As much as I want to try and keep my expectations in check with this one, I can’t lie: It’s another team-up between a director and writer that I have immense respect for as creatives. Henry Selick, as I imagine he was for a lot of alternative kids out there, was my gateway drug when it comes to stop-motion animation, and his work on Coraline is what got me to fall in love with the works of Neil Gaiman. And while he’s also in the writer’s room here, he’s sharing it with Jordan Peele, one of modern horror’s most vital mainstream voices, and someone who has already got a certified winner under his belt this year in Nope. With how much import I place on names whenever looking at films on here, I went into this hoping for a ‘two great tastes’ situation, and honestly, that is definitely what I got… although it took me a bit to lock in with it.
