Coraline: A Horror Film for Children
Revisiting Henry Selick’s masterful stop-motion adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s superb novella
Warning: Contains spoilers
I read Neil Gaiman’s children’s novella Coraline shortly after the book was released. The spare, spine-tingling prose made it an instant personal favourite. A movie adaptation was inevitable, with Henry Selick proving the ideal choice for such a task, alongside animation studios Laika (also responsible for gems including Corpse Bride, The Boxtrolls, ParaNorman, and Kubo and the Two Strings). Having previously helmed stop-motion masterpiece The Nightmare Before Christmas, Selick created, to my mind, an even better feature than that Tim Burton-produced cult favourite. In essence, Selick’s Coraline is a horror film for children; a dark fairy tale with a cautionary message about appreciating your parents.
When I first saw this in the cinema, on the way out afterwards, I overheard horrified parents making comments to the effect of “That should never have been PG” mingled with the responses of gleeful children muttering “That was brilliant”. That I was firmly in the latter category means I am either very much in touch with my inner child, or else understand what so many adults do not: Fairy tales, especially those with a strong moral underpinning like Coraline…