Spooky for Ad's Sake

👻 An obligatory Halloween themed s'letter

Oct 27, 2024

Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre

I was working in the lab late one night,
When my eyes beheld an eerie sight,
For my monster, from his slab, began to rise,
And suddenly, to my surprise it implored me to do a newsletter that contained some super spooky artworks and some super spooky adverts, because it’s October and there are pumpkins and plastic severed limbs all over the front lawns near my house.

Side-note: when did Halloween decorations get so graphic? I’m no prude but it’s kind of crazy that stuff that is basically this can just be bought at the dollar shop…

Why An Iconic Line From Clive Barker's Hellraiser Was Ad-Libbed

Jesus wept.

Back to art of a different kind, and no list of spooky pieces would be complete without the grand daddy of them all, Saturn Devouring His Son by Francisco Goya.

This is the most terrifying work of art ever created. IMHO

And I think what makes it even more unhinged is the fact that it wasn’t ever painted to be exhibited. Goya put this on the wall of his own house – in the dining room no less, which is both utterly psychotic but also hilarious.

It’s the eyes isn’t it.

Ivan The Terrible And His Son Ivan On November 16th, 1581

Here’s Ilya Repin’s Ivan The Terrible and his son Ivan. The shockingly cinematic scene features Ivan the Terrible, the Tsar of Russia, cradling his dying son, the Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich, shortly after he struck his son fatally in a fit of rage.

I’m not going to share Munch’s The Scream because a) I think we all know what it looks like, and b) I don’t think it carries the weight of dread and fear that so many other pieces of spooky art seem to inhabit.

So here’s The Murderer by Munch. It’s giving Zodiac killer…

Here’s another classic – The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli

Scary Art Scary Paintings The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli

I think it’s the vignette right?

In both of these paintings it’s like us, the viewer, is walking around a dark and frightening place and shining our spotlight into corners, and in those corners we find nothing but nightmares.

Shudder.

But as well as darkened corners, there are also ominous zones and threatening geography that can take our imaginations on wild rides.

Isle of the Dead by Arnold Bocklin contains one such place.

Nothing good is happening on that island…

In The Great Day of His Wrath, John Martin showed us the destructive power of nature when it’s in God’s hands. War is hell.

John Martin painting of the volcanic destruction of the earth

The centre panel of Francis Bacon’s 1972 Triptych becomes more disturbing, the more you know about what it entails. The fleshy bodies on display are at once lovers entwined and a pile of corpses.

One of them is George Dyer, Francis’s lover who committed suicide in a hotel bathroom on the eve of a massive exhibition in Paris. Bacon’s work generally reeks of death – but this one is truly horrifying.

Why is American Gothic so haunting? Grant Wood’s portrait of rural America is so brutally cold and depressive. It’s a country full of demons.

Something more modern now, how about these creepy installations by Isaac Cordal.

Isaac Cordal - Politicians Discussing Global Warming

In a similar but more disgusting vein, are Jake and Dinos Chapman’s works disturbingly scary or just puerile and grotesque? Hard to say. Hard to look at.

Spooky for Ad’s Sake

So how about some spooky ads then.

How ghoulish can we get as creatives without going so far over the line that we make our audience sick? Here’s some of the best that spring to mind.

N.B. I’m obviously not just going to pick Halloween adverts. That would be both cheating and lame.

Let’s start with some German expressionism, and the Judderman. I loved this as a kid.

This British Pork advert is unintentionally terrifying.

I love this Reebok advert. It’s so abrasive and disgusting. It’s genius.

Also scary and funny from Snickers. Now it reminds me of Longlegs.

VW shines a light into the darkness.

Volkswagen│Find danger before it finds you :: Behance

Yeah it’s joy. But also why am I freaked out. It’s English Gothic.

Unintentional?

r/AdPorn - 🍅 When Ketchup Gets a Personality... 😈

This is like uncovering a video nasty.

More Japan and stress causing dandruff. Yikes.

Whether it’s Chris Cunningham or David Lynch directing, the Sony Playstation has a history of brilliantly unsettling ads. This baby one takes the cake though.