With spooky season in full swing and ghostly decorations appearing everywhere, Blocks is taking a look at how horror movies could inspire future LEGO sets.
As the leaves turn golden and the nights become longer, it’s time to curl up with a bowl of popcorn and put on a scary movie. Whether it’s a ghostly haunting of a derelict manor or Beetlejuice stirring up trouble, there is a whole range of horror movies to enjoy. But how has horror already made its way onto LEGO shelves? And how could it inspire future sets?
Grab a slice of pumpkin pie and prepare for spooky story, as Blocks, the LEGO magazine for fans, delves into the changing way horror is sneaking into sets…
There was never anything truly dedicated to spooky shenanigans or paranormal creatures within the LEGO portfolio until Monster Fighters was introduced in 2012. Before then, anything related to horror or the occult had been limited to a few minifigures of ghosts, witches or Dr. Frankenstein working in his laboratory. It was Monster Fighters that really changed that. It followed the adventures of a group of heroes trying to collect all of the magical moonstones before Lord Vampyre used them to create eternal darkness. It embraced a typical good versus evil story, with the villains having fun, wacky vehicles and shying away from anything too dark.
There was a specific reason for this – the LEGO Group didn’t want to create themes that would potentially scare children. There was also a strict ‘no horror’ policy that guided the levels of horror, gore and occult that could be depicted within sets. That has seemingly softened through the years.
LEGO Hidden Side, which launched in 2019, is set in the haunted town of Newbury. The theme follows a group of teenage ghost hunters trying to save the town from a dimension of ghosts. Although these ghosts aren’t exceptionally scary, they are still very eerie, causing haunted schools to develop monstrous fangs, wailing around deserted graveyards and lurking in the misty swamps around the town. While it may have had plenty of humour and Spencer the doggie sidekick for added cuteness, there’s no escaping that the theme has plenty of elements of light horror.
Those light horror aspects can also be found in LEGO Wednesday, which is inspired by the Netflix series. While attending Nevermore Academy, Wednesday Addams finds herself involved in solving a murder mystery, tracking down a horrific monster known as a Hyde. It is one of the darker takes on the Addams Family, filled with haunted visions, gory deaths and the Hyde is pretty terrifying. Most of the sets have focused on the school and Wednesday’s friendship with her roommate, Enid, but that doesn’t detract from the fact that the source material is spooky.
Scaring people is also the entire premise of the beloved Disney film delivered as a build in 21351 Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. The film is infamous for sparking the eternal debate on whether it’s for Halloween or Christmas (with many fans arguing that it’s perfect for both holidays) because it’s festively spooky. Jack Skellington kidnaps Santa Claus, drives a sleigh pulled by skeleton reindeer and delivers toys that traumatise children.
All of these examples demonstrate that there are sets inspired by or influenced by light horror films in the LEGO portfolio. These sets and themes have demonstrated that the LEGO Group continues to evolve its guidelines about what fearsome models can be created for children. Now, with with an entire range dedicated to adults, will there be sets inspired by horror films or franchises? It’s not impossible and it’s becoming increasingly likely. In fact, horror stories have already inspired two licensed themes – Stranger Things and Gremlins.
Stranger Things may be marketed as a series that follows a group of friends searching for answers about the supernatural events occurring in the small town of Hawkins, but there’s no denying the plentiful amounts of horror and gore, with creatures like the demagorgons and demobats. Or Vecna, who is pretty gruesome. The LEGO Group has delivered two big sets inspired by the show – 75810 The Upside Down and 11370 Stranger Things: The Creel House.
21361 Gremlins: Gizmo or Gremlins 40919 Gizmo & Stripe Figures are based on the cult classic movie. After being turned from mogwai into monstrous gremlins because they were fed after midnight, the creatures wreak havoc, leading to the deaths of several of the townsfolk. Defeating them requires exposing them to sunlight, literally melting the skin off their bones and one of the gremlins is blown up in a microwave.
If the LEGO Group is fine with portraying this level of horror within sets aimed for adults, then it’s highly likely that more horror films will be used as inspiration in the future. Classic 1980s slashers or 1990s horror films have plenty of scenes and locations that would actually work really well as LEGO sets, such as the Deetz family home from Beetlejuice, the Entity crawling out of the television or Regan MacNeil floating on her bed as she’s possessed by a vengeful spirit. LEGO sets do not have to be inspired by the scariest scenes from these movies, so they could be sold to adults without traumatising children in the LEGO Store.
Incorporating horror into LEGO sets in this way is an exciting prospect that could open up a whole range of new licensed models based on beloved horror franchises and classic slashers that helped to define the genre.
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