Happy Halloween everyone! This day had me thinking about the concept of scary animation. Can a cartoon be truly scary? The first thing that sprang to my mind was some of the dark and more realistic style anime like Blood: The Last Vampire. Awesome as it is, though, I wouldn't call it scary. It has a couple of shocks, but that's about as far as it goes. The only thing I can think of that even begins to approach scary is Boogiepop Phantom, but that really falls more in the line of being creepy or unsettling than truly scary.
So is it impossible? Can an animation make you scared?
"Resident Evil", the game, scared the boo out of me a few times. I do not remember every be scared by an animation feature or a short.
It may simply have to do with the fact that, at least in America, most animated features are aimed at family audiences, and aren't made to be horror movies in the first place. I think animation does have the potential to be truly scary, but it's an area that perhaps hasn't been explored as much.
That said, Twice Upon a Time by John Korty definitely horrified me as a kid, and still disturbs me as an adult. It is awesome :)