To give an idea of the vastness of Tim Burton’s filmography, we must go further than film. Like many of his contemporaries (Lynch, Cronenberg…) the moving image are but one means of artistic creation, albeit the most common, to express their vision. Burton began his career as a tweener in animation projects such as the 1981 Disney film The Fox and the Hound, but was soon let go – his pictures were too ‘monstrous’, apparently. On to something more personal, then. Burton sourced his imagery from different films and filmmakers, like Roger Corman’s films starring Vincent Price (whom Burton dedicated his 1982 stop-motion short Vincent) or the gothic Black Sunday by Lamberto Bava (homaged in Sleepy Hollow).
Burton also loved Dario Argento, Federico Fellini, and the Japanese kaiju (monster) movies and German expressionism with its askew perspectives (think Caligari). What he holds dearest, though, is the stop-motion animation he saw in the work of Jan Švankmajer, Ray Harryhausen, and the Quay Brothers. Burton’s masterpiece Nightmare Before Christmas of 1993 elevated this technique to the highest standards. The filmmaker will use it several times in his career.
We shall add to this list art by author and illustrator Edward St. John Gorey, comic artists Charles Addams, Don Martin, Dr. Seuss, and painter Mark Ryden to give a complete idea about the multi-faceted, eclectic figure of Tim Burton.
An itinerating exhibition on Tim Burton’s art started at New York’s MoMA in 2009, and it has it all: the large-scale surrealist Polaroids he took between 1992 and 1999, his paintings, and his robotic contraptions like the Robot boy from animated series Stainboy of 2000.
The Deetz family returns to the house in Winter River, the setting of the first chapter of the story from 1988. Lydia has become a mother and is dealing with the troubled adolescence of her daughter Astrid. When the girl inadvertently discovers the infamous model of the town i...
The legend of Frankenstein re-authored—first as a live-action production, then in animation.
A wondrous travel into the afterlife, with morbid pranks and naughty ghosts.
The darkest dark knight and the funkiest Penguin dancing to Prince’s music.
Again an elaboration on Frankenstein for a modern fairy tale and a farewell to the beloved Vincent Price.
A love tribute to B-movies and an homage to the great Bela Lugosi.
The filmmaker couldn’t get the budget to animate Martians in stop-motion, but created a masterpiece nonetheless.
