As you may have noticed, it's Halloween today and we thought we'd bring you a selection of the best spooky animated shorts.
But rather than seek out the obvious choices, we decided to delve a little deeper and pick out the best examples of animators taking a sideways glance at the horror genre and doing something a little different with it.
Some of these are funny, some are scary, but all are to be commended for both technique and originality. So, on with the show...
01. Rot
A really creepy atmosphere is created in this face painting stop motion animation by Erica Luke (opens in new tab). The claustrophobic sound design by Matthew Perryman (opens in new tab) helps intensify the mood.
02. Mighty Antlers
A sinister dear creature is conjured up in the mind of a man during a dramatic car crash. This animation was made by Sune Reinhardt (opens in new tab), Mikael Ilnæs (opens in new tab), Michael L. Fonsholt (opens in new tab) and Jouko Keskitalo (opens in new tab) while at the Animation Workshop (opens in new tab).
03. Buildings and vampires
Nico Casavecchia (opens in new tab) uses an audio excerpt from Where The Wild Things Are (opens in new tab) to illustrate a surreal story about a little vampire that has a pretty terrible day.
04. Catzilla
This short trailer for Catzilla from Polish studio Patige Image (opens in new tab) features a scraggy mutant cat who seems to have created a post apocalyptic world to a dubstep soundtrack.
05. Zombigotchi
Stop motion genius Mikey Please gets handy with a paper zombie in this great little promo animation for the iPhone game 'Zombigotchi!".
06. Meanwhile
This spooky forest has a charming retro feel to it. This brilliant short was created by Alasdair Brotherston and Jock Mooney (opens in new tab) for super animation studio Trunk (opens in new tab).
07. Vicious zombie circle
Love can be a tricky thing, even for zombies. This is highlighted in violently humorous fashion by Alex Amelines (opens in new tab) from Studio Tinto (opens in new tab).
08. Don't hug me I'm scared
This short is scary in a more unconventional way. What starts of as a jolly sing along descends into madness as Becky Sloan & Joseph Pelling from 'This Is It' collective (opens in new tab) conjures up a nightmare world out of puppetry. Stick with it - the tipping point comes two minutes in when they start to 'get creative'.
09. Dead Beat Dad
A junior 'Frankenstein' takes a school science project a bit too far in this lighthearted animation made by Kevin Williams (opens in new tab) while studying on the BAA Animation Program at Sheridan College.
10. Lego Halloween Style
In this promo short released just yesterday, some of the best-known Lego characters go out trick or treating. But who should come to the door but Frankenstein! What will happen to our little friends...? (Okay, maybe this isn't the most inventive animation ever. But hey, it's great fun, it's Lego, it's Halloween... we just had to include it!).
Words: Andy Martin (opens in new tab)
Andy Martin is a freelance animation director with over 10 years experience in the field. He also dabbles in illustration and music creation. See his work at his site (opens in new tab) and follow him at @handymartian (opens in new tab).
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We hope you all stay safe while enjoying all the fun of Halloween night. Remember, it's all fun and games until someone gets run over or falls down.
