Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1505195
THE STAKES Ultimately, whether for kids or adults, horror is "always talking about something else," Adam Deats says. "It's never just about horror." Moreno King agrees: "Horror has always been a kind of allegory for other things going on. Good horror is rooted in the human experience." "The best horror movies are morality tales, going back to Grimm's fairy tales where children are eaten by wolves and baked in ovens," Roth says. "There's a reason those stories have lasted hundreds of years. Children use the stories as a mechanism for discussing their fears." Adults do, too. While the horror anchor in Little Demon is a daughter who happens to be the Antichrist, it's also about a broken family as the father tries to connect with her, and the parents fight in their efforts to win her over—the kind of story you might find in any "regular" drama-driven show. But with those kinds of shows, "it's pretty forgiving if the animation isn't pushed or the sound design isn't perfect," says Moreno King. "For horror, in order for it to sell, all of that stuff has to work. Whoever's doing it, they have to have a strong vision. [They] have to be able to create that world and stick to the rules of that world." Debuting in 2022, Little Demon was yet another animated horror show that broke ground "by even just existing," says Moreno King. Now, less than a year later, horror projects are flourishing, from an animated version of Stranger Things in the works to Castlevania: Nocturne in production. This is spurred in part by a new generation of creatives, audiences, and people with the power to greenlight shows that grew up on sophisticated animation and terrifying anime. It's also the result of something more intrinsic. "There's always been a hunger for it," says Artwick. "It's the same idea as why [people] are attracted to roller coasters. … You get that big rush of adrenaline and then you're safe. I think it's hard-wired into us. Horror is a really exciting space … where you can be on the edge of your seat and feel that danger and feel your heart rate go up, but at the end, you get to sit back and relax and be in your safe space." FALL 2023 33