Halloween is only a few days away and to put it bluntly, we’re a little overexcited. We thought that what better way to get into the mood than to share some of our favourite Halloween-related animated videos. Pumpkin-dodgers leave now!
Scary Day from Andreé Chujutally on Vimeo.
A short and sweet one to start things off, Scary Day is a colourful, funny animation featuring a young boy and his purple friend who relentlessly tries (and fails) to scare the boy in as many ways as possible. The simplistic style makes the characters very cute and Andree Chujutally does a cracking job to capture the spirit of Halloween in all its frightening fun with such a short piece. Horror movie fans will get a serious kick out of the costume changes in this one, and I defy anyone not to crack a smile at the struggle of the poor little purple guy! This is definitely one for the kids and we absolutely love it but it’s just a taste of what’s to come.
Twelve A.M by CJC Entertainment
Home alone? Check. Dark and stormy night? Check. Twelve A.M. has got all the ingredients for a spine-tingling video, and it really delivers! CJC Entertainment lay the tension on thick by using lingering shots with minimal animation to make you feel a sense of growing dread in this horror short. We love the blue colour pallet and the creepy atmosphere it brings, it gives us chills just thinking about it. The use of shadow and sharp lines provides a really clean finish and some sparing use of foreground blurring gives it a sense of depth hard to achieve with such a cartoony style. This video made us remember our childhood memories of hiding under the covers at noises in the night, we’re much braver nowadays. Honest.
Fear in-sane by CHD Animation
Now we couldn’t share our favourite Halloween animations without including some stop motion. Fear in-sane definitely deserves a spot on this list, think of it as an incredible, gothic version of Wallace and Gromit. As you can probably guess from the image above, this one is a little bit darker than the others, so skip it if you don’t go in for that kind of thing! We adore how the washed-out, saturated tone makes the finale even more striking and unsettling. The moisture animation is so slick too!
Pip the Robot: Halloween (2012) by David Novis
Those of you that skipped the last one can come back now! Davis Novis delivers this quirky, endearing animation using his recurring character, Pip, who thoroughly lightens the mood with his adorable bumbling. This video is filled with a blanket of fog and silhouettes which give it a mysterious, dreamy feel. As much as we love the visuals of this short, the true genius here is in the fantastic script – It’s incredible! The narration takes Dr. Suess as its inspiration and when paired with the chilling organ background music and the wonderfully delivered voice acting, it makes Pip the Robot: Halloween (2012) an absolute must-watch. A massive well done to all the guys that worked on this, we think it’s brilliant!
Scary Go Round by Peter Eriksson
Let us begin by apologising to all the clown-phobics out there! (That’s Coulrophobics for the nerds!). Peter Eriksson’s Scary Go Round is a beautiful and terrifying animated version of an award-winning image titled Halloween Circus, also by Eriksson. I think you’ll agree that the motion adds an especially creepy touch. The way that it’s been animated is so fluid and professional and as much as we admire the incredibly smooth finish, it gives us the heebie-jeebies every time. This monochrome video gives special attention to the use of lighting, creating dark shadows and disorienting contrasting light. Despite not really having a plot, this one has so much detail and polish that it’s definitely worth a watch, trust us, you won’t be disappointed.
Vincent by Tim Burton
Now to wrap things up with a true classic in every sense of the word! Perfect for Halloween, Vincent is a combination of gloom and humour that could only be pulled off by the great Tim Burton himself. It enlists the vocal talent of the late Vincent Price and with quotation from Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven, this short animated film from 1982 is a celebration of horror and it holds up amazingly well. Burton produced this short whilst still working at Walt Disney Animation Studios and fans of his will find this an absolute treat, his style oozing out of every frame. We think that Vincent is a masterpiece of spooky stop motion and we hope you do too!
That’s all guys, thanks for reading! We hope you enjoyed it and would love to know which video you loved the most? Also, let us know if we missed out on any great Halloween videos that you love!? Drop us a comment below and let us know! You can also shoot us an email to hello@fudgeanimation.com.
