It seems we’re still not entirely accustomed to treating animated films as regular cinema. They’re often seen as either solely for children, or as parodies or arthouse visual masterpieces for adults. “Monster House” (2006), by the young Gil Kenan, is primarily aimed at children because it’s about them. However, it’s also a step towards that “normality” where films like “The Grudge,” “The Amityville Horror,” “The Skeleton Key,” and many other adult horror films can take a backseat, at least within the genre. “Monster House” is a horror cartoon without the pretense of fairy tale or parody (though it does have humor). Imagine the treats that animated melodramas, animated action films, and animated detective stories are preparing for us in the near future.
All it took was a new technology, first used in Zemeckis’ “The Polar Express” (2004). Steve Buscemi worked on a green screen, covered in sensors, wires, and cigarette butts, while the grumpy old man in the film was entirely animated, with no trace of Steve. Or rather, the trace is the perfectly normal movement, without any gaps, while the face, the surroundings, and the capabilities are all completely free. It doesn’t seem like this technology, which initially amazes the imagination, will become outdated in a few years. On the contrary, it seems like it will soon develop to the point where it can revive long-outdated genres with its semi-reality and semi-conditionality. Thanks to “semi-animation,” beloved stories of the past, from Capra to Hitchcock, can become relevant again, without condescending smiles.
The Characters and the Plot
For now, the characters are just kids: two neighborhood stray boys and a girl from a good family. The adults are on the sidelines: a nasty babysitter with a lowlife lover, a couple of idiotic cops (interestingly, a black character is “played” by a black actor). But that’s just the plot, which was originally written for a “normal” film. In a live-action movie, it would have become another didactic “modern fairy tale,” of which there are hundreds (like “Moydodyr”). But in the cartoon, as producers Spielberg and Zemeckis rightly realized, the plot is simply contemporary in its fashion for cursed places. Perhaps they only lacked the courage for the characters’ eyes. The blatant doll-like quality of all the eyes (done deliberately, since all the other facial expressions are impeccable) gives the plot an amusement park feel, but lowers the level of fear it could have easily generated.
The Story Unfolds
Every scary Halloween night, a dark, dark house on an empty, empty street swallows several people. Mostly children, and the boy from the house across the street has already suspected something. Watching old man Nebbercracker through his telescope, he sees that every toy, from a ball to a bicycle, that lands on the surrounding lawn is sucked into the depths of the house. But his parents don’t believe him and are off for the weekend to promote dentures. The boy calls his friend to investigate, and after their latest provocations, Nebbercracker ends up in the ambulance with a terminal diagnosis. The path to the dark house is clear, all that’s left is to neutralize the nasty babysitter. That’s an easy task, and the neighbor girl from a good family has also suspected something, and no one believes her either. And so, the three risk approaching the enemy on the upcoming Halloween night…
Final Thoughts
I’d be killed for telling you more, and rightly so, but I must say that sentimentality, tenderness, and didacticism in the cartoon are perfectly combined with the horror beginning. They don’t jar at all, as they would in a live-action film. Because the plot is tightly conceived, and in its semi-conditionality, it is extremely concise. Don’t expect any emotional shocks yet, overall it’s all a bit boring. But parents who accompanied their children to “Monster House” (it’s rated PG in the US, but could easily be shown to 5-year-olds in our country) still have something to think about.
Even judging by their film technologies, will we, with our ignorance, unprofessionalism, and unwillingness to change anything, be able to hold out without a complete breakdown, at least until the end of our own lives, let alone the lives of our children?