Frankenstein, Frankenstein’s painfully lonely creation demands that his maker give him an immortal companion, and will keep destroying his life until he does so. Kinnear’s take on the iconic character closely resembles Shelley’s original description. 

Where to watch: Prime Video

Creature Commandos (2024–)

James Gunn’s (Peacemaker) animated action comedy Creature Commandos kicked off the new DCU, fittingly as a part of his Gods and Monsters chapter. Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) puts together a new team of violent antiheroes out of Belle Reve penitentiary’s non-human internment division, this time skipping the human criminals for a team of monstrous misfits. While Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) helms the new squad, The Bride (Indira Varma) is the obvious leader. She’s inhumanly strong and knows how to fight, but is aloof when it comes to her new crew, or anyone, for that matter. 

In the first episode of the series, Task Force M(onster) heads to the fictional European country of Pokolistan. The Bride returns to her birthplace, Frankenstein Manor, where we get glimpses of her backstory with Victor Frankenstein (Peter Serafinowicz). Her creation follows the usual story beats, with her terrified reaction to seeing her betrothed, Eric Frankenstein (David Harbour), Victor’s first creation. Unlike most interpretations of the Creature, Eric is eloquent in his speech. However, he’s so insecure and obsessed with the woman he feels entitled to that he only comes off as aggressive. It’s a fun, rather hilarious take on the familiar story.

Where to watch: HBO Max

The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster (2023)

Written and directed by Bomani J. Story (Rock Steady Row), The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster centers on genius teenager Vicaria (Laya DeLeon Hayes). The budding mad scientist is grieving the death of her brother, Chris (Edem Atsu-Swanzy), who died from a gunshot wound after a gang-related altercation. Believing that “death is a disease,” she sets out to discover a cure and ends up reanimating her brother’s corpse. But as we’ve seen in other Frankenstein-inspired tales, one’s creations can, and likely will, be dangerous. 

Aside from the 1973 Blaxploitation film Blackenstein, The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster is the first time I’ve seen Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein through a Black lens. Like the character of Victor in the famous novel, Vicaria lost her mother at a young age, inspiring her to find another way to create life.

Where to watch: Hulu

The post They’re Alive! Six Frankenstein Adaptations to Watch for a Monstrous Halloween appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.

It: Welcome to Derry was developed for television by It and It: Chapter Two director Andy Muschietti, his sister and producing partner, Barbara Muschietti, and Jason Fuchs, with Fuchs and Brad Caleb Kane (Tokyo Vice) as co-showrunners. The creative team crafted the prequel series based on the interludes in Stephen King’s novel with Mike Hanlon’s research into Derry, its residents, and the various sightings of It. 

This season is the first in a trilogy that will explore the cataclysmic events in Derry’s history (with dates adjusted to fit the timeline of Muschietti’s films), beginning with the Black Spot fire in 1962, then going back to the Bradley Gang massacre in 1935, and the Kitchener Ironworks explosion in 1908. Each cycle of disappearances, deaths, and violence concludes with one of these notable incidents as a final bloodbath before the terror goes on a 27-year hiatus. 

With Muschietti’s It being set in 1989, Welcome to Derry takes place in early 1962, 27 years before the Losers’ Club. The pilot sets the darker tone with Matty (Miles Ekhardt), a boy hoping to escape his abusive homelife, because if there’s anything the parents of Derry will do it’s traumatize their children. Trudging along in the snow, he hitches a ride with a deceptively normal-looking family and disappears. 

Months later, Major Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo) arrives in Maine, along with his friend, Captain Pauly Russo (Rudy Mancuso), to work under General Shaw (James Remar) at the Derry Air Force Base (D.A.F.B.). He’s soon joined by his wife Charlotte (Taylour Paige), an activist and stay-at-mom, and his charming and nerdy son, Will (Blake Cameron James).

Before we actually meet Will, we follow his future classmate Lilly (Clara Stack) as she battles personal demons, namely the loss of a parent. She’s not as close with her best friend Margie (Matilda Lawler), who’s torn between popularity and being an emotionally supportive friend. Lilly is also mourning Matty, which brings her together with Teddy (Mikkal Karim Fidler) and Phil (Jack Molloy Legault). Ronnie (Amanda Christine), daughter of Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider), a projectionist at the Capitol theater, makes her way into the group, along with Will and his friend Rich (Arian S. Cartaya).

We’re introduced to several characters, some newly created and others somewhat familiar. It’s a lot at first, especially for viewers who don’t know the coterie of King characters, but given this is a prequel, not all of them make it to the end. 

As the story unfolds, we see the events from different perspectives, mainly Major Hanlon’s top secret work at the Air Base, Will with his new trauma bonded friends, and Charlotte as she gets to know her new town. She sees many menacing characters, and since she’s not yet numb to the kid on kid violence, her effort to stop a beating is met with stares. 

It’s likely some viewers will gravitate more toward one perspective over the other. However, the show does a great job balancing the narratives so both have equal screentime. With secondhand shop owner Rose (Kimberly Norris Guerrero) and her nephew, Daniel (Joshua Odjick), the series also spotlights the Native American community who have their own history with the entity. 

Major Hanlon also meets Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk), a well-known character in the Stephen King Universe, previously played by Scatman Crothers in The Shining and Carl Lumbly in Doctor Sleep. In Welcome to Derry, Hallorann is an airman using his special abilities to locate the source of the 27-year cycles. 

Despite being kids on bikes looking for the shapeshifter, this new group of tormented youngsters aren’t rehashing the same plans as the Losers’ Cub. Some story beats are similar, like each kid experiencing their own nightmarish encounters with the entity and eventually banding together because no adults believe them.

The young actors deliver great performances in solo scenes and one-on-one interactions, but their chemistry isn’t always felt when they’re in a group. And if they look a little different throughout the series, that’s because the kids grew between wrapping for the strikes and returning to filming. 

While Pennywise the Clown (Bill Skarsgård, also an executive producer) doesn’t fully appear right away, the evil entity takes on many other creatively terrifying forms to torment Derry’s children. As much as we love the demented clown, the build up makes the moment he arrives all the more exciting and satisfying. 

Within the first ten minutes of the pilot, the Muschiettis and team give us plenty of nightmare fuel scenarios and creatures with some wild body horror. The slimy, squelchy, bone-cracking sound design and impressively grotesque imagery really standout, but the scares are often overpowered by unnecessary, distracting loud noises. The movies were also guilty of this, though the series really amps it up. 

It: Welcome to Derry is an immersive prequel series that balances compelling narratives and characters with blood-soaked horror and delightfully disgusting effects. The show had the task of further adapting the best-selling novel, while expanding on the mythos of the cursed town, and it more than meets expectations. 

It: Welcome to Derry will debut on October 26, 2025, on HBO and HBO Max, followed by weekly episodes through December 14.

The post Review: Andy Muschietti’s ‘It: Welcome to Derry’ Dives into the Town’s Lore and Evil Origins appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.

A group of pre-teen misfits — Sean (Andre Gower), Patrick (Robby Kiger), and Horace (Brent Chalem) — bond over their love of horror movies. Rudy (Ryan Lambert), a cool junior high kid with a ’50s greaser style, also joins the club. Sean’s little sister, Phoebe (Ashley Bank), desperately wants to be a part of the club, but it’s boys only, of course. However, sometimes Eugene (Michael Faustino), who is likely only a little older than Phoebe, gets to tag along. 

Their kids’ horror knowledge comes in handy when monsters invade their town in search of a powerful artifact. Club leader Sean comes into possession of the diary of legendary monster hunter Dr. Abraham Van Helsing (Jack Gwillim). With the help of the neighborhood’s Scary German Guy (Leonardo Cimino), the team is able to translate the diary and learn more about an ancient amulet.

Scary German Guy, who is actually a kind man, says that he “has some experience with monsters.” It’s revealed to the audience that he has a number tattooed on his arm, meaning he’s a Holocaust survivor. Quite dark for a movie targeting kids, but it’s never addressed so we’re just left to sit with that. 

Count Dracula (Duncan Regehr) is hellbent on retrieving the amulet, which would give him the power to rule the world, because that’s what every villain wants. He forms an army of monsters to help him, including the Wolfman (Jon Gries/Carl Thibault), the Mummy (Michael Reid MacKay), Frankenstein’s Monster (Tom Noonan), and the Gillman (Tom Woodruff Jr.), who was obviously modeled after the eponymous character in Creature from the Black Lagoon. 

Regehr’s interpretation of Dracula is considered one of the best in film/TV history. He plays Dracula as very serious and malevolent. He’s not sexualized or charismatic, which are usually staples for the character. Tom Noonan as Frankenstein’s Monster plays to his more innocent aspects. He forms a sweet bond with Phoebe, which in turn allows her to join the boys‘ club. These are the only monsters who have any personality. The other three kind of just do what they’re told. I’m not sure what purpose the Mummy serves, but he’s pretty scary to look at. 

The Monster Squad doesn’t seem like it would be a well-made film with high production value. The film’s biggest strength is its special effects. The monsters look fantastic thanks to the Stan Winston Studio and its expert artists. Universal wouldn’t license their monsters, so the art department was tasked with making creatures with a likeness to the classic monsters. 

Like most cult classics, The Monster Squad bombed in theaters, likely due to the poor marketing. Opening two weeks after The Lost Boys didn’t help either. It was also a bit confusing that it seems like a kids movie, but is rated PG-13. It took the film years to build a fanbase. Thanks to cable television and VHS rentals, it reached a wider audience. The resurgence is owed to its diehard fans, who campaigned for a DVD release and got it. 

Some aspects of it don’t hold up for an audience today. It’s not Revenge of the Nerds-level bad, though. There are some homophobic slurs, slut-shaming, and fat-shaming, which isn’t surprising given it’s an ’80s movie. Those instances will make you cringe, but that doesn’t make it less entertaining. Just don’t expect it to pass the Bechdel test, or the DuVernay test for that matter. The only Black character is Detective Sapir (Stan Shaw), and he’s only there so Sean’s dad, Del (Stephen Macht), has someone other than his family to talk to.

Lisa Fuller, who plays a teenage girl and has enough scenes in the movie to warrant a name, is simply credited as “Patrick’s Sister.” Scary German Guy has a pivotal role, yet we never learn his real name. However, if you see it from a kid’s point-of-view, you don’t really care about actual names. You call them what you call them, especially your friends’ siblings.

There are plenty of logical flaws (that the filmmakers and cast are completely aware of), like, why did the Mummy randomly hide in a kid’s closet only to do nothing and then leave? Where did the Desperate Man (aka the human who turns into a werewolf) come from, and who bit him? Why does a vampire go around tossing dynamite when he possesses otherworldly abilities? So many questions. But do we need the answers? Not really. Horror asks you to suspend belief and that’s definitely necessary here. 

The Monster Squad is not a perfect film, but it’s an enjoyable one. It makes me nostalgic for a time I didn’t even live in, which I think is effective. If you can avoid viewing this 1987 film with a present-day lens, you’ll have a good time watching it. You also can’t put too much thought into the nonsensical plot. Laughing at its ridiculousness is part of the fun. 

The Monster Squad is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video, Paramount+, and for free on YouTube. 

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It wasn’t until Seed of Chucky that he made his directorial debut, which hit theaters on November 11, 2004. Unfortunately, it didn’t do well at the box office, making it the last Child’s Play movie to premiere in theaters. Some fans consider it the worst in the franchise, though others, especially the LGBTQ+ community, regard it as a campy cult classic. 

With the 20th anniversary approaching and in honor of the unceremonious cancellation of the Chucky series, let’s look back at this polarizing film that the studio considered “too gay, too funny…” and had “too much Jennifer Tilly” (as if there’s ever such a thing).

Most, if not all, horror franchises run into the same problem after a few sequels — the slashers stop being scary. To avoid that, Mancini subverted expectations by steering the Child’s Play films in a more comedic, self-referential direction, beginning with 1998’s Bride of Chucky directed by Ronny Yu (Freddy vs. Jason). There were still horror elements but it deviated from the story of Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent and Justin Whalin), the young protagonist central to Child’s Play 1–3. The film introduced Chucky’s (Brad Dourif) fabulously twisted ex-girlfriend, Tiffany Valentine, played to perfection by Jennifer Tilly.

After bribing and then killing a police officer to obtain Chucky’s remains, Tiffany stitches him together and recites the Damballa voodoo spell to resurrect her old lover. Tiffany spent a decade looking for Chucky, believing that he planned to marry her but he laughs in her face at the idea, so she locks him in a playpen, later taunting him with a bride doll. At this point, Chucky has come back from the dead four times; a measly cage doesn’t hold him for long. After killing her in a very cool Bride of Frankenstein-inspired death, Chucky traps Tiffany in the bride doll, which she gives a serious glow-up in a makeover montage. 

To transfer their souls into humans, the doll couple needs the Heart of Damballa amulet, inconveniently located 6 feet under in Hackensack, New Jersey, with Charles Lee Ray’s corpse. Tiffany pays her neighbor Jesse (Nick Stabile) to deliver the dolls, and he brings along his girlfriend Jade (Katherine Heigl). 

The two couples go on a wild road trip leaving several bodies in their wake. After witnessing Tiffany committing a gruesomely creative murder involving a waterbed, a mirror, and a Champagne bottle, Chucky finally puts a ring on it. But their violently rocky relationship hits a few speed bumps along the way, and by the end, they’re literally at each other’s throats in a cemetery. Tiffany tries to kill Chucky, but he stabs her instead, and then Jade shoots him to death. Before the credits roll, Tiffany briefly wakes up and gives birth to a slimy, sharp-toothed (kinda cute) baby doll. 

Seed of Chucky picks up six years later and we learn that the screeching infant was found by a British guy named Psychs (Keith-Lee Castle), a cruel ventriloquist who forces the ghoulish-looking doll (voiced by Billy Boyd) that he dubbed Shitface to be the dummy in his act. The orphaned doll has a kind and gentle heart but is plagued by murderous nightmares.

Meanwhile, in Hollywood, actor Jennifer Tilly (played by Jennifer Tilly) is on the set of Chucky Goes Psycho, a horror film based on the legend of the dolls inhabited by the souls of serial killers. The last time we saw Chucky and Tiffany, they were burnt to a crisp and riddled with bullets, but they’ve since had a makeover. Luckily, their offspring sees them on TV with the same Made in Japan markings, then flees England and runs away to Los Angeles to find their family. Better yet, they have the amulet to bring them back to life. 

While he’s mostly referred to as male, the character’s gender is ambiguous. Chucky wants a boy, Tiffany wants a girl, so their child is called Glen or Glenda (an homage to Ed Wood’s cult classic). Tiffany sets her sights on transferring her soul into Jennifer Tilly and Chucky’s into hip-hop superstar-turned-director Redman (playing himself). The plan is to impregnate Jennifer and whatever baby pops out is for Glen or Glenda. 

Considering their brief but nightmarish introduction in Bride, this “Dickensian waif” who wets his pants when he’s nervous was not what fans expected. Instead of a natural-born killer with their parents’ same lust for murder, Glen/Glenda is firmly against killing, at least a part of them. As they struggle with their gender identity, they also confront their killer instincts.

Seed haters couldn’t get on board with the meta-Hollywood aspect. Jennifer Tilly playing a version of herself while still voicing Tiffany, and later playing Tiffany in the body of Jennifer Tilly, is a lot to wrap your head around. She pokes fun at herself by playing a washed-up actor, annoyed with doing horror when she wants the juicy parts given to Julia Roberts. She’s determined to land the role of the Virgin Mary in Redman’s “Bible epic.

Many often critique the multiple plot points, believing there are too many things going on when all that should be happening is Chucky killing people. Still, the film has some pretty cool kills. Glen/Glenda takes out sleazy paparazzo Pete Peters (John Waters) with acid and sets Jennifer’s assistant Joan (Hannah Spearritt) on fire, both accidents. Tiffany disembowels Redman after he fires Jennifer for being pregnant (though Mary would indeed be pregnant).

The comedy is very much of the time back when people thought it was cool to hate Britney Spears and celebs like Martha Stewart and Anna Nicole Smith were frequently referenced. But there’s still some humor that holds up. Glen/Glenda knowing nothing about himself other than the Made in Japan manufacturer mark and informing his personality is just hilarious.

Seed is also very much about acceptance. Tiffany tries to fight what she sees as an addiction to killing and knows that she wants to be a mother first (with some murderous tendencies). Jennifer gives birth to twins, allowing Glen/Glenda to split their identities in two. Even Chucky finds self-acceptance. Since the beginning, his main motivation has been to transfer his soul into a human body for good. But here, he realizes that he would rather embrace his serial killing nature in doll form, declaring “I am Chucky, the killer doll. And I dig it!”

Seed of Chucky is not for everyone, namely anyone looking for something truly terrifying. Mancini took a big swing making a full-on comedy that plays into the absurdity of killer dolls while touching on poignant topics like gender identity, addiction, and acceptance. For those who can accept that Seed of Chucky is a meta off-the-rails comedy, it’s a gory, good time. 

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Director Steve Beck (Ghost Ship), with writers Neal Marshall Stevens (Hellraiser: Deader) and Richard D’Ovidio (Hypnotic), put their own spin on William Castle’s 1960 film 13 Ghosts, but it didn’t do so hot at the box office back in October 2001. Thirteen Ghosts has gained a cult following of those who can appreciate the roster of titular spirits and high-quality production design. 

Thirteen Ghosts begins with wealthy ghost hunter Cyrus Kriticos (F. Murray Abraham) and psychic Dennis Rafkin (Matthew Lillard) seeking out a violent ghost in a junkyard. One of the first things we see is a semi-truck spraying blood around to lure the ghost out, sparking a massacre that seemingly kills Cyrus and many of his employees. 

Cyrus’s estranged nephew Arthur Kriticos (Tony Shalhoub), a financially unstable widower and single father, learns that his uncle died and left him an entire mansion. His two kids, Kathy (Shannon Elizabeth) and Bobby (Alec Roberts) are all about it. Along with their live-in nanny Maggie (Rah Digga), who they can somehow afford even though they’re already struggling to pay bills, the family head out to their new (maybe) home with Cyrus’ smarmy lawyer Ben Moss (J.R. Bourne). 

When they arrive at the completely glass Hellraiser-like puzzle house, Dennis weasels his way in disguised as an electrician. While the Kriticos gang roams around the mansion in awe, he finds Cyrus’ collection of captured spirits in the basement. Each one has its own glass cell inscribed with Latin containment spells to keep them trapped. But the clueless lawyer unknowingly activates the giant machine (aka the house), releasing them one by one.

Obviously, the best part about Thirteen Ghosts is the ghosts. But designing a glass mansion with exposed clock-like machinery that runs on gears and cogs warrants some serious praise for Sean Hargreaves (Thor: Ragnarok), too. It’s totally giving off lament configuration vibes. Watching Dennis and the Kriticos family have to make their way through this frustrating, impossible-to-navigate labyrinth while taking turns swapping spectral glasses and dodging wandering ghosts makes me think the ghosts must be just as confused by the layout. 

Kalina Oretzia (Embeth Davidtz), a ghost emancipator rather than catcher and former enemy of Cyrus, pops up out of nowhere to throw flares and give us a quick overview of the film’s mythology involving an ancient book, Hell, and the “Black Zodiac.”

The tortured souls of the Black Zodiac are the First Born Son (Mikhael Speidel), the Torso (Daniel Wesley), the Bound Woman (Laura Mennell), the Withered Lover (Kathryn Anderson), the Torn Prince (Craig Olejnik), the Angry Princess (Shawna Loyer), the Pilgrimess (Xantha Radley, the Great Child (C. Ernst Harth), the Dire Mother (Laurie Soper), the Hammer (Herbert Duncanson), the Jackal (Shayne Wyler), and the Juggernaut (John DeSantis).

But what about the thirteenth ghost? Well, it’s not revealed until later in the movie and I won’t spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet. 

The spirits’ origins range from a rich girl strangled on prom night to an African American blacksmith who met a tragic Candyman-like demise that left him with a hammer in place of a hand. Most of them died violent deaths making them vengeful spirits out to kill anyone they could. The Jackal is chaos personified, truly a beast. But anyone who watched Thirteen Ghosts when they were going through puberty likely paid extra attention to the Angry Princess, aka the completely naked ghost covered in self-inflicted slashes all over her body. 

Legendary industry pros Howard Berger (Werewolf by Night), Greg Nicotero (The Walking Dead), and Robert Kurtzman (The Haunting of Hill House) all worked behind the scenes to craft the prosthetic special effects, so it’s no surprise that the work is amazing. Like Mike Flanagan’s many masterful projects with tangible spectators, these ghosts were once people with their own backstories and personalities. Each character’s design itself tells a story, not so subtly showing the ways in which they died. Background details are glossed over in the actual movie but the Ghost Files bonus segment goes into each one. 

These fully-realized ghosts deserve their own miniseries (and I nominate Mike Flanagan to write/direct). The Bound Woman actually reminds me a lot of the Bent-Neck Lady from The Haunting of Hill House, which makes sense since Kurtzman worked on both projects. 

The scene-stealing Matthew Lillard has the most energy since Dennis is tasked with pleading with pessimistic nonbelievers to avoid putting everyone’s lives in danger. The other stand-out performances are Tony Shalhoub and F. Murray Abraham, although that might be because they’re given a lot more to work with than, say, Rah Digga. Her role as Maggie is reduced to the “hello no” nanny voice of reason, offering up a quippy “what the hell?” or “I don’t think so” at any moment. The film definitely lacks characterization and diversity. 

Thirteen Ghosts is no longer a guilty pleasure but a horror movie I unapologetically enjoy watching. Yes, it’s schlocky with a clunky narrative, terrible ADR, and nonsensical editing. But for the early aughts, it’s an inventive film with top talent creating mind-blowing effects and designs. And honestly, I can’t think of a movie with a more iconic set of special features. 

Thirteen Ghosts is available to rent on Prime Video (via an AMC+ subscription).

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The Jones family moves from Pontiac, Michigan to a big pink Victorian house, aka the Pink Palace Apartments, in somewhat rural Oregon. Coraline (Dakota Fanning) is an adventurous, supremely unhappy 11-year-old girl who clearly didn’t want to move. Her exhausted parents, Mel (Teri Hatcher) and Charlie (John Hodgman) write about gardening for a living.

They are overworked, grumpy, and dismissive, spending most of the film fretting over writing deadlines. (Just as we millennials started to identify more with Squidward than Spongebob, her stressed-out parents are sadly pretty relatable.) To Coraline, the only thing the adults are super busy with is being miserable and boring.

The old house is drab, made up of muted colors and cobwebs. Coraline stands out with her electric blue hair and wardrobe filled with bright oranges and yellows.

She is endlessly curious and painfully bored, but she’s actually surrounded by some interesting people. The downstairs neighbors are two aging former actresses, April Spink (Jennifer Saunders) and Miriam Forcible (Dawn French), with sing-songy voices and multiple living and deceased Scottish terriers. Upstairs is Mr. Bobinsky (Ian McShane), a former circus performer who trains jumping mice. None of them get her name right, but they give her cryptic warnings. 

While out exploring the grounds, she comes across a slinky black cat and meets its sort of owner, the landlord’s grandson Wyborne “Wybie” Lovat (Robert Bailey Jr.), the only one kid around. Coraline finds him both annoying and intriguing. Wybie isn’t a character from the book — he was created just for the film. He’s really only there so that she’s not talking to herself — and to give her a creepy doll with her likeness. 

After wandering around her new home, Coraline finds a small door that opens to a brick wall. But at night, it becomes a portal to a parallel universe where it’s always nighttime with glowing lights and warm and dreamy colors. Though she’s initially wary of the two much happier, button-eyed versions of her parents, she starts to enjoy herself once she sees that this world revolves around her.

Literal gravy trains, mango milkshakes on demand (ick), and even wackier versions of her eccentric neighbors keep Coraline consistently awed and entertained. The Other Mother made sure Other Wybie couldn’t talk, which is more than disturbing.

But Coraline is too distracted by the Other Mother’s love bombing to care that much. The Other Cat becomes her world-hopping companion, and here he can talk (in Keith David’s lovely and distinct voice).

Returning to the dull real world only intensifies Coraline’s already restless nature. However, each time she goes back through that door, the Other-verse seems off.  Then when she learns what’s required to stay there, she’s not down with it at all.

Things become even more surreal when the Other Mother doesn’t get what she wants, and all the fantastical “otherness” progressively crumbles, making the atmosphere less lively (almost like when Westview got all glitchy in WandaVision). Reality can be a bummer, but the fantasy world comes at a cost. 

The Other Mother’s terrifying true form, referred to as the Beldam, is a sharp and pointy spider-like creature desperately seeking the love of unhappy children. It taps into our childhood fear of some sinister force tricking us into thinking it’s our parent(s).

Maybe we grow out of that specific fear, but Coraline certainly reminds us of it. Gaiman told Entertainment Weekly in 2013, “I’m glad I wrote a book that has scary things in it and things that are worth being scared of and tells you that you should be brave, that you can persist, and you can triumph.”

Adding to the overall beauty of Coraline is knowing the massive amount of work that went into the painstakingly handcrafted sets, character designs, and stop-motion animation. The enchanting, melancholic music by Bruno Coulais (Wolfwalkers, Wendell & Wild) is somehow both soothing and creepy.

A children’s choir probably isn’t usually so unsettling. Coulais described the music in the beginning as “very quiet and realistic because it’s a realistic world.” But it’s quite different as the film goes on. “And little by little the music becomes quite scary by the end of the movie.”

Like any successful movie, there have been talks of a sequel for years. As much as I love Coraline, I don’t think it needs a sequel because the story has a satisfying ending. Sure, we’re left with some questions. But I don’t need the answers. 

Coraline is a weird and wonderful story, with stunning stop-motion visuals, and haunting music that really heightens the already eerie atmosphere. It’s more than a classic careful-what-you-wish-for tale. For kids, it’s the perfect gateway into the dark fantasy and horror genres. Henry Selick and Neil Gaiman are storytelling geniuses on their own. Together their styles combine to make one whimsical film. 

Coraline is available to stream on The Roku Channel and to rent on Prime Video.

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