#hotel transylvania screencaps

[supernightboy08]

My favorite Sony Animation movies:

1. Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs (2009)

2. Hotel Transylvania (2012)

3. Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015)

4. Smurfs The Lost Village (2017)

5. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

6. Spider-Man: Across The Spider Verse (2023)

[boreal-sea]

For clarification I'm sitting outside at my university in a quad that has a giant TV they usually play sports on, but tonight it's showing children's Halloween movies. Hotel Transylvania 3 is over and Hocus Pocus just started.

Fun fact I've never actually seen Hocus Pocus. I read the children's novelization as a kid. Looking back, kid me was definitely into the blonde witch because she had boobies. The book had screencaps in the center, you see. Also, I was really into the guy who got his lips sewn together.

[animagallerie]

➷𝕗𝕠𝕝𝕝𝕠𝕨 𝕒𝕟𝕚𝕞𝕒𝕘𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕖 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕤𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕒𝕡𝕤 ♥

[neo-storm]

HT4 was great overall, of course!

The pacing was the only issues.

Brian Hull was outstanding, can barely even tell the difference.

I’d give it a 4/5, if the pacing was better I’m sure it’d get a higher score. But for the most part it was a nice adventure film, Ericka got a lot of screentime which makes me very happy. There’s Lots of funny faces to come!

Some caps I took, will try to get better ones in the future but these are what I got for right now!

[frie-ice]

Hotel Transylvania at night and day.

[cartooongasm]

[screenbeanie]

[f-mhoteltransylvaniacomicseries]

Screenshots from the second trailer for Hotel Transylvania 3! And we finally see ericka for the first time!! ...yea... I kinda have mixed feelings about ericka's face design. I kinda hoped she looked less cartoony like Mavis and Martha. But oh well, i took some of my favorite screenshots from the trailer and i gotta say, this is gonna be some intense movie with all the dangers that drac and the gang will soon face! O____o

[supernightboy08]

My favorite Halloween 🎃 Movies:

1. Ghostbusters (1984)

2. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

3. Hotel Transylvania (2012)

4. Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015)

[hannahmelissa]

It looks so soft and floofy, I just want to pet it-

Hotel Transylvania was so cute

I think my favorite part was the ginger guy’s hair 

[neverscreens]

𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝗅𝗂𝗄𝖾 𝗈𝗋 𝗋𝖾𝖻𝗅𝗈𝗀 𝗂𝖿 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝗎𝗌𝖾𝖿𝗎𝗅 ♡

[animagallerie]

➷𝕗𝕠𝕝𝕝𝕠𝕨 𝕒𝕟𝕚𝕞𝕒𝕘𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕖 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕤𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕒𝕡𝕤 ♥

[jacademia]

Film Allusions in Crimson Peak

Hi, all! So because I am deep in my horror movie feels at present and, as horror is a genre that some of you are new to/unfamiliar with, want you all to have some more context for Crimson Peak as an intertextual Gothic pastiche, I thought make a little list of films (mostly horror) that CP references, alludes to, or visually echoes (other than Jane Eyre or any iteration of “Bluebeard,” that is). This list is certainly not exhaustive, but I hope will give you a starting place at understanding the scale of the intertextual web this movie is weaving (also maybe give you some movie recs if you’re into horror/classic cinema. I’ll try to include links to films in the public domain).

Nosferatu (1922) and other early 20th century cinema

Del Toro makes use of a lot of the aesthetics and techniques of film from the late Victorian period/early 20th century (appropriate since Crimson Peak is set in the 1890s - incidentally one of the peaks of Gothic literature). One of these is iris shots/iris transitions (shown above in this screenshot from Nosferatu). Iris transitions are when a circular black mask over the shot shrinks, closing the picture to a black screen (very common in early horror film and 1920s cartoons, ie Betty Boop). If you’d like some very iconic, silent vampire cinema, you can watch Nosferatu here at archive.org for free.

The Old Dark House (1932) | Watch free on Archive.org

Seeking shelter from a storm, five travelers are in for a bizarre and terrifying night when they stumble upon the Femm family estate.

A trope codifier for the haunted house movie, complete with oodles of Gothic weirdness, including those ooky spooky, co-dependent Femm siblings.

Rebecca (1940) | Watch free on Archive.org

A self-conscious bride is tormented by the memory of her husband's dead first wife.

Based on Daphne Du Maurier’s novel of the same name (itself heavily based on Jane Eyre), this Gothic variation on “Bluebeard” was Alfred Hitchcock’s first American film, won two Academy Awards, and is still considered one of the best psychological thrillers of all time. Features an overbearing female figure who directly interferes with our protagonist’s marriage to her, er, Prince Charming in the form of a Sapphic housekeeper obsessed with keeping the memory of the first Mrs. De Winter alive.

Notorious (1946) | Watch free on Youtube

A woman is asked to spy on a group of Nazi friends in South America. How far will she have to go to ingratiate herself with them?

Don’t drink the tea! Also, butterfly-backed chairs. Allll the butterfly-backed chairs.

The Fall of the House of Usher (1960)

Upon entering his fiancée's family mansion, a man discovers a savage family curse and fears that his future brother-in-law has entombed his bride-to-be prematurely.

Two prongs here: Crimson Peak is very much playing with Edgar Allan Poe’s short story (incest siblings! Gothic manors sinking into the earth!) and evoking a particular aesthetic associated with a number of 1960s/70s “schlock” Gothic horror films like those made by Roger Corman who applied his use of vivid color and psychedelic surrealism to a number of Poe’s works. 

AESTHETIC!!!!! Speaking of aesthetic excess...

The Brides of Dracula (1960) and other Hammer Horror films

Vampire hunter Van Helsing returns to Transylvania to destroy handsome bloodsucker Baron Meinster, who has designs on beautiful young schoolteacher Marianne.

Known for a series of Gothic horror films made during the 1950s - 1970s featuring well-known characters like Count Dracula, Baron Frankenstein, and The Mummy, Hammer film productions hooked audiences with its use of vivid color, gore, sexy damsels in nightgowns, sexy women with fangs, sexy mummy girls, sexy... you get the idea. It left an indelible aesthetic mark on horror cinema since (including Crimson Peak). Also famous for catapulting the careers of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing or, as you might know them, Count Dooku and Grand Admiral Tarkin from Star Wars.

The Innocents (1961)

A young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted.

Frequently listed as one of the best horror films of all time, The Innocents (one of Del Toro’s direct inspirations -- clock the nightgown in the screencap) is a loose adaptation of Henry James’ seminal Gothic novella The Turn of the Screw.

So many more under the cut...

The Leopard (1963) 

The Prince of Salina, a noble aristocrat of impeccable integrity, tries to preserve his family and class amid the tumultuous social upheavals of 1860's Sicily.

Another of Del Toro’s direct intertexts, which influenced Crimson Peak’s party scenes.

Suspiria (1977), the films of Mario Bava, and giallo cinema

An American newcomer to a prestigious German ballet academy comes to realize that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of grisly murders.

A cult horror classic, Italian director Dario Argento’s Suspiria plays fast and loose with Gothic horror and fairy tale tropes, making for a slasher film quite unlike any other. Notable for its dreamlike surrealism, use of highly-stylized colorization, and sheer amounts of gore, Suspiria remains one of the most aesthetically influential horror films of all time and, looking at screenshots, you can maybe see its visual influence on films like Crimson Peak:

Guillermo Del Toro has also cited Mario Bava, another of the key figures in the golden age of Italian horror, as inspiration for his use of color and set design in Crimson Peak.

From Bava’s Black Sabbath (1963):

From Blood and Black Lace (1964):

Bava’s film, Blood and Black Lace, belongs to the giallo genre, which refers (at least, in English-speaking countries) to (largely 1970s) Italian horror thrillers/slashers notorious for their combination of intense, stylized violence and eroticism. Very much a precursor to the American slasher film.

The Shining (1980) 

A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.

As film that also loosely adapts “Bluebeard,” it’s perhaps unsurprising that there are so many allusions to Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novel of the same name in Crimson Peak. 

And, man, does it have it all! Snowed in, Gothic entrapment! Threats of domestic abuse! Secrets locked away in forbidden rooms! Ghosts! So many ghosts!

Ghosts in the bathtub! 

Ludicrously enormous amounts of blood! Innocent waifs with the ability to commune with the dead! Intrepid third parties who heroically make an attempt to reach the isolated Gothic hellscape to help our damsel in distress only to get immediately merc’d! It’s all here, y’all.... except the incest, of course.

Flowers in the Attic (1987) 

Children are hidden away in the attic by their conspiring mother and grandmother.

Ok, this is something of a cheat, as Crimson Peak is alluding more to V.C. Andrews’ infamous novel of the same name, not the 1987 film (which is an abysmally terribly adaptation and hilariously bad flick). Anyway, abused siblings are locked away in an attic... and... well... things get all... Sharpe family values, if you know what I mean.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) 

The centuries old vampire Count Dracula comes to England to seduce his barrister Jonathan Harker's fiancée Mina Murray and inflict havoc in the foreign land.

If you liked Crimson Peak, I think you’ll enjoy this too, as, like CP, this movie is a sincere horror film, but also a pastiche/celebration of the Gothic and vampire cinema. It’s visually sumptuous and very high-energy (if you didn’t like CP or Moulin Rouge!, this one is probably not for you).

Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Ichabod Crane is sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate the decapitations of three people, with the culprit being the legendary apparition, The Headless Horseman.

This is another one that, if you liked CP, you might enjoy. Based on Washington Irving’s "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” Tim Burton’s film evokes a number of genres and horror aesthetics, most notably the Gothic horror flicks of the 1950s/60s, to create a kind of Hammer Horror film for American Gothic.

The Devil’s Backbone (2001) and Del Toro’s other films

After Carlos -- a 12-year-old whose father has died in the Spanish Civil War -- arrives at an ominous boys' orphanage, he discovers the school is haunted and has many dark secrets that he must uncover.

Crimson Peak is not Guillermo Del Toro’s first foray into Gothic horror, as ghost stories and dark fairy tales are very much his specialty (as we shall see again in Shape of Water later this semester). I highly recommend his ghosts-as-a-reflection-on-the-trauma-of-war film The Devil’s Backbone and his take on portal fantasy, Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), as they’re both excellent and you can see echoes between them and the effects/visuals of Crimson Peak.

[nachomolinaillustration]

Just a screencap from Hotel Transylvania 3 with my paintings hanging on the wall. I got to paint a bunch of them but just these three made it to the final film. #hoteltransylvania3 #sonypictures #animation #visdev #nachomolina https://www.instagram.com/p/Bul2jdSl_Ur/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=2siiw10jnuzb

[seeksstaronmewni]

Bryan Andrews and The Powerpuff Girls: Heating up the City of Townsville!

A week ago I decided to get screencaps from The Powerpuff Girls episode “Live and Let Dynamo” to reference and study the action, explosions, designs, all of that cool stuff. They really went all out on the action--so many explosions, so much destruction, such bright glows all over the place--and I’d like to thank storyboard artist & writer Bryan Andrews (Samurai Jack, Marvel flicks) for doing some pretty nice choreography. The episode itself may very well be an excuse to test out their action, extremes and direction on the show.

Often, when I study explosions in cartoons, particularly those of Genndy Tartakovsky or Don Bluth, I reference key frames of the explosion. In the pics above, I note the very short, specific shots of the explosion’s beginning as a missile sets off next to Bubbles, where there’re shots of extreme flashes, strong bursts of energy and whatnot as the missile explodes. Following the flash are 2 main shots of the explosions--one is in good view of the flash surrounding it and the other is the explosion filling the screen.

Another important part to note is how the action is displayed and portrayed. In this shot, the angles aren’t parallel to the ground--they’re very specific. Also, the background is composed of buildings that’re CGI props (probably done by Savage Frog!) to make background panning be easier and smoother, namely with how many directions the camera seems to go. This isn’t too common in the series, but it’s certainly something we currently see not in the Nick Jennings & Bob Boyle episodes. Compare the shots below from Live and Let Dynamo vs. Toy Ploy:

In my opinion, designs in the 2002-2005 episodes’ are far better, which’re very detailed, threatening-looking and firey with dynamic, sharp light streaks, whereas the current designs are mostly colored dust clouds (similar, perhaps, to explosions in PPG episodes from 1998-2001)--simpler detail with rounder-edged light streaks, which convey less energy in the explosion.

Now, this explosion from the episode Power of Four act 1, “Find Your Bliss”, in the segment “Space Towtruck vs. Judge Tread”, is a big improvement. (Props and Effects Designer: Nathan Rico; Storyboarded by @chanimations & @gracekraft)

Also, like many current Cartoon Network Studios projects, though Robert Alvarez & Randy Myers still direct animation, the timing/animation appears to be pervasively slow-paced, excluding Samurai Jack Season 5.

Glow effects, as I said before, are highly emphasized in this episode, occasionally greatly poignant. Stephen Jennings did the “Digital Effects”.

In some shots, of course, the glows are used for the atmosphere, similar to the glow effects in Star Wars: Clone Wars CHAPTER 23.

(picture reveal regarding the below coming eventually)

One of the coolest weapons in Live and Let Dynamo are the 2 missiles that explode to release hundreds or more of mini, bee-striped explosives all over the city. That kind of weapon is a very realistic representation of highly dangerous, violent explosives--in a kids’ show. The result is high-octane and all over the place.

(Better picture comparison regarding the below coming eventually)

Another cool thing about Live and Let Dynamo is a more or less subtle reference to Star Wars: Clone Wars CHAPTER II, where Blossom flies toward Dynamo’s missiles and calls for “evasive action!” Obi-Wan did the same thing in Clone Wars, and both episodes were storyboarded and written by Bryan Andrews. Like I tweeted before: Coincidence, Cartoon Network?

It’s worthy to note that Roque Ballesteros storyboarded on Star Wars: Forces of Destiny, the most recent 2D Star Wars cartoon, and storyboarded and wrote The Powerpuff Girls episode “Power-Up Puff”. I compare this to Bryan Andrews storyboarding and writing Star Wars: Clone Wars and The Powerpuff Girls, so, though I’d love to see Bryan work on PPGs again, Roque may be the future “Bryan Andrews” of action in animation. Likewise, David Krentz (Hotel Transylvania 2, Marvel flicks) storyboarded for Samurai Jack EPISODE XCIV with Genndy Tartakovsky in place of Bryan, so Krentz could be another future “Bryan Andrews” of action in animation.

Speaking of action in animation, what this episode of The Powerpuff Girls has that the current ones don’t is well-timed animation. While most everything in CN shows these days are slow-paced throughout in animation, most cartoons like Samurai Jack and Star vs. the Forces of Evil have well-balanced animation that is occasionally slow in pace, but the action movements usually have faster-paced animation. I know not if Robert Alvarez or SMIP is responsible for the pervasive slow-pace, but it seems obvious.

Lastly, I feel that uncredited sound designer/editor Joel Valentine and his team deserve credit. That was probably a whole LOT of sound to cut for this action-packed 11-minute episode, and certainly compared to his recent sound design work on Disney’s Big City Greens. Also, props to @chrisbattleart @serapiocalm and Charlie Bean for the prop design!

Share this post if you agree! It’s one thing we need to see in The Powerpuff Girls again--more action and better explosions, with faster-paced, well-balanced animation timing.

[screenbeanie]