The Scene That Changed Coraline...

Now Coraline is a TRUE stop motion horror movie. This is an absolute classic that has scarred many childhoods - and I always avoided it. So now after 13 years I finally bit the bullet and endured it. And
it is absolute masterpiece. And here's the scene that CHANGED Coraline... Bringing together all of the themes, plot twisting at the height of the drama, and revealing the deepest part of the pit that's so dark you can only see stars...

#DazzReviews #Coraline #SCENESeries #Laika #SceneBreakdown #StopMotionAnimation #Halloween #Analysis #Review #VideoEssay

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...Wow. I could talk about this movie for hours now. What a film.

[Invalid-userk]

Coraline was a very great story that would probably never happened if not for a brave little girl who wanted to hear the rest of the story.

[rosexknight]

One detail that so many miss is that the well is surrounded by a ring of mushrooms. A fairy ring. In Celtic folklore, standing in one is bad, and often results in some sort of punishment from the fae realm. Coraline stands in one at the beginning of the movie, when she stands on the well. Wybie never enters it. It's like Coraline standing in it is what might have caused her to be a target.

[strange_and_magnificent]

I've watched Coraline like a thousand times, I never realized how creepy it truly is.

[witchylizzy]

Re: your question on the ghost children. The Beldam takes a lot from fey lore. The fey are known to accept interesting things as part of their dangerous trades (the food she serves Coraline also plays into this). In the book, the ghost children have lost much of who they are as their memories and identities become food for the Beldam. One of them can barely remember what gender they are/were when Coraline asks. What's left of them is basically the Other Mother's discarded food scraps. It's also why the world unravels as Coraline recovers their stolen souls. The Other Mother is losing her power. It can also explain why she turns into her spiderlike final form: she can no longer sustain her disguise.

[trinaq]

Both Coraline's real mother and Other Mother make promises that say a lot about their characters. Mel promises Coraline that she'll make it up to her if things go well, while the Other Mother claims that she'll let go of the captives if Coraline finds the ghost eyes and her real parents. Only one of them keeps her end of the bargain.

[maviesquivel]

In the Latin American dub this whole scene was so much intense filled with rage and as a kid I felt terrified like it was me being dragged across the house, truly a masterpiece

[dbseamz]

"Coraline" is a double cautionary tale. For children, the message is "Be wary if someone offers you everything you want, for they may demand too much in return. If something seems too good to be true, there's a good chance it is." And for parents, the message is "Do not ignore your children; make sure they feel loved by you. Otherwise they are more susceptible to being lured away."

[MrWaspMan]

I only saw this movie once, and it was only the second half. The lack of previous context just made it more horritying.

[featherlight]

I saw this movie when it came out and the scene that definitely spooked me as a kid was when the Other Mother falls down towards Coraline in her web, and only barely misses her. Something about the harsh lighting and the unnatural way the Beldam’s body is twisted just stuck with me.
I remember leaving the theatre and my parents asking me if I was okay. They seemed more disturbed by it than I was at the time

[memyselfandi]

The ghost children are taken from different eras. The little boy is farther back in time, the tallest girl with a screaming face talks like a cowgirl and grandma's missing sister talks like someone closer to Coralie time

[saltenzy]

Love Coraline, one of my favorite movies by far!

The shot of her as the couch turns I think is actually an intentional move rather than an error. I think it fits more as a nod to her being a spider. Spiders tend to not want to be noticed until they choose to be, especially in their webs, which is exactly what that room is for the Beldam as it's the center of her world. So maybe that sudden reveal, where she is present but you only notice when she announces her presence, hints to her nature prior to the reveal coming up.

The specific inspiration for her spider form is interesting. Once revealed in her true form, the Beldam matches pretty well with a Weaver spider. The kinds that usually spin webs and lay in wait for prey to unluckily chance upon the web, get trapped, and then be eaten by the spider. But the Beldams behavior is far different than this and lines up with a different group, the Bolo spiders. Bolo spiders produce a glob of very sticky silk on the end of a long line which they swing around in the air. This glob has specific pheromones that mimic the pheromones of certain moth species. Bolo spiders capture their prey actively with an almost irresistible lure. The Beldams world of games and food and entertainment and love is a perfect lure to an unhappy child. A spider hunting humans would no doubt need to use an enthralling and enticing approach to catch them.

Oh, and a thought about the "ate up our lives" line. The last victim before Coraline was Wyborns grandaunt, whose twin sister is revealed at the end of the movie, very up in years. The other two were also children who probably had full lives ahead of them. Those lives were eaten up by the Beldam. I think she feeds kinda like a weeping angel, eating up the life they could have lived had they not been trapped by her. So the Beldams desperation for Coraline and screaming "I'll die without you" is basically true. The last child she took is reaching what would have been their natural lifespan, and once that's all gone, the Beldam won't have any more lives to eat, especially with Coraline sealing the door and for sure standing as guardian in case the Beldam manages to make more attempts before she starves.

Anyway Coraline is great, do watch more stop motion films they are awesome

[ishkajules]

I think in the book it points out that the ghost children are dressed and speak in an old fashioned way to drive home just how long the Other Mother has been preying on kids. (I think one of the children was also originally some sort of fairy?? So not only can Other Mother catch human children, but other otherworldly creatures as well!)

[ximec.r.]

It's one of my favorite movies. I never felt that Coraline's parents were neglectful, they were worried and stressed about their recent move and jobs but they certainly try to talk and take care of her. The fact that they're not perfect makes them more real unlike the other mother who I felt creeped about since the first scene she appeared

[eptck]

i love coraline bc i’ve known a lot of kids who weren’t freaked out by this movie, and many adults who were horrified. it’s pretty interesting

[little.prince]

In the Greek dub of this movie, instead of “ate up our lives”, they say “ate up our souls”. It’s interesting to see these changes of dialogue

[Achillunes]

i never realized how terrifying that actually must be when you think about it.
At first, it's your mother. Sure, she's got button eyes and is perfect on the surface, but it's mostly one of the most familiar faces you'll ever see (at least to most).
then she starts changing. her features stretch and she turns into something almost completely inhuman.
That's a terrifying thought.

[wingdingmasquerade]

People really sleep on ParaNorman. That ending nearly has me in tears everytime. Plus the twist on the zombies was really smart and clever.

[crackly]

Everytime I watch this movie I notice more little details that I hadn't noticed on the previously. Like how the lightning forms a hand in the dinner scene, or how coraline's parents drive a Volkswagen beetle.

[mysticthemanakete]

I had my own Beldam as a kid. Instead of an ‘Other Mother’, it was my grandma. Coraline came out in the years between them cutting contact and me understanding the reasons why, during which I missed my grandma until learning the truth, and I feel like Coraline’s naivety before this scene really summed up the experience of going between two ‘worlds’ whenever I came home from a visit. It wasn’t that my mum was terrible - she always did the best she could and still does now - but my grandma would always lord being able to spoil me rotten over her while Mum was more focused on the kind of stuff a kid takes for granted.

[scarylionroar]

I'm pretty sure the ghosts calling Coraline "Miss" and "Mistress" is just an etiquette thing from the time periods when the ghosts lived