VOODOO CHILD
HORROR DIRECTOR ELI ROTH REVISITS THE JOY OF SCARING YOUNG AUDIENCES WITH NEW SERIES FRIGHT KREWE
WORDS: TARA BENNETT
Soleil Le Claire (centre) and the gang, ready to go.
AT FIRST GLANCE, ELI ROTH AND children’s television existing in the same sentence reads like a hoax. But then you’re reminded that the splatter horror guy also directed 2018’s The House With A Clock In Its Walls, which to date remains his biggest box office success. Happy to be a conduit to horror for audiences of any age, Roth united with writer James Frey (I Am Number Four) to come up with an intentionally scary series meant for older children. The fruit of their labours is the new DreamWorks animation Fright Krewe.
The 2D animated series is set in New Orleans, where graveyards are just as much a tourist attraction as the riverboat rides. The Creole culture permeates every frame and is personified by local teen Soleil Le Claire (Sydney Mikayla). She weaves horror into her everyday life, and ends up accidentally dragging four of her fellow classmates into fighting a two-centuries-old demonic threat.