For a fun and nostalgic look at the 1950s and its expressionistic horror themes, here's a slightly underground early short by Tim Burton called "Frankenweenie," a movie apparently that "wasted resources" from good ol' Walt Disney's estate. In other words, a pretty creative, fun, nostalgic film that really didn't have an audience until Burton became the household name he is and got a super devoted fan base of goth kiddies from around the globe.
"Frankenweenie", as the name implies, is a take off of Frankenstein involving a child's favorite, Fido-like dog, Sparky. Speaking of Fido, the movie is kind of a lot alike the later, 2007 movie "Fido" involving 50s decor and zombies: much is made out of the faux-McCarthy era imagery, where tight-knit neighbors look into each other's windows "Irma! Irma!" style and freak out enough over a zombie dog to almost burn a little kid and his playmate alive. Where the concept of a Frankenstein's monster as childhood best friend joke starts to drag, Tim Burton's love of making fun of suburbanite conformity takes over, and the two concepts run for a pretty decent 30 minute parody.
Apparently, it was short films like this that got Burton fired from Disney. Personally, though, it seems to me more like Disney was doing Burton a favor in letting him go from its vastly unoriginal production company so that he could take his visions and make much bigger, grandiose Gothic productions. Burton, like so many idiosyncratic names in show business, is a success built both on talent and general good timing--nowadays, people don't trust a children's movie that doesn't have a little darkness in it, and movies like "Frankenweenie" are what many kids are raised on. If the rumored "Frankenweenie" remake is true, believe-you-me no one will blink any more than they did for "Wallace and Gromit in the Case of the Wererabbit." --PolarisDiB
"Frankenweenie", as the name implies, is a take off of Frankenstein involving a child's favorite, Fido-like dog, Sparky. Speaking of Fido, the movie is kind of a lot alike the later, 2007 movie "Fido" involving 50s decor and zombies: much is made out of the faux-McCarthy era imagery, where tight-knit neighbors look into each other's windows "Irma! Irma!" style and freak out enough over a zombie dog to almost burn a little kid and his playmate alive. Where the concept of a Frankenstein's monster as childhood best friend joke starts to drag, Tim Burton's love of making fun of suburbanite conformity takes over, and the two concepts run for a pretty decent 30 minute parody.
Apparently, it was short films like this that got Burton fired from Disney. Personally, though, it seems to me more like Disney was doing Burton a favor in letting him go from its vastly unoriginal production company so that he could take his visions and make much bigger, grandiose Gothic productions. Burton, like so many idiosyncratic names in show business, is a success built both on talent and general good timing--nowadays, people don't trust a children's movie that doesn't have a little darkness in it, and movies like "Frankenweenie" are what many kids are raised on. If the rumored "Frankenweenie" remake is true, believe-you-me no one will blink any more than they did for "Wallace and Gromit in the Case of the Wererabbit." --PolarisDiB