10 Best Animated Horror Movies, Ranked

Animated horror movies can do things that live-action can’t, and the best animated horrors have a unique appeal. Horror is a genre which doesn’t often use animation, since it often works best when the audience can suspend their disbelief. However, there are still ways to use animation to create something truly terrifying, and different filmmakers have achieved this with a variety of styles.

Animated horror movies can often be a great introduction to the genre for children. The deliberate artificiality of animation creates a layer of separation in these cases which can keep things from becoming too scary for young viewers. However, this doesn’t mean that all animated movies are tame. The right filmmakers can use animation to create horror movies which can be much creepier and more disturbing than live-action.

10

Monster House (2006)

A child-friendly haunted house story

Monster House puts a twist on the classic haunted house story formula, as three children discover that the house across the street is a living, breathing monster. They team up to uncover the root of the evil that’s causing chaos in their neighborhood, but their investigation inevitably takes them right into the malevolent house they had been trying to avoid. Monster House uses motion-capture technology, giving it a similar feel to executive producer Robert Zemeckis’ Polar Express.

Monster House is a kid-friendly Halloween horror, and it plays on fears that many children can relate to. Not only is there an old, mysterious house in the neighborhood, there is also an elderly man who the children imagine to be far scarier than he really is. With a script co-written by Rick and Morty creator Dan Harmon, Monster House also manages to fit in a few solid laughs that adults can enjoy too.

9

The Spine Of Night (2021)

A sprawling fantasy epic with brutal violence

The Spine of Night uses rotoscoped animation to weave a dense fantasy tale of a mythical plant known as the Bloom and the violent power struggle that it inspires. The flower represents unlimited power to all those who can control it, but the knowledge of its true potential has caused a long line of Guardians to keep the Bloom far from where anyone can reach it. Only the most selfish and evil forces seek the Bloom for their own use.

The Spine of Night is an intelligent mixture of fantasy and horror. It uses its extreme violence as a warning about the corrupting nature of power and the apathy of evil. Co-director Philip Gelatt has also written some of the scariest and best episodes of Netflix’s Love, Death and Robots. Fans of the sci-fi anthology will almost certainly admire the cosmic horror and creative animation choices in The Spine of Night.

8

The House (2022)

An eerie stop-motion anthology

The House is a comedy/horror anthology tied together by a single location, but the three stories take place in different times and with different creatures. The first two stories are much darker than the last, because the final story represents a break from the materialism and class obsession which categorizes the first two. The characters in The House, whether they are humans, rats or cats, all believe that an orderly house will solve their problems.

The House is a critique of consumer culture. It shows that characters who fixate on their material possessions quickly lose all semblance of humanity. The horror comes from watching these characters destroy themselves and their relationships with their families over a house. Their fates are ultimately sealed by their greed and obsession, which is especially tragic considering how they each have no reason to dedicate so much of their energy to the house.

7

Seoul Station (2016)

An animated prequel to a zombie horror classic

Train to Busan is one of the most original zombie horror movies of the last decade, and Seoul Station is an unusual prequel. Transitioning from live-action to animation, the story loses none of its pulsating horror, and its human story is far darker. Seoul Station views the zombie outbreak from a different angle, showing how people in the South Korean capital react when zombies begin running through the streets.

Seoul Station tells a simplistic story with a lot of impact. Its unusual 3D animation may be quite eerie for some of the human characters, but it amplifies the terror of the wide-eyed zombies tenfold. Seoul Station is a worthy prequel, even if it doesn’t quite have the self-contained drama of Train to Busan. Still, the animation helps expand the world of the first movie in an interesting way, and there are moments which are just as terrifying and suspenseful.

6

Coraline (2009)

An adventure into another reality filled with disturbing horrors

Based on the children’s novel by Neil Gaiman, Coraline follows a young girl feeling unfulfilled in her new home until she finds a secret door which leads her into a strange alternate reality. Behind the door, Coraline Jones finds a world where everything is a little more colorful and her parents always have time for her, but this facade quickly falls away to reveal a truth that is far more sinister.

It’s testament to the movie’s enduring popularity that Coraline was rereleased in 2023, and it managed to make enough money to warrant an encore of extra dates. Coraline‘s disquieting visual design highlights the story’s shifting tone. Each strange creature and shattered illusion marks another step on Coraline’s journey toward finding out the horror of the reality which she faces. The Other Mother is a particularly disturbing monster, and one who has undoubtedly appeared in countless nightmares since Coraline‘s release.

5

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Another animated horror classic from Henry Selick

Just like with Coraline, many people think that Tim Burton directed The Nightmare Before Christmas, but it was actually helmed by stop-motion animation visionary Henry Selick. While Burton was important in developing the story and the characters, he only acted as the movie’s producer. The Nightmare Before Christmas is ostensibly a holiday movie, but it veers further toward Halloween than Christmas.

The Nightmare Before Christmas still finds its way into many homes every December, thanks in part to its wonderful soundtrack, but it can still be dark and spooky for uninitiated children. Jack Skellington keeps things just light enough throughout. The Nightmare Before Christmas, like so many other triumphs by Burton and Selick, succeeds because it treats its young audience with respect, and this makes it an enjoyable holiday treat for adults too.

4

Fear(s) Of The Dark (2007)

A French anthology with dramatic shadows

Fear(s) of the Dark is a French black-and-white horror anthology, with each story designed by a different graphic designer or comic book artist. The stories are tied together by a mysterious narration of a woman confessing her troubling nightmares and deep anxieties. These complement the nightmarish tone of the stories, which vary in subject and visual style, but are united by their sense of unease.

One story follows a man who is overcome by a strange insectoid parasite, while another features a man with a pack of vicious attack dogs. Each story benefits from the black-and-white design, which creates long shadows and dramatically contorted faces even when darkness isn’t a theme in the horror. Fear(s) of the Dark is a must-watch for any fans of creative, unconventional animation.

3

The Wolf House (2018)

Surreal Chilean horror that lingers on the mind

The Wolf House is the best kind of animated horror movie, in that it uses its unique visual style to create something that couldn’t exist in live-action. While other animated movies try their best to imitate real life as closely as possible, The Wolf House is somehow just as viscerally horrifying without being even slightly realistic. The stop-motion animation uses lighting very intelligently, drawing the viewer into a claustrophobic trap.

The Wolf House takes inspiration from the darkest chapter of Chile’s history, drawing parallels between military dictatorships and violent cults. The characters are trapped inside the house by the wolf stalking around outside, but their circumstances inside are just as horrifying. The Wolf House uses a metafictional frame narrative, as if the movie is a fairy tale being used as insidious political propaganda.

2

Mad God (2021)

A dark passion project from a master of animation

Phil Tippett has been working in Hollywood as a visual effects artist and a creature designer for decades. He has worked on Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Robocop and many more groundbreaking movies, but the caliber of his work was no real preparation for fans when he released his passion project Mad God, a twisted stop-motion animated horror movie which follows an enigmatic assassin across increasingly disturbing landscapes.

Mad God took 30 years to produce, with Tippett dedicating time to the movie in between other projects. The visual effects are as stunning as any of his other movies, and his creature designs are even more grotesque and detailed. To watch Mad God is to watch a master at work with no limitations other than those he imposes on himself. The result is a visually arresting horror movie that lives long in the memory.

1

Perfect Blue (1997)

The outstanding debut from Satoshi Kon

Perfect Blue is the debut feature of Satoshi Kon, the acclaimed anime director who also created Paprika and Tokyo Godfathers. It’s a remarkably accomplished debut, in terms of both its visual execution and its powerful plot. Perfect Blue tells the story of a pop star who embarks upon a new career as an actor, but she is soon unable to distinguish between reality and fiction.

Perfect Blue is a compelling psychological horror, as Mima feels pressure on all sides from her new job, a violent fan stalking her, and even her closest friend. Perfect Blue pairs this slowly spiraling plot with the occasional burst of shocking violence. Mima can’t trust her own mind, and this disorients the viewer too. It’s a more grounded style of horror than most animated movies in the genre typically go for, but it works fantastically.