No creepy but oddly cool bug furniture here, just the house that now appears to be a child’s drawing. Her world doesn’t just become a nightmare - it falls apart completely. She begins to lose her touch, as Coraline gains the upper hand. She physically deforms the world around Coraline to slow her progress in their game beyond any mild traps the movie portrays, and, instead of turning the Other Father into the wandering pumpkin-thing seen in the film, she simply ceases to use him and throws his body away in the cellar, leaving him to rot with whatever bit of sentience he has left. Third, the Other Mother commits atrocities that really should not have been in a book for anyone not fully grown up. This is shown to be partly true when the Other Parents tell her they know she’ll be back soon after she refuses the buttons - this time, to stay.

The first time Coraline meets them, they (and the rest of the Others) seem to be playing roles (for whatever reason, Coraline does not seem to pick up on this), like they all know what to say and what to do and are simply waiting for Coraline to make her move in their terrifying play world. They’re described as having paper-white skin and the Other Mother’s hair is said to move on its own, and her long, red, claw-like nails don’t ease any uncertainty that she is absolutely, positively up to no good. Second, the Other Parents are never quite as warm (and, dare I say, normal) as they are in the gifs above.

Coraline is facing all of this nearly alone, with her only help coming from the sly comments of the cat, a warning from the circus mice, and the stone given to her by her neighbor, presented with no comment but that it “makes the unseen seen.” As disturbing as the movie may have been to some, the things Selick added really serve to cushion just how horrific the story really is.įirst of all, the character of Wybie does not exist in the book.

The movie is captivating, but the book is twenty kinds of terrifying, even now, ten years after I first read it. The book was written by Neil Gaiman, though, and is far…far…. It’s by Tim Burton, what did you honestly expect?Īctually, it’s Henry Selick, who was the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas. This movie is so fucking creepy jesus fuck

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