Perspectives
on Horror
animation
the CHALLENGE
You don’t casually borrow from a legend. But I wanted to pay homage to one of horror’s undisputed masters, John Carpenter through animation. This meant engaging directly with the visual language of his most iconic work while resisting the urge to simply mimic it.
As a horror fan, podcaster, and longtime admirer, I chose to build a passion project around one of Carpenter’s own insights about the genre. But I knew the real challenge was to honor the instantly recognizable imagery of his work while keeping the focus on the idea he was expressing.
the Result
The final piece is entirely hand-animated in Photoshop, with typography and motion refinements completed in After Effects, developed intermittently over a good few months. I used a sketchy, textured, painterly style to emphasize the horror inherent in the topic.
Along the way, I benefited from invaluable guidance and feedback from co-conspirators Anthony Derington (the voice of the piece), and fellow animator Ben Windsor, along with mentor Mathijs Luijten, and others credited in the finished video. Their feedback helped shape an animation that to echoes Carpenter’s influence without leaning on nostalgia alone—using his familiar aesthetic as a vessel to reinforce the point he was making, not to overshadow it.
Additional Notes
Client:
Personal Project
Key Collaborators & Mentors:
Mathijs Luijten
Ben Windsor
Anthony Derington
