Henry Selick’s Coraline came crawling into the animated movie scene in 2009. Even though this kids’ horror movie is on the older side, it’s still one of my favorite Halloween movies.

Coraline, who has just moved into a gloomy, run-down, rose pink duplex in the country. Her parents are always busy and unattached, so out of boredom she explores the gloomy house and meets the weird residents in the neighborhood.

Eventually, she finds a portal to a “better” copy of her world. The Other World, in contrast to the real one, is bright in color and abundant with fun.

She’s basically where she has anything she could want. The matriarch of the Other World, the Other Mother, makes sure she has delicious food, silly shows to watch, and a massive garden.

While this world seems like a perfect dream to Coraline, the audience can see just how creepy it is that these button eye people are preying on her.

The Other Mother promises Coraline she can stay there forever, but on one condition, she must sew buttons in her eyes.

One thing that keeps me watching Coraline year after year is the art style. The stop-motion animation alone sets it apart from other Halloween movies.

The clay-animation helps The Other World seem warm and vibrant in clear contrast to the dull, gray Normal World.

One scene I love is when Coraline opens the small door in the house and finds the portal to the other world. The portal just seems like a glowing, wormy fabric tunnel. It almost looks homemade.

Part of the suspense is that we can clearly tell that The Other Mother is trying to trap Coraline, but she can’t tell because she’s just a kid.

It takes a while for Coraline to get skeptical and realize that even though The Other Mother gives her everything she could ever want, her real and boring parents actually love her and The Other Mother is just manipulating her.

Every kid always wishes what they have is better. I think it shows that there’s a big draw towards what you don’t have.

As a kid, I thought that the Other World was super cool, and I’d even like to go there. Coraline wasn’t grateful for what she had.

I think that it has a good lesson on not being blindly greedy and being happy for what you have. I liked how dark the Normal World is because you know what? It’s like ours.

Coraline is still a favorite Halloween movie today. A lot of us at Venice High grew up watching it every Halloween and still keep watching it.

The film has passed its decade-long release, but it’s still a well-loved.