My page about the Living Gnome Saga was more analytical, but for this one, I just want to talk about what I like about this series.
Spooky Month is a web animation series created by Sr. Pelo. It follows the happenings of a town and the people who live in it, often focused on two kids - Skid and Pump - who adore Halloween. As I write this, the sixth episode has just released, and it was awesome, so of course I'm going to make a page about the series.
It's hard to say exactly why this series is so interesting to me. It's had my brain in a vice grip since late 2020, and that was before it started taking itself as seriously as it does now. The animation, the art style, and the characters are all charming, but if that was all, I wouldn't be making an entire page about it.
If you want to watch the series before reading on, consider this your spoiler warning.
The thing about this series is that though it's telling a dramatic and mysterious story now, it started out as a two-minute-long joke video released for Halloween in 2018. What I find pretty cool about it is that it's not apologetic about it at all; even though it's serious business now, it stays true to things that happened in the first episode and retcons nothing. In fact, things that were one-off jokes or funny background details at first become very important later on.
A good example of this is the demon Skid and Pump summon in the first episode, Moloch. They summon him, leave him trapped in Skid's attic for two years, and this little action has a world of consequences. The third episode has him possess an exterminator named Dexter, but he accidentally kills him in a lapse of judgement, leaving him trapped again in Dexter's dead body whilst Dexter himself possesses a doll and becomes the fourth episode's antagonist. In the sixth episode, Moloch starts causing trouble again as he possesses several people in succession and is at last defeated near the end of the episode.
This whole adventure and a half hinges on that ten-second segment in the first episode, which just boggles my mind. In this series, the silly and the serious walk hand in hand, and not a detail is wasted.
Speaking of details, this series loves to tuck away important details in the background, and it's kind of genius. Spooky Month is, after all, a comedy first and foremost; this method not only fleshes out the world in a way that feels natural, but also allows deeper details to have their place without distracting from the lighthearted tone of the episode. It's also pretty good enrichment for the lore-seekers, methinks.
Speaking of the lore, that's hidden in the background too. What's more is that recent episodes of the series have supplemental ARGs that are accessed through hidden QR codes, and those have so many details and implications. It's an absolute treat watching people work their way through them in real time after an episode's release. Something about having the deeper lore be something you have to dig for and analyze just feels very correct.
The characters are also a big factor. Skid and Pump are obviously the stars of the show, but almost every character that speaks each have their own distinct charm. There's also the fact that Sr. Pelo makes a point to make sure no character is one-dimensional or static; everybody has something going on with them.
Something I like is how the terrifying background of the series is contrasted by how sweet and funny the characters are. The combination of dangerous things lurking in the shadows while people just want the best for their friends and loved ones is one of the things that makes this series so special to me.