Hallowe'en Tricks & Treats

Just as every holiday season has its schedule of releases (Summer blockbuster, Christmas-themed family movies, Easter childrens films tying in with their Spring break etc), Hallowe’en too has become a breeding ground for the undead to attack the box office.

With horror film franchises creeping up to be regular favourite-fixations on-demand, on TV and on the big screen during this period (Saw, Hostel, Paranormal Activity in recent years), there was an identified gap in the market that would provide dark humour targeted at a younger audience that weren’t able to watch gory slasher films.

What started with the success of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas – a mixture of fairy tale, bedtime story, Christmas film and dark humoured musical – all keeping in mind a younger audience, has begun a trend with an increased acceptance that schoolchildren will watch genre films that have them in mind. Today there’s Sinister and Silent Hill for the teenage and adult crowd and the trilogy of Frankenweenie, Hotel Transylvania and ParaNorman to entertain the younger crowd and get them out for a Hallowe’en film. The success of children’s films isn’t to be underestimated. Big earners in recent years have mostly come from children’s films (even disastrously rated and reviewed ones, ahem Top Cat), beating big box office competition.

The Harry Potter franchise has a lot to answer for. Not only did it introduce younger children to the cinema going experience but it also revived school trips to the pictures and family outings. The 8 films in the series dominated the box office for the decade the series was showing (2001-2011), which in turn meant that those who started young with the first film are now part of the paying audience graduating to teen flicks and the wider film-going experience. Even if they only watched the Harry Potter films, the trip to the cinema was now a routine that they’d not want to break free from. The Twilight saga (4 films over 2008-12) captured the newly christened “tween” audience and every studios searching for the next franchise to both feed those they’ve raised and also entice the next generation in the same way these films have done. The superhero franchises were typically tested as being targeted at a strong male 18-24 year old audience, which changed when extremely dark and violent worlds such as those portrayed in Chris Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy defied box office expectations. A far cry from the caped crusader’s campy television show starring Adam West which had its roots firmly planted in a child-friendly zone. Through the success of the X-Men films (which cleverly translated the male-female balance and issues in print onto the big screen hitting a wider demographic), Spider-Man movies and the single and joint outing of the Avengers, it’s clear that the youth market is the wheel that makes the box office go round. Cue a fresh reboot of Star Trek and a bubbling announcement that hands the reins of the Star Wars franchise to a family friendly and youth-oriented Disney and no self-respecting box office analyst can say they didn’t see this one coming.

So this Hallowe’en indulge in the unsurprising child-friendly films that are showing at the local multiplex (including a new Madagascar film in Europe coinciding with its on-demand release in the US) and witness the daytime queues to see the trilogy of spooky-ish films that are ParaNorman, Frankenweenie and Hotel Transylvania.

After all, Hallowe’en isn’t about ghosts, goblins, exorcisms and possession. It’s about candy and trick or treating – which sounds very similar to a film-going experience to me.

London Film Festival opening night: Frankenweenie

Mutts, Mayhem and the Macabre: Frankenweenie hits the sweet spots in a dark and innocent way.

Tim Burton has made a career out of the dark and twisted. His fairytale, which became The Nightmare Before Christmas has spawned an excess of merchandise, release, re-release, 3D release and 3D re-release to great success. The man who brought us Beetlejuice and paved the way for a Batman with an edge is back with a bang. He made it acceptable for Batman to unleash his violent frustration on Gotham’s underworld because he had his innocence stolen from him witnessing the grisly death of his parents. The same innocence that young Bruce Wayne had as a young boy returns in Victor Frankenstein.

Following his father’s advice directly leads to death of the only one who understands him and shared his world, his beloved dog Sparky. The scene when Sparky dies and the connection between him and his owner is lost reflects Victor’s despair and emptiness perfectly.

The young boy uses science to resurrect his dog and when man messes with nature, you know the rest.

Presented in black and white 3D, Frankenweenie has a surreal feel about it which complements the subject matter adding to the dark tone of the film. The comedic moments light up the screen and the touching story of innocence, childhood and the loss of innocence is presented in a way only Tim Burton could have delivered.

Adults and children alike will enjoy Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie and with half term holidays round the corner, Hallowe’en and Christmas coming up as well as an onslaught of merchandise related to the film available, it’s clear Tim Burton and Disney will hit the mark with this one which is destined to have a long shelf life at the box office and on home video/on demand.

Homages to Burton’s other works as well as the horror genre are done with gleeful delight and the film resurrects a feelgood factor missing from recent children’s films which have seen style take precedence over story and emotion. Wonderfully weaving the events of the story together with empathy and a reminder of innocence, Tim Burton brings a modern day stop motion classic that easily outdoes any CGI rivals in every stake.

Frankenweenie is a film that will undoubtedly be revisited again and again due to its ability to captivate the inner-child in all of us and dazzle with a different kind of spectacle that’s a visual delight. With mutts, mayhem and the macabre, Frankenweenie hits the sweet spot in a dark and innocent way.

Frankenweenie opens in UK theatres from October 17^th. A travelling exhibition on the making of the film is currently at the British Film Institute.