(1929)
Dir - Walt Disney
Overall: GOOD
The opening installment in what would become the Silly Symphony series of short films either produced or also directed by Walt Disney himself, (as the first few were), The Skeleton Dance was conceived of by his friend, composer Carl Stalling whose concept was to specifically meld animation with music and in this case have it be a bunch of happy skeletons dancing in a graveyard. The imagery here represents some of the earliest and most iconic animated horror every produced, besides just representing the birthplace of Disney's own enduring mark on the genre. Fun, spooky, wonderfully, (and primarily), animated by Ub Iwerks, it is essential viewing for any fan of such lightheaded yet macabre visuals and a quintessential template for all future musical cartoons that would follow in the series.
(1929)
Dir - Walt Disney/Ub Iwerks
Overall: GOOD
Another early and well-regarded Silly Symphony entry once again animated and by some sources therefore also directed by Ub Iwerks along with Walt Disney himself, Hell's Bells features Satan embarking on unholy festivities with his evil minions. These include giant spiders, bats, a demon cow, snake monsters, a three-headed dog who he also feeds a demon to, and one such demon who leads the Dark One on a chase that ultimately gets the latter fully engulfed by grabbing fire hands. While it is technically more gruesome than some of Disney's other shorts simply by taking place in such a fantastical, hellish abyss as opposed to just utilized witches or ghosts getting into shenanigans, it is still played for giggles. Certainly by today's standards nearly a century later at least, it is only slightly less kid friendly as anything else by the studio.
(1931)
Dir - Wilfred Jackson
Overall: GOOD
Originally released as The Cat's Nightmare with The Cat's Out existing as a possible working title on an existing vault print, this one is rather self explanatory as a cat gets kicked out of his human's house for the night only to have a series of misfortunes befall him before the rooster crows and the sun rises again. The fact that many of these unpleasant instances seem to be hallucinatory gives the filmmakers even more liberties in indulging in some fun, uncanny imagery such as a scarecrow presumably coming to life and dancing, a series of crows, spiders, owls and even some spooky trees terrorizing our unlucky feline, and a scary bat getting to bust a move at one point. Wildfred Jackson would go on to direct Peter Pan, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and Lady in the Tramp as well as the "A Night on Bald Mountain" in Fantasia, arguably the overall finest animated horror segment ever produced.
(1931)
Dir - Wilfred Jackson
Overall: GOOD
A year before Universal dropped one of the greatest horror films of any kind with The Mummy, Walt Disney tackled similar terrain by producing the spooky enough Egyptian Melodies. There is no evil curse or anything, but things are still more creepy at the beginning when a curious spider ventures into an Egyptian tomb that is dark and foreboding. By the time we get inside however, it is mostly fun and games again as a couple of mummies do a similar dance as the graveyard skeletons did in The Skeleton Dance and then the ancient hieroglyphics come to life in an increasingly excitable fashion. The animation itself is as fluid as always and this one once again has Wilfred Jackson and composer Frank Churchill working together, the later who would pen "Heigh-Ho" and "Whistle While You Work" amongst others for the hugely famous studio.
(1932)
Dir - Burt Gillett
Overall: GOOD
Fusing the British folktale of the same name with elements of Hansel and Gretel, as well as an original element of a friendly gnome village that swoops in for the rescue, Babes in the Woods was another handled by Burt Gillett who would direct a number of notable Disney shorts throughout his career. One of the first Silly Symphonies to be produced in Technicolor while simultaneously being the last to use Pat Powers' Cinephone sound recording system, it features a cackling witch that successfully lures a number of hapless children to her house made out of candy only to transform them into any number of furry, slimy, or otherwise unpleasant beasts for her amusement. Being a Disney cartoon of course, it reworks the type of Brothers Grimm nastiness that the source material has with everyone smiling and dancing in the end, though not before it gets a little hair-rasing first.
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