The Scariest Cartoon
You'll Ever See

Has a cartoon ever truly scared the pants off you? I'm not talking about anime, which is an entirely different animal. I mean good old-fashioned American animation. The kinds from Disney, DreamWorks, and my personal favorite, Laika, which produced one of my favorite films ever, Coraline.

The 2009 stop-motion Gothic dark fantasy film Coraline genuinely terrified me the first time I watched it. And I was already in my late teens by then, mind you. I never thought a cartoon, even with stop-motion, could ever scare the bejeezus out of me. But this one did, and even now, I still get creeped out when I watch it.

The movie does a great job with all the Gothic dark fantasy stuff, which I never really liked in the first place. It has a Tim Burton feel, a slight Corpse Bride vibe, but it takes the horror to a totally different level. Some stuff will truly freak you out, especially the Other Mother, who actually appeared in my nightmares for a bit.

I have to applaud director Henry Selick, who brought Neil Gaiman's novel to the screen, for creating this underrated gem. Because of Coraline, I became a big fan of Selick's work.

I already knew Selick for directing The Nightmare Before Christmas, and I knew Coraline was gonna be good even before I saw it. I just didn't expect how much it would creep me out to the point of getting nightmares. Then again, that's a true mark of an excellent film.

Even with a voice cast that included Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, and Ian McShane, the person I most wanted to sign my Coraline movie poster was Selick.

The voice cast were all well-known, and I figured I'd cross paths with them at other events. But the people behind the camera are much harder to see in public. Selick, in particular, doesn't make many public appearances. So getting his autograph would be like finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.

Fortunately, I found that pot of gold at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con. That year, Selick attended the 25th-anniversary event for The Nightmare Before Christmas on Saturday, July 21, and Gaiman had appeared the day before on Amazon's panel previewing the upcoming fantasy-comedy series Good Omens.

It felt like fate finally answered my prayers for a chance to meet him. I'd been to countless Comic-Con editions over the years, but 2018 still stands out for this very reason.

Selick was lovely in person, and he liked how I loved Coraline. He seemed moved that I was a big fan, probably because Coraline was the last feature he'd directed at that point.

And of course, my Coraline movie poster ended up signed by both Selick and Gaiman. Their autographs satisfied me so much that I never sought out the voice cast. If you're a true Coraline fan, you'll understand.