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How ‘Cuphead’ Resurrected the Unsettling Style of Early Cartoons

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Before the “House of Mouse” forever associated cartoons as a genre predominantly for kids, animation wasn’t quite so family-friendly. The video game Cuphead resurrected the surreal and terrifying style of Fleischer Animation and Disney Studios early cartoons. Best of all, Cuphead doesn’t market itself as unsettling, the game is rated E after all – its biggest offenses (according to the back of the box) being gambling and tobacco use. Instead of inserting frightening aspects into the game, the developers (Studio MDHR) heightened what was already present in a lot of early cartoons. Gamers who look between the hand-drawn lines of animation will uncover a nightmare of body-horror, black comedy, and terror.

Old cartoons, even more than silent films, feel like they’re from a different planet. Modern viewers usually note several unsettling qualities of retro cartoons. One of the most obvious ones is a bounciness featured in those early films. The “bouncing” was due to the popular animation style of the time nicknamed: rubber hose animation. It was a technique where character’s bodies lacked sharp edges or joints and instead had bendy long black tubes for appendages. Combining this with simple repetitive animation (bouncing) was intended to make the film’s more alive and better animated. What was cost-cutting in theory, turned out terrifying in practice. Other upsetting aspects of those films went beyond the limitations of animation of the time though. These unsettling storytelling choices were very much intentional.

 

Early animated films often feature a strange set of intense moralistic values (which Cuphead also plays up). The perfect example is “Swing You Sinners” (a 30’s Fleischer Studios cartoon ). In “Swing You Sinners,” a happy-go-lucky dog named Bimbo steals a chicken and is hounded by the forces of hell until a giant skeleton eats him. Being dragged to hell for chicken theft might be a tad excessive of a punishment, regardless, this Puritan “all or nothing” value system was present in many cartoons of the time. There aren’t any concrete theories as to why these cartoons had such harsh morals, though the fact that cartoons at the time weren’t exclusively produced for children certainly had something to do with it. Still, one could argue that the idea behind these intense parables stemmed from an attempt to teach kids about right and wrong (in the scariest possible way apparently). The idea is similar to Grimm’s Fairy Tales, which, on the surface, were about princes and princesses but also sneakily featured incest, murder, and torture. Together, the morals and quirky stylistic choices of the era create a bouncing nightmare of cheeriness – which is exactly what Cuphead is.

The biggest antiquated animation motif Cuphead’s creators borrow is of course the ever-present smiles on the game’s mascots. Both Mug Man and Cuphead are fitted with a set of vacant coin-eyes and toothy-grins, previously featured on mascots like Felix the Cat or Bimbo the Dog. The smiles are doubly unsettling since players spend the majority of the game murdering other cartoon characters. Cuphead extends this frightening aesthetic choice into other aspects of the game’s world. Minor opponents are all equipped with resting states, a default animation cycle to return to when they’re not engaged. The resting states for most minions is them simply grinning ear-to-ear along with a Judge Doom-like set of unblinking eyeballs. The result is as if the cast of stuffed animatronics from Splash Mountain gained sentience and went “Westworld” on unsuspecting guests.

Cuphead also adopts the perverse morals of the cartoons it takes inspiration from. The game’s story is presented as a fairytale that follows our heroes as they’re turned into indentured soul collector’s by the Devil as punishment for gambling their own souls away. Again, this is a throwback to early cartoon works like Disney’s Pinocchio, which featured the deceptive Pleasure Island (a local not too dissimilar to the Devil’s Casino in Cuphead). Like poor Pinocchio, our child-like protagonists are sucked in by adult vices and punished for it; although they’re thankfully spared this fate. Then there are the bosses.

One of Cuphead’s biggest achievements is creating horror from its boss fights through the natural extension of rubber-band animation: body horror. Each boss in Cuphead has multiple phases, with each phase distorting and mutilating the bosses original form. Enemies rip off their heads, morph into strange shapes, and much worse. By the end of fights, bosses barely resemble their kid-friendly first appearance. As the bosses slowly stretch and warp, they transform into the full realization of Cuphead‘s thesis: there’s a fine line between creepy and cute.

Cuphead’s guise of being a “kid-friendly” cartoon game was a massive success. The E-rated title was one of the best rated games of 2017 and is still incredibly popular two years after launch. Surprisingly, the game did end-up especially resonating with younger fans, inspiring a line of toys, blankets, and an air-freshener (yes that’s true). Studio MDHR did their job so well that most players don’t pick-up on the latent horror themes in the game’s story and presentation. Much like when audiences were heading to watch Bimbo or Mickey’s latest exploits, few realized that this wide-grinned cartoon had its roots in horror. But, the further gamer’s progress, the more they understand that something deeply twisted is lurking under the surface of each cell of animation.

Will Barboza is a video game/entertainment writer from Kansas City, with bylines appearing on Playboy.com, Waypoint, IGN, and other sites.

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

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Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

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Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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