10 Best Animated Haunted House Movies To Watch Before Netflix's The House - Screen Rant
Premiering on January 14, 2022, the Netflix original miniseries The House is a three-part animated horror-comedy that plays to the sensibilities of the older and younger crowd alike. The stop-motion anthology series follows three distinct stories set in one creepy haunted house, calling to mind some of the most memorable animated horror films of its ilk. Mainly, creepy cartoonish things going bump in the night in one relatively confined indoor location.
Animated horror fans who've yet to see The House or those awaiting the fate of a potential season 2 would be wise to prepare by checking out the coolest and spookiest animated haunted house movies.
Coraline - Stream On Roku
An absolute paragon of stop-motion animation, the Oscar-nominated Coraline takes the artistic plaudits that Henry Selick achieved in The Nightmare Before Christmas to a whole new level of excellence. Dakota Fanning stars as Coraline, a lonely and eccentric young girl whisked away into an otherworldly dimension through portals in her strange childhood home.
Aside from the dazzling animation, the movie captures the childlike imagination of Coraline like very few other films, allowing viewers to identify with and relate to Coraline as she encounters one freakish creature after another.
Monster House - Stream On Netflix
Produced by Hollywood legends Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis, Monster House is a pricey computer-animated feature that horror fans of every age ought to tour. The plot concerns a trio of young friends who discover that a freaky neighborhood abode is a living entity with terrifying motives.
Beyond the state-of-the-art motion-capture animation and genuine thrills and chills for a younger audience, the story is ultimately an uplifting tale of teenage friendship that everyone can glean valuable life lessons from. Moreover, the movie has tons of cool easter eggs relating to Stephen King's books and movies, which gives it a self-reflexive authority that adds to the fun.
ParaNorman - Stream On Netflix
One of the best character-driven haunted house animations, ParaNorman is a terrific tale about a misjudged young boy who comes into his own with newfound confidence. When a strange curse plagues his town of Blithe Hollow, Norman must use his ability to speak to the dead to quell a monstrous onslaught of zombies, witches, ghosts, ghouls. This includes protecting his home and his family's legacy.
Like any great children's film, the stop-motion animated horror movie teaches invaluable life lessons about self-acceptance, overcoming fears, and sacrificing for the greater good. While the story extends to Norman's neighborhood, the scene in which he visits the haunted Penderghast house is a pitch-perfect example of tension, suspense, horror, and comedy.
The Wolf House - Stream On AMC+
The little-known Spanish/German-language film The Wolf House may be the most terrifying animated house movie ever made. The story concerns Maria, a young woman who escapes a German colony and seeks refuge in a mysterious Chilean home. Once there, unspeakable evil ensues.
The avant-garde project took five years to complete, with the painstaking effort visible onscreen through a whirlwind of visual creativity. Surreal and nightmarish as can be, the mixed style of animation is almost identical to that of The House but is far scarier than most horror material geared toward children.
Monsters University - Stream On Disney+
Less of a residential abode than an official college campus, for all intents and purposes, Monsters University is akin to a haunted house movie. The misadventures of Mike and Sully are explored as they come of age in a prequel to Monsters Inc., providing some of the most impressive 3D animated artwork in some time.
A grand metaphor for being different, the movie is a rousing reminder for children to accept who they are no matter what others think. With hilarious jokes to appeal to parents and good messaging for the kids, the haunted dorm room scenes are up there with the best of them.
Scooby-Doo Meets The Boo Brothers - Stream On Boomerang
While there have been many worthy haunted houses that Scooby-Doo has frequented over the years, his time on a cursed plantation house in Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers is one of the better examples. A huge part of the appeal is the trio of ghostbusting spirits Scoob and the gang hires to quell the vengeful spirit of Shaggy's deceased uncle.
In addition to paying homage to Ghostbusters and other amusing horror movie references, the mysterious mansion itself is an eldritch maze of terror littered with bears, apes, headless horsemen, and a Skull Ghost that is sure to raise the hair of young horror fans everywhere.
Hotel Transylvania - Stream On Fubo
Semantics aside, Hotel Transylvania is essentially one large haunted house franchise in which the world's most infamous horror villains play hotelier hosts to the so-called normal people. Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the Mummy, and other classic Universal monsters get to prove how misunderstood they've been in the world for generations.
The franchise does such a good job of subverting stereotypes, bucking convention, and completely reimagines the harrowing horror villains as deeply flawed and fully-rounded characters with just as many petty problems as everyday human beings.
Frankenweenie - Stream On Disney+
From the uniquely inspired mind of visionary Tim Burton, Frankenweenie transcends the haunted house subgenre to become a profoundly moving tale of friendship. Yet the inciting resurrection of Victor's reanimated pet pooch Sparky takes place in a makeshift laboratory in his attic. Before exploring the neighborhood, the claustrophobic tension and suspense inside Victor's house are second to none.
Adapted from his own 1984 short film of the same name, Burton has a preternatural understanding of what it's like to be an outsider and uses the age-old Frankenstein template to convey a sense of alienation and isolation.
The Addams Family - Stream On Hulu
Adapted from the beloved 1960s sitcom, The Addams Family computer-animated movie released in 2019 incorporates a lot of campy, kitschy haunted house tropes that are quite amusing for older and younger crowds alike. The moody atmosphere of the Addams abode atop a mountain surrounded by foggy marshland is quite an unsettling sight to behold.
Between the moldering interiors of the decrepit manse, secret tunnels beneath the foundation, hidden surveillance cameras, and more, the movie celebrates the eerie eccentricities of the family rather than castigate them as terrifying, which is the basis of the morbid humor.
The Haunted House: The Secret Of The Cave - N/A To Stream
The first cinematic adaptation of Shinbi Apartment series, The Haunted House: The Secret of the Cave is a terrific Korean animated feature somewhat similar to Scooby-Doo. The story involves Shinbi, a 102-year-old goblin living in an apartment, and the secret cave it discovers along with two young protagonists.
The cave transports the trio to 1996 where they encounter the same apartment Shinbi inhabits in the present, leading to a harrowing backstory of an ancient village accursed with evil. While The Haunted House series can be streamed on Netflix, the film version is a bit harder to find. However, it's worth the search.
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