Halloween is a time for thrills and chills. People flock to haunted houses, scream through the most frightening horror films, and occasionally take the “trick” option in trick-or-treat. But it’s also a time for pumpkin carving, costume parties, and indulging your sweet tooth. There are plenty of folks out there who love that side of Halloween, and the spooky aesthetics of the other side, but just don’t like scary movies. This is a list for them: a collection of ten animated short films that fit this holiday season without sending (too many) shivers down the spine.
Lonesome Ghosts (1937)
For all their family-friendly reputation, Disney is no stranger to tapping into horror imagery and the dark side of fairy tales and folklore. Walt Disney launched his Silly Symphony shorts series with "The Skeleton Dance," a parade of haunts in an abandoned graveyard. But 1937’s "Lonesome Ghosts" plays all its haunts for laughs. A foursome of friendly but mischievous spirits, left too long without anyone to scare, decides to have fun with the Ajax Ghost Exterminators – Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, in the ghost-busting business 47 years before Bill Murray. There’s a lot of fun to be had as the boys split up and tangle with the ghosts in their own unique ways, and a happy ending that sees the boys – sort of – live up to their chosen profession.
Trick or Treat (1952)
From prank-loving ghosts to friendly witches, Disney went back to the supernatural in 1952 for a Halloween short starring Donald Duck. By this time, Donald was less likely to team up with Mickey and Goofy as torment, or be tormented, by his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Things start out with him as the tormentor in "Trick or Treat," popping the kids’ candy bags and sending them off empty-handed and soaked. But good Witch Hazel, having seen everything, decides to help the boys get their treats - and repay their uncle his trick. The mayhem that follows is rather tame for a Donald Duck cartoon, but it’s still a nicely animated short that shows the sweet side of the Halloween season. It also has a catchy title tune sung by The Mellomen. You can find this short, and "Lonesome Ghosts," on Disney+ right now.
Runaway Brain (1995)
Unfortunately, not every Halloween-appropriate Disney short is on Disney+ as of October 2021. Since its initial theatrical run in 1995, "Runaway Brain" has been hard to come by on any platform. More’s the pity, because this brain-swapping horror comedy is one of the best Mickey Mouse shorts out there. Mickey is very much in his classic, good-natured mode, but he’s forced through a high-speed and maniacal struggle to reclaim his body from a science experiment gone wrong (the things you do to raise money for your anniversary cruise). With cameos from Disney’s animated features, a wild guest performance by Kelsey Grammar, and visual nods to everything from Frankenstein to The Exorcist, this film is a delight for Disney lovers and horror geeks.
Hair-Raising Hare (1946)
Warner Bros. did their share of horror-themed cartoons during the golden age of the Looney Tunes. There was a short run of pictures where Porky and a mute Sylvester stumbled into various nightmares, descents into Hell by various ne’er-do-wells, and a handful of Bugs Bunny shorts that put him up against Witch Hazel (no relation to the Disney character). But I have a particular soft spot for "Hair-Raising Hare" (1946). Made relatively early in director Chuck Jones’s career, his version of Bugs is smaller, rounder, and cuter than he would become, and his walk and gestures here are among the strongest homages to Groucho Marx in the Looney Tunes. But "Hair-Raising Hare" is also the first appearance of the big red sneaker-wearing monster Gossamer, a short-lived but memorable adversary for the wily rabbit. He keeps his monstrous rage turned up to 11 all through the chase…until Bugs mentions the fourth wall.
Transylvania 6-5000 (1963)
No, it’s not a cult comedy starring Jeff Goldblum; it’s another Bugs Bunny short. Made nearly twenty years after "Hair-Raising Hare," there’s a clear evolution in Chuck Jones’s style on display. Bugs is now tall and lanky and, in this particular cartoon, politely oblivious to the presence of a vampire out for his blood. At this point in his career, Jones was also working with layout artist and co-director Maurice Noble. Noble’s striking, Modernist approach elevated many a cartoon with bold shapes and color, but the layouts and backgrounds of "Transylvania 6-5000" (credited to Bob Givens and Philip DeGuard, under Noble’s direction) use a limited palette and strong shadows to create a highly stylized take on the classic setting of a haunted palace. You can watch this cartoon and admire that artistry, prominently showcased in a simple plot with an easy pace – or you can watch it to enjoy Bugs using funny magic words to turn a vampire into a two-headed buzzard. Your choice.
Minnie the Moocher (1932)
"Minnie the Moocher" isn’t set at Halloween, doesn’t feature any classic monster archetypes, and it isn’t technically a horror story. But this Fleischer Brothers short from 1932, among the earliest Betty Boop cartoons, is one of the most surreal and even disturbing animated films of its era. The Fleischers featured jazz musicians in many of their early sound films, and what plot there is here is just a pretext to let Cab Calloway and his Orchestra sing “Minnie the Moocher.” But the visuals the song is set to are a trip. Calloway’s vocals are delivered by a ghostly walrus, and as he sings, Betty and her friend Bimbo see skeletons drink themselves to death, ghosts face the electric chair, and a nursing cat be left emaciated by its own children. The arrangement and performance of the song is also among the darkest Calloway ever gave. If you’ve only heard “Minnie the Moocher” in The Blues Brothers, you haven’t heard it at all.
There’s Good Boos To-Night (1948)
For a lesser-known cartoon character, Casper the Friendly Ghost had a pretty long theatrical career: 55 short films over 14 years. Most were made in the 1950s, part of a dedicated Casper series that relied on the same basic plot 52 times. But the first three were part of Famous Studios’ Noveltoons series, and they offer a bit more variety. Casper’s design is less settled, and the opening sequences with his fellow ghosts have a bit more atmosphere. "There’s Good Boos To-Night" (1948) is the most interesting of the series; the design sensibility is spooky but the story is sweet. You’ll need to see it, however, to find out how this sweet story can make a happy ending out of a dead baby fox!
Deadly (2014)
Most of this list is made up of shorts from the classic era of Hollywood, and there are more wonderful films from those years that would fit the Halloween season. But good cartoons to go with Halloween aren’t just to be found in classic cinema, or in America. Ireland is where Halloween first came from, and its animation industry has been riding high in the last few years. In 2014, animator Aidan McAteer (whose credits include Peppa Pig and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends) wrote and directed the short film "Deadly," about a working man grim reaper who befriends a woman at an Irish nursing home. Laid-back and good-humored, with a predictable but touching bittersweet finale, "Deadly" also has a surprisingly warm design sensibility and an unexpected tribute to Fred Astaire. The film made the rounds on the festival circuit without seeing a general theatrical release (at least in America), but McAteer has since hosted it on his personal Vimeo.
Kali, the Little Vampire (2012)
Part of a trilogy on childhood from Portuguese animator Regina Pessoa, "Kali, the Little Vampire" has some remarkable visuals. Made with a palette of black, white, and red, the character designs suggest a combination of children’s art, Edward Gorey, and "The Scream" by Edvard Munch. The style is something to behold in still images, but even more impactful when in motion. The story these visuals support is about a little vampire boy unable play or even interact with the neighborhood children until an accident offers him a chance. Narrated by the late Christopher Plummer in its English release, "Kali" is another short that lived on the festival circuit, and it unfortunately doesn’t seem to be available in some territories. But if you can find it, it’s more than worth a watch.
Little Witch Academia (2013)
By contrast, "Little Witch Academia" is easy to get a hold of for anyone with a Netflix account. You may know it as an anime series, but it began as a short produced as part of the Young Animator Training Project of Japan. On first glance, it’s tempting to write off "Little Witch" as a Harry Potter knock-off: a trio of misfit witches attend a magical academy (with traditionally witchy school uniforms), and one of the witches is marked for a great destiny and personally mentored by a prominent teacher. But "Little Witch" has a bright and colorful style that’s a world apart from Hogwarts, and it’s a much less somber story. The animation in the initial short has some wonderful expressions and physical performance by every character, and the magic is lovely to see. It’s far from the spookiest entry on this list, but it may also be the best-suited to watching at any time of the year.