Not often remembered in the scope of masterful writer Neil Gaiman’s classic works, Coraline should not be discounted. Initially written for his 5-year-old daughter, Gaiman reflected that it took a decade to finish. Some say it is a book too scary for children, but the children who do take a shine to it love it. The adaptation rights were snapped up by Henry Selick before Tim Burton could even get his hands on it and the rest is history.
A terrifying family film that still holds up, Coraline (Dakota Fanning) seeks out connection after moving to Oregon from her home of Pontiac, Michigan. After following a hole in the wall to a mother who loves her, she soon finds this is too good to be true. In classic fairytale fashion, this mother just wants to eat her soul, and she has to find a way out. Coraline is truly unique, but that isn’t to say that there aren’t other stories of its kind. There are other creepy and emotionally provoking films for children that strike right to the heart.
1. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Before there was Coraline, there was The Nightmare Before Christmas. That’s not to say that the stop-motion classic influenced the book – at least not directly. However, Gaiman was interested in both Tim Burton and Selick directing the feature film version of Coraline when it came around.
The use of stop-motion animation, macabre themes, and acknowledgment that some kids just like to be creeped out is what ties these two films together. Both Coraline and Jack Skellington (Danny Elfman) feel out of sorts in their current situation. Coraline, whose parents love her but essentially tell her to get lost, and Jack, who can’t shake his sense of ennui. Both find a magical tunnel to another world to discover it’s not what they thought it was. The delightful animation and resonant themes mean both of these films have immense rewatch value.
2. Corpse Bride (2005)
Tim Burton returned to the stop-motion sphere, this time with frequent collaborators Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in the 2005 feature, Corpse Bride. A musical ala The Nightmare Before Christmas, the film is set in Victorian England as morose Victor (Depp) embarks on an advantageous marriage.
But after a disastrous rehearsal dinner, he practices his wedding vows and accidentally marries the titular bride, Emily (Bonham Carter) instead. A love triangle for the living dead, Corpse Bride is about moving on and accepting the chances that life gives you. These are life lessons are are significant to lovers of Coraline who may find enjoyment in a similar animation style.
3. James and the Giant Peach (1996)
Stop-motion, sadistic parental figures, and additional absent parents are all present in Coraline and James in the Giant Peach. In the movie adapted from Roald Dahl’s children’s book, James (Paul Terry) is left in the care of his brutal aunts and grows a magical peach of enormous size.
After eating a tunnel to its center, he finds life-sized bugs who help him to New York like he always wanted. This helps him escape all the real-life terrors that many children endure. It was this type of filmmaking that made Gaiman think that Selick and Burton were perfect for a Coraline adaptation. The sense of isolation is more common in children than many think, which is why it’s a recurring theme in movies for and about children.
4. Spirited Away (2001)
Considered the pinnacle of animation and for good reason, Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away blurs the lines of reality as Chihiro (Rumi Hiiragi) struggles to save her parents from losing themselves to the world of the spirits. Like Coraline, Chihiro’s parents don’t quite understand her.
Only through her interaction with a different world and the lessons she learns there can she save her parents from something they can’t quite understand. And just like Coraline’s parents, Chihiro’s will never remember what they went through or understand what their daughter did to save them.
5. Beetlejuice (1988)
Not necessarily a film for children — although many millennials probably saw this one at a formative age — there is a clear line leading from Beetlejuice to Coraline. The film throws its young protagonist Lydia (Winona Ryder) into a world of ghosts, sandworms, and the particularly nasty titular poltergeist (Michael Keaton).
Ryder’s character could probably be Coraline as a teenager. She is obsessed with a world outside of her own and is often ignored by her parents. Luckily, she finds comfort in a world outside of her dimension, though that quickly gets out of hand. Beetlejuice is rated PG, but enter at your own risk.
6. Monster House (2006)
Another shockingly terrifying children’s film — Monster House — stunned audiences when it was released in 2006. Produced by Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis, the animated feature is more strict horror that somehow retained a PG rating. After DJ’s (Mitchel Musso) parents go out of town on Halloween, he and his best friend Chowder (Sam Lerner) discover that the creepy house across the street eats whoever crosses its path.
The film was so terrifying that the mother of one traumatized child wrote to writer Dan Harmon directly in complaint. Harmon left the project before its completion, but The New York Times reported that Harmon wrote to the child directly, suggesting he watch WALL-E instead. Director Gil Kenan, for his part, explained to Entertainment Weekly that he enjoyed the feeling of the unexpected. Monster House is more realistically aimed at the teenage demographic but has the element of surprise present in Coraline.
7. Princess Mononoke (1997)
A young girl facing insurmountable odds. A benefactress with ulterior motives. And, of course, Neil Gaiman. Coraline and Hayao Miyazaki’s animated classic, Princess Mononoke, have a few things in common. As with many of Miyazaki’s films, the feature is a commentary on the environmental crisis. After young Prince Ashitaka (Yôji Matsuda) stumbles upon Irontown, he realizes that Lady Eboshi (Yûko Tanaka) is clearing the forest and destroying the gods within. He teams up with San (Yukiro Ishida) — who was raised by the wolf deities — to stop the destruction.
Gaiman’s penchant for attaching himself to thematically resonant and unique material also came into play when Princess Mononoke headed to the West. Hired to adapt the English-language script, he defended the project to the best of his ability. Studio Ghibli executive Steve Alpert described in his memoir — Sharing a House with the Never-Ending Man: 15 Years at Studio Ghibli — the efforts that Gaiman went to to preserve Miyazaki’s original vision. Per Polygon, this was an uphill battle, especially with the oversight of Miramax, which was still under Harvey Weinstein’s control at the time. But as Gaiman does with all projects he is involved with, he applied grace and respect to the intention of the story.
8. The Addams Family (2019)
In an inverse of Coraline, the well-known characters of The Addams Family embrace the macabre and accept the members of their family. However, in the 2019 animated film, hijinks still ensue in the gothic falls of the Addams estate.
Voiced by Oscar Isaac and Charlize Theron respectively, the heads of household Gomez and Morticia Addams move their family to New Jersey. More of an adaptation of the comics than any live-action interpretation, the characters’ personalities and visual aesthetics more closely match Charles Addams’ original strip. For anyone who is a fan of the whacky and weird, this film fits the bill.
9. ParaNorman (2012)
From the same production company that brought you Coraline comes a film that also uses supernatural forces as a metaphor for growing up. Socially ostracized because no one believes that he can talk to the dead, Norman (Kodi Smit-McPhee) gets his chance to save the entire town when a centuries-old curse threatens Blithe Hollow.
Like George Romero’s series of horror films that contain social commentary, ParaNorman utilizes this technique for Norman’s plight at school. A welcome follow-up to Coraline, this works wonderfully as a double feature.
10. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
A masterclass in Guillermo del Toro’s filmography, Pan’s Labyrinth is a film that may appeal to children but should definitely have some parental supervision. Rated R, the film takes place in the fascist Falangist Spain of the ‘40s as young Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) goes with her pregnant mother to live with her sadistic stepfather.
An officer in the army, all Vidal (Sergi López) wants is a son, and Ofelia puts a kink in his plans. To escape from her abusive household, Ofelia falls into a world of fantasy creatures that pull from mythological lore. Practical effects make it particularly stirring, and the final moments may change depending on your perspective – but young girls with vivid imaginations always need a place to flourish, and films like these offer an escape.