Like in the comparably macabre family features “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Corpse Bride” and the upcoming “Frankenweenie,” the many dark delights of “ParaNorman" are presented through the always laudable medium of stop-motion animation. Knowing the painstaking attention to detail that dedicated artists must wield in its lengthy process, the hand-crafted clay-mation technique can lend a great deal of charm to a production. And “ParaNorman” is a very charming film, its cast of pleasantly designed clay models carefully sculpted and brought to glorious life by the animation wizards of Laika, makers of ground-breaking 2009 hit “Coraline.”
The film charms us in its opening sequence and holds us in its bony grasp right up to the end credits. The mood is set immediately: we open on a scene from a cheap and grungy ‘70s zombie flick in which a shrieking damsel in distress flees from the outstretched arms and gnashing teeth of the walking, moaning dead. Watching with us is Eraserhead-haired high school outcast Norman (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee), who sits on his bedroom floor, two feet from the TV screen with a bowl of popcorn in hand. On the couch behind him is his grandmother (Elaine Stritch), who knits while questioning Norman about the plot of the film by which he is so entranced. The interesting thing is, Norman’s grandmother has been dead for over a year.
Don’t worry: our hero is young Norman Babcock, not grave-robbing momma’s boy Norman Bates. This Norman is gifted with similar supernatural powers to Haley Joel Osment’s character in “The Sixth Sense:” he can see dead people, and he can talk to them too. The dearly departed manifest themselves to Norman as transparent bodies floating in mid-air and surrounded by a cloud of green mist. Most ghosts appear to be curiously friendly, with several restless spirits lining up along Norman’s school route every morning just to say hello to him. Of course, none of the living believe Norman actually has these psychic abilities, least of all his disapproving parents (Jeff Garlin and Leslie Mann) and bullying classmates.
Norman lives in the quaint New England town of Blithe Hollow, surely a nudge at the sleepy homeplace of Washington Irving’s Headless Horseman. Blithe Hollow has its own legend: in the early 18th century, a witch executed by Puritans placed a curse upon her seven persecutors that would cause each of them to rise up from the grave as the soulless undead. The 300th anniversary fast approaches, and Norman has a role in a school play reenacting the events. But Norman soon finds himself more involved in this tale than he ever thought he could be as the curse comes true and as a gang of flesh-eating zombies (slowly) rampage their way through the town.
With a sickly green complexion and rotting skin wrapped tightly around their skeletal frames, these groaning, gormless shufflers are at first glance the usual assortment of brain-starved cadavers, albeit a little less gory than usual. Some surprises are in store, though, as Norman uses his sixth sense to communicate with the monsters, and all of a sudden the story is given a surprising amount of subversive meat on its bones. Still, the zombies are played mostly for laughs, and there are many laughs to be had: who says jokes about decapitated heads and lopped-off limbs can’t pop up in a kids’ movie?
“ParaNorman” has a fun cast of supporting characters who amuse when on their own and when interacting with one another; in most cases it’s the latter. In the wake of the zombies’ rise, a team is assembled, led by Norman. He is joined by new school pal Neil (Tucker Albrizzi), a chubby, freckled redhead who is bullied at school but nevertheless remains cheery and optimistic. Also tagging along are Norman’s phone-addicted older sister, cheerleader Courtney (Anna Kendrick), and Neil’s lunkhead older brother, jock Mitch (Casey Affleck), on whom the shallow Courtney instantly develops a crush. And then there’s Alvin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), the moronic school bully with whom Norman and Neil set aside their differences to battle the supernatural threat.
Just as “The Expendables 2” operated as a throwback to the old-school action picture, “ParaNorman” pays tribute to the old-school horror picture. There are visual nods to Sam Raimi’s “Evil Dead” trilogy, as a pair of zombie arms burst their way through a wooden door, as well as notorious video nasty “Cannibal Holocaust," as we peer through a gaping bullet hole blown into a zombie’s torso. One manages to reference stalker-slashers “Halloween” and “Friday the 13th” simultaneously, as little Neil stands motionless in amongst drying laundry hanging in a back garden like Michael Myers while wearing a hockey mask like Jason Voorhees. That last one is guaranteed to inspire a giggle.
Essentially, the film plays out like a claymated cross between “The Goonies” and “Dawn of the Dead,” which is all the promotional material the film really needs; it has the former’s sense of adventure and the latter’s demented sense of humour. There’s also an air of John Carpenter about it; indeed, the ominous synthesiser drone that accompanies the zombies’ presence is reminiscent of Carpenter’s score for his 1987 cult horror “Prince of Darkness.” It’s remarkably retro, and deliciously so.
Laika’s animation for the film rivals “The Nightmare Before Christmas” for spectacle and their own “Coraline” for background — and foreground — detail. The fluidity and energy with which the characters move is a wonder to behold, as are the majestically detailed sets: a forest of towering trees and the gothic graveyard from which the zombies emerge are particularly impressive. Most impressive of all, though, is an ambitiously scaled chase sequence set within a speeding van as a zombie stubbornly clings onto the roof of the vehicle. Not just fast and manic, it’s rib-tickling too: you should see where the index finger of the zombie’s dislodged arm ends up.
“ParaNorman” may well prove to be the most lovingly crafted film of the year. This is not just in terms of the staggering amount of work that has gone into the animation process, but also in the passion British directors Sam Fell and Chris Butler show for the horror genre. Their combined adoration is very evident in the film’s nostalgic nature and given a touching quality by the film’s enthusiastic execution — they love movies of this sort, and have made one themselves that can be shared with all audiences. It goes without saying that the film is a must-see for horror buffs young and old, although, as was touched upon earlier, children under eight or so may find the film quite frightening at times. Then again, no childhood is complete without a good old-fashioned scare at the movies.
8/10
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