Frankelda’s Book Of Spooks is a stop motion animated series created in Mexico in 2021; it has five stories about kids who wanted more out of their lives and got it, but at a very high price. An English-dubbed version has landed on Max, just in time for spooky season.
Opening Shot: A spider named Proscutes (Luis Leonardo Suarez) tries to write something and is frustrated. A feathered man he calls “Your Highness” tells the spider “There’s no time,” and the spider says, “Let the writer come.”
The Gist: Frankelda (Abby Trott) is a writer whose spirit is trapped in a big house, along with her book-shaped friend, whom she calls Herneval (Arturo Mercado Jr.). She wants to tell the viewer tales about children who wanted things in life and ended up getting much more than they expected. Herneval isn’t sure she should be doing it, but it’s the only way for her to get out of this house she’s trapped in.
The first story is about a boy named Nemo (Barbara Goodson), who is dissatisfied with his life of doing chores and homework. One day a gnome (Dave Boat) comes out from under Nemo’s bed and offers to do all the work for him, as long as he gives the gnome his name. Nemo does just that, and is enjoying his freedom until he realizes that he and the gnome are trading lives.
The second story is about a shy girl named Magali (Trott) who just wanted to fit in at her school; she finds a Halloween costume she thinks will be great, but it’s hideously expensive. She decides to sell Day of the Dead bread to make some money, and when three old ladies see her, and buy her rolls, they ask her to make 13 more, but under specific conditions. When she goes to deliver the rolls, she walks into the house and finds that the women are witches.
In the last episode, a young writer named Francisca (Natalia Popa) finds that no one wants to read or publish books from women (the story takes place in the 1860s). A young, feathered boy (Liam Martinez) reads her stories and loves them. But when they meet again when they both become young adults, he has an offer for her that will help her get her stories read and heard. Oh, and by now, she’s decided to write under the name of Frankelda.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Frankelda’s Book Of Spooks is a little bit Coraline and a little bit The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Our Take: Created by Arturo Ambriz Rendón and Roy Ambriz Rendón, Frankelda’s Book Of Spooks is a visual feast of stop motion animation, and just scary enough to make its intended audience (see below for what that audience is) jump and get creeped out.
Yes, the show is more or less an anthology, but the overarching story of just why Frankelda is telling these stories after centuries trapped in that house pulls the viewer through the five 14-17 minute episodes.
What we appreciated about the individual stories is that they don’t have happy endings. Just because the show is geared towards kids doesn’t mean that its stories have to be happy and positive. They’re very much cautionary tales, where kids get exactly what they want but at a very high price. Maybe they’re not exactly lessons you want to teach your kids, but as stories designed to spook them, the endings strike exactly the right tone.
The final episode, which explains Frankelda and Herneval’s entrapment, is a bit confusing given the first scene of the series, but it’s still very well done, and puts a nice bow on the first of what we hope is multiple seasons.
What Age Group Is This For?: Because of the scary elements, we’re thinking that the show’s TV-Y7 rating is just about right on the money.
Parting Shot: Over the credits of each episode, we see how the episode was made, from storyboards to the creation of the figurines and sets.
Sleeper Star: All of the artists who work on the show, as well as the people who shot the stop-action animation, are the stars of this show. We also give a lot of credit to the voice actors doing the English dub of this series (it was created in Mexico and originally voiced in Spanish) for giving their own spin on the characters.
Most Pilot-y Line: None we could find.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Frankelda’s Book Of Spooks is not only visually stunning, but its stories do an effective job of creeping out the kids who are its target audience.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.