While the 2000s saw the rise of fantasy blockbusters like The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, it was also a great time for stories that wove more darkness into the genre. The decade marked the rise of Guillermo del Toro as one of the world’s most prestigious directors, in part thanks to his Oscar-winning Pan’s Labyrinth, which intertwined the real and mythical in horrific and beautiful ways. Sweden’s haunting coming-of-age vampire flick Let the Right One In and the Keanu Reeves-led DC-inspired Constantine also possessed the screen, the former being hailed by Roger Ebert as “the best modern vampire movie” at the time and the latter becoming a beloved macabre cult classic with a sequel on the way. Among the best dark fantasies of the era, however, were not just live-action productions, but painstaking and chilling stop-motion animation that launched a prestigious studio.
In 2009, Coraline premiered in theaters and introduced the world to Laika Studios with a fright. The film was based on Neil Gaiman‘s novella of the same name and delivered a horror-fantasy experience that, while made for the whole family, wasn’t afraid to expose younger audiences to true fear through its haunting atmosphere and imagery that ranged from beautiful to nightmare-inducing. Its willingness to respect its viewers and show that being afraid in the face of real danger is not only natural but necessary for true courage to shine through is part of why the story is so highly regarded by both critics and audiences alike. Ahead of Halloween, HBO Max will soon call the modern classic home at least throughout the spooky season.
Coraline will be one of several horror titles arriving on the streaming platform starting on October 1. With that, viewers will be able to venture back to the Other World for another meeting with the button-eyed “Other Mother” for a holiday rewatch. The stop-motion masterpiece follows the titular young girl after her family moves to a new home. While her parents are busy, she takes the opportunity to explore the house, finding something altogether unexpected when she opens a secret door to an alternate reality. This Other World at first appears to be a better mirror of her own and everything she could ask for, until her other family reveals their true colors and tries to keep her there forever. A Nightmare Before Christmas director Henry Selick helmed the project, with Dakota Fanning leading a cast including Teri Hatcher, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, and Ian McShane.
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Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes What Is Your Biggest Horror Nightmare? Elm Street · Chucky · Scream · The Conjuring
Four horror franchises. Four completely different ways of scaring you. One waits until you fall asleep. One makes sure nobody believes you. One is already in your group of friends. And one is in the house with your family. Answer eight quick questions about how you actually watch horror, and find out which nightmare was built for you.
😴Elm Street(Freddy Krueger)
🧸Chucky(Child’s Play)
📞Scream(Ghostface)
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🕯️The Conjuring(The Warren Files)
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01
Which horror scene makes you cover your eyes? Four classic images. One of them is worse than the others for you.
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02
You are home alone and you hear a noise. First thought? Everybody has one. It arrives before you have decided anything.
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03
Which horror movie rule would you break first? Everybody thinks they would survive. Almost nobody actually does.
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04
Something genuinely frightening happens. What do you do? Not in a film. In your actual living room, tonight.
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05
How do you actually watch a horror film? Be honest about this one. Nobody is checking.
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06
Somebody offers you serious money. Which do you still refuse? The amount does not matter. There is one on this list you are not doing.
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07
Which feeling stays with you a week after the film? Good horror does not stop when the credits do.
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08
Something wakes you at 3am. What is the worst possibility? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides your nightmare.
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The Lights Just Went Out Your Nightmare Is…
Four franchises, four completely different ways of getting underneath
your skin. This is the one built out of your particular fear, why it works so well on you, and what
it would leave behind.
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A Nightmare on Elm Street · Since 1984
Elm Street
Your nightmare does not wait outside the door. It waits for you
to close your eyes, which you are going to have to do eventually, because nobody has ever
won that particular argument.
Freddy is horror’s cruellest idea: a threat that lives in the one place you cannot
guard, cannot lock, and cannot avoid forever.
You are the one who is fine during the film and wide awake at two in the morning. Your
own head is where this does its damage.
These films understood exhaustion as a horror engine. The kids on Elm Street do not lose
because they are weak. They lose because they are tired.
You can lock every door in the house. You still have to sleep.
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Child’s Play · Chucky · Since 1988
Chucky
Your nightmare is not really the doll. It is the face of the
person you tell, and the way they decide, very kindly, that you have imagined all of it.
Chucky works precisely because he is absurd. That is the trap: the more accurately you
describe him, the less anybody is going to believe you.
You are the one shouting at the screen because the characters are not listening. You
know that feeling from real life too.
The franchise is at its best when the adults in the room are the real obstacle, and you
have met those adults.
By the time somebody finally believes you, you will have handled most of it on your own.
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Scream · Ghostface · Since 1996
Scream
Your nightmare has your number, knows your name, and has almost
certainly been inside your house before. The worst part is that you already know them.
Scream is the only one of these where the killer takes the mask off and turns out to be
somebody who was at the party.
You are the person who calls the twist out loud before it lands. You watch people the
same way you watch films.
The franchise made the rules of horror part of the plot, which means the survivors are
the ones paying attention. You would be paying attention.
Everybody is a suspect, including the person who just offered to walk you home.
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The Conjuring · The Warren Files · Since 2013
The Conjuring
Your nightmare is not really about you. It is about the people
asleep down the hall, and the feeling that whatever is here is not interested in leaving.
The Conjuring films are domestic horror. The house, the family, the perfectly ordinary
room that quietly stops feeling ordinary.
Your instinct is to get everybody into one room. Your fear is protective rather than
personal, which is rarer than it sounds.
This is the one franchise where belief is the weapon. The people who come through it are
the ones who are not alone and refuse to be.
Whatever is here did not come for you. It came for the household, and you are the one
standing in the hallway.
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Laika Is About to Return to Theaters With Their New Fantasy Epic
The addition of Laika’s first acclaimed feature to the HBO Max catalog comes as the studio prepares to launch its new feature — Wildwood. The stop-motion giant has been trying to get an adaptation of Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis‘ book off the ground for some time now, beginning development back in 2011. After several delays, though, it’s finally coming to life in theaters on October 23 with a gorgeous, lush style directed by Travis Knight and a star-studded cast including Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Awkwafina, Angela Bassett, Jake Johnson, and more. At the center of it all is Prue McKeel (Lee), a girl who enters the fantastical, dangerously alive world in the woods outside of Portland to save her baby brother after he’s kidnapped by crows, only to find herself in the middle of a brewing war between the inhabitants and navigating factions of creatures that range from kind to formidable and cruel.
Coraline arrives on HBO Max starting October 1. Stay tuned here at Collider for more on all the biggest films coming to streaming throughout the year.
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Release Date
February 6, 2009
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Runtime
100 minutes
Producers
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Bill Mechanic, Claire Jennings, Harry Linden, Mary Sandell, Henry Selick
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