‘Tis the Season to Rewatch ‘ParaNorman’

It’s late October, which means it’s time to curl up with a blanket, a cup of tea… and watch some of the spookiest and scariest movies that the history of cinema has come up with. While you’re curating and finalizing your watchlist, we’ve got one recommendation to add: Pre-Normanthe 2012 animated movie from the same studio as the beloved Coraline. From October 25-28, Pre-Norman will be back in theaters in remastered 3D, along with an exclusive new short, ParaNorman: The Thriftingfeaturing Anna Kendrick returning as Courtney and a brand-new character voiced by Finn Wolfhard.

Pre-Norman follows 11-year-old Norman Babcock (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee), who has to use his unique paranormal powers to save his town of Blithe Hollow after it’s overrun by zombies. Thirteen years after its release, the film has cemented itself in cinephile circles as one of the best scary movies and one of the best animated movies of the 21st century, thanks to the unique stop-motion technology from LAIKA Studios, lovable characters, and a reverence for the history of horror cinema. It’s also cherished as a gateway horror movie — perfect for getting older kids, teens, and self-proclaimed scaredy-cats into the genre without (literally) scaring them off. If that hasn’t convinced you enough, keep reading for why you should book your ticket and add Pre-Norman to your watchlist this Halloween season.

Photo: LAIKA Studios.

With the 2009 movie CoralineLAIKA defined its visual identity as a studio, but Pre-Norman expanded on that look by pushing the boundaries of how the tactile world of stop-motion animation could be married with high-tech. Pre-Norman was the first stop-motion film to use full-color 3D printing for faces, which means every freckle or blush of the cheeks was directly printed on the puppet’s face instead of being hand-painted. The result was a huge volume of facial emotions — over 31,000 unique faces were printed — giving each puppet real emotional nuance.

Pre-Norman also deftly blended the handcrafted and the cinematic in the way it was shot. While hybrid filmmaking is now commonplace, LAIKA was a pioneer in how it combined the physical puppetry of stop-motion with digital enhancements like CGI fog, ghosts, and backdrops. Sets were lit like a live-action thriller, with real lamps that created dynamic shadows to emphasize the film’s eerie reality. And because LAIKA doesn’t do post-production 3D conversions on any of its films, Pre-Norman was shot entirely in true stereoscopic 3D, a film technique that uses a single camera to record separate images for the left and right eye to create the illusion of depth. For the remastered version hitting theaters this month, every shot was revisited to be optimized for the clarity and fidelity that today’s film technology allows.

Photo: LAIKA Studios.

Part of Pre-Norman‘s charm is the way it pays tribute to and inserts itself into the scary movie canon. Horror heads will be able to spot small Easter eggs and nods to other, classic movies — like Norman’s ringtone, which is the theme to 1978’s Halloween. Norman’s bedroom is also covered in posters and props inspired by cult horror movies like Halloween, Friday the 13th, Night of the Living Deadand even one poster of a black cat that looks just like the cat in Coraline. The name of the town — Blithe Hollow — is a mash-up of classic ghost stories Blithe Spirit and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. And that’s it not even close to all of the Easter eggs: Part of the fun of watching Pre-Norman is elbowing your friend when you notice a reference (and feeling like a smarter cinephile for figuring them out).

LAIKA casts voice actors based not on star power but on their emotional connection to the role, and Pre-Norman was an early example. The movie’s suite of lovable characters was given life by a voice cast that has only become more famous and acclaimed since the movie came out, including the recently Oscar-nominated Kodi Smit-McPhee as Norman, alongside Anna Kendrick (as the voice of Courtney) and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Alvin). The ensemble also included stars like Leslie Mann (Sandra Babcock) and John Goodman (Mr. Prendergast), among many others. The voice performances ground the supernatural world in real emotion — and gave LAIKA a blueprint for casting rising stars that has become one of the studio’s calling cards.

Photo: LAIKA Studios.

Pre-Norman is a spooky movie, but it has a big heart: At its core, it’s really not about Norman fighting off the monsters, but about understanding them. By the end, it’s a lesson in the importance of listening to others — a great reminder for younger viewers (and older ones, too). With LAIKA’s cutting-edge stop-motion technology, Norman’s modular facial rig was able to form over 1.5 million combinations, meaning he’s able to make specific microexpressions that help convey every feeling and emotion to the audience. Although it’s a movie fit for the Halloween season, it’s also a movie about compassion in a world that’s lost sight of it — and isn’t that worth celebrating?

Snag your tickets to see Pre-Norman back in theaters.