A decade after trying to adapt the series to the big and small screen, Joe Hill’s fantasy-horror series Locke & Key finally found a welcoming home at Netflix, and the results of the adaptation were as thrilling as everyone had hoped.
By and large, the series has earned critical plaudits for its young cast, excellent production design, spooky score, and overarching premise. One of the gripes, aside from some flat middle episodes, is that the show skews to a younger, PG-13 demographic. But isn’t that also part of the appeal? To compare the show to its cinematic equivalents, here are 10 horror-fantasy films to see if you liked Locke & Key!
Super 8
Elle Fanning headlined a top-tier cast of preteens in J.J. Abrams’ brilliantly marketed and genuinely mysterious sci-fi/horror/fantasy/adventure Super 8.
The top-secret film (at the time of release) centered on a group of youngsters out to make a movie with a super 8 camera and whatever resources they can muster (not unlike The Savinis in Locke & Key). When the opt to film a train crash for instant production value, a monstrous entity is unleashed that threatens the entire town.
Labyrinth
One darkly-tinged fantasy adventure the whole family can enjoy is Labyrinth, Jim Henson’s wildly imaginative tale of a young girl given 13 hours to find her missing little brother.
Jennifer Connolly stars as Sarah, a 16-year-old girl who must save her baby brother Toby (Toby Froud) after personally wishing for his disappearance. If she doesn’t succeed, Toby will forever remain in the clutch of the Goblin King Jareth (David Bowie), an odious villain akin to L & K’s Dodge.
The Witches
Based on the classic Roald Dahl children’s novel, Nicolas Roeg’s The Witches is one of the most harrowing horror-fantasies for any youngster to lay eyes on. Here’s hoping the 2020 remake is of similar quality!
The PG flick tracks a young boy named Luke (Jasen Fisher), who unwittingly happens upon a convention of witches. The Grand High Witch (Anjelica Huston) spots Luke and turns him into a mouse, leaving him to scurry around the convention and figure out how to be transformed back to human form. Wicked indeed!
Goosebumps
If you took the work of the aforementioned Dahl and threw it in a blender with the work of R.L. Stine, you might approximate the tone and tenor of Netflix’s Locke & Key.
The most recent example of the latter includes Goosebumps (and its sequel), which is markedly aimed at a younger audience. And yet, there are still enough genuine thrills and chills to constitute the film as a fantastic horror outing. Plot-wise, the story concerns a teenager who must rid his small Delaware town of a demonic scourge.
The House With A Clock In Its Walls
From one Jack Black kid-friendly horror-fantasy to another! While Goosebumps 2 failed to recreate the success of the first film, Black struck just the right note with The House With A Clock in its Walls.
Very few films reflect the childlike tableau of Locke & Key in the way this movie does. The plot revolves around a young male orphan named Lewis (Owen Vaccaro) who goes to live with his uncle in a magical abode. When he arrives, Lewis is tasked with helping his eccentric uncle (Black) finds a hidden clock in the walls of the house. If they fail, the world may cease to be.
The Hole
Joe Dante has a great feel for telling horror stories that appeal to a younger audience. The director of Gremlins helped mold what would become the PG-13 rating in 1984, leading to his underrated horror-fantasy The Hole in 2009.
The plot concerns two young brothers who suddenly stumble on a mysterious hole in their backyard. When they begin snooping deeper with older neighbor Julie (Haley Bennett), the trio unearths a supernatural tunnel filled with their innermost fears.
The NeverEnding Story
Although more fantasy-heavy than most, nobody who’s seen The NeverEnding Story can deny its various stints of abject terror. The movie is one of the absolute best for the underage audience looking for a thrill ride!
As most already know, the film tracks an unruly boy named Bastian (Barret Oliver) who’s imagination gets swept away after delving into a magical and enigmatic book. As a result, Bastian gets whisked away to a far-off land full of mystical creatures and majestic beasts of all sorts and stripes.
The Gate
Cut from a similar cloth as Joe Dante’s The Hole, Tibor Takacs’s 1987 film The Gate is the absolute perfect PG-13 horror outing for the entire family to enjoy!
When Glen (Stephen Dorff) us left home alone one night, he inadvertently unearths a giant hole in his backyard. Glen recruits his older pal Terry (Louis Tripp) to help investigate. The deeper they dig, they sooner they unleash a malicious scourge of demonic ghouls that threaten to raze the entire suburbs. Funny, frightening and a ton of fun!
Monster Squad
Despite Monster Squad paying homage to the classic Universal monsters that include Dracula, The Mummy, Frankenstein’s monster, and The Fish-Man, the vibe of the movie is one that most closely resembles Locke & Key!
When a bunch of a twelve-year-old horror fanatics gets their hands on an ancient amulet, an Earthly portal is opened to allow such monsters to enter the physical realm. When Dracula recruits his ghoulish pals to retrieve the amulet, it’s up to the kiddies to quash the madness once and for all.
The Goonies
Every time Kinsey and he Savinis went into the sea caves to witness the Black Door in Locke & Key, The Goonies instantly leaped to mind.
Beyond the comparison of a gaggle of wide-eyed kids going on a harrowing adventure, another similarity between the two is the use of profanity, while still retaining a PG-13 rating. The Goonies tracks a coterie of misfits out to locate Pirate One-Eyed Willie’s sunken riches. The peril remains adult, but the temperament stays adolescent!
