Uploaded March 2021 | Updated September 2026, 5 hours ago

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Horror, to me, has always seemed like a difficult thing to get right in animation.

I’m not talking about horror as a genre here, but as a feeling - the thing that scares and unnerves, sends chills down your spine and gets your skin crawling in response to the uncanny and unknown, and there are few animated shows and movies that can get that reaction out of me, and as I’ve gotten older they’ve only gotten more difficult to find. It’s not something that affects animation generally - I’ve talked in detail about how the uncanny nature of stop motion can be eerie to watch, and I think CGI is more than capable of making its own frights - but 2D animation has always struggled to feel truly scary.

But that doesn’t mean it can’t be done.

I’m not the first person to talk about this, but I’ve always found the conclusions many reach on this topic to be dismissive or, just lacking. And what makes it even more frustrating is how much the subjectivity of horror itself gets overlooked, cuz different things scare different people in different ways. There’s just a lot more nuance to this discussion that I don’t think gets acknowledged, and it feels like it’s hampered many people’s ability to recognize and appreciate the technical efforts in many 2d animations to achieve that feeling of horror.

So, today, I want to talk about the many different ways 2d animation can scare and horrify!

LINKZ!
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♣| Come Fly With Me! |♣
- On This Channel: bit.ly/2n4xEJi
- On Twitter: bit.ly/322Uq77
- On Instagram: bit.ly/3i7rJM1

♣| Watch More: bit.ly/3bjNzLq |♣

♣| MUSIC USED |♣
- Stealer - Density & Time
Check out the Artist: bit.ly/2nZuI2h

- White Hats - Wayne Jones
Check Out The Artist - bit.ly/2ITp8Yh

- Bizzie - The Grand Affair
Check out the Artist: bit.ly/2vrfiaS

- Creek - HOVATOFF
Check out the Artist - bit.ly/2SmgC6v

- Underworld - Myuu
Check out the Artist - bit.ly/2O8KFAb

- Pulse Beat - Reichi Nakaido
Part of Serial Experiments Lain's soundtrack

- Firestarter - Jeremy Black
Check out the Artist: bit.ly/37ya0tf

- Fuscia - Sextile
Check out the Artist: bit.ly/31g55t8

- Fioj - Text Me Records / Hii.de
Check out the Artist: bit.ly/2RV8qLF

♣| FOOTAGE / MEDIA USED |♣
- The Promised Neverland (Anime - 2019)
- Toy Story 2 (Film - 1999)
- Courage the Cowardly Dog (Animated Series - 1999)
- Devilman Crybaby (Anime - 2018)
- Coraline (Film - 2009)
- Gantz: O (Film - 2016)
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Anime - 2019)
- Freddy vs. Jason (Film - 2003)
- Steamboat Willie (Short Film - 1928)
- Beauty and the Beast - BTS
- Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba, by Claude Lorrain (Painting - 1648)
- Scoob and Shag (Webcomic - 2018)
- Horror World of Junji Ito: Lovesick Dead (Manga - 1997)
- Horror World of Junji Ito: The Bully (Manga - 1997)
- Oban Star Racers - BTS
- Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (Film - 2000)
- When They Cry (Anime - 2006)
- A Nightmare On Elm Street (Film - 1984)
- 28 Days Later (Film - 2002)
- Spirited Away (Film - 2001)
- Oban Star Racers (Anime - 2006)
- Perfect Blue (Film - 1997)
- Tarzan - BTS
- Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (Film - 1999)
- Parasyte: The Maxim (Anime - 2014)
- Akira (Film - 1988)
- Jujutsu Kaisen (Anime - 2020)
- Princess Mononoke (Film - 1997)
- Blood: The Last Vampire (Film - 2000)
- The Flowers of Evil / Aku No Hana (Anime - 2013)
- Attack on Titan / Shingeki No Kyojin (Anime - 2013)
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Movie - Beginnings (Film - 2012)
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Anime - 2011)
- School-Live! / Gakkou Gurashi (Anime - 2015)
- Made in Abyss (Anime - 2017)
- Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina (Anime - 2020)
- Wicked City (Film - 1987)
- Mononoke (Anime - 2007)
- Resident Evil 2: Remake (Game - 2019)
- Serial Experiments Lain (Anime - 1998)

♣| SOURCES / FURTHER READING / ETC |♣
- (Disney's) 12 Principles of Animation - IdeaRocketAnimation - bit.ly/3bm2HI3
- A Look at "Flowers of Evil" Before Rotoscoping - Crunchyroll - bit.ly/2Pwp4SE

#animation #anime #horror
#promisedneverland #serialexperimentslain #bloodthelastvampire #flowersofevil #perfectblue #jinrohthewolfbrigade #madokamagica #wickedcity #akira #mononoke
#traventalks #videoessay