User Reviews

Oh no, racial stereotype alert! Well apart from the African American character designs, which for a change were cute and not at all ridiculously exaggerated, I can see how the image of dark skinned people being terrified by white sheets could easily be read into negatively, but how I watched this was just at face value, they were just kids being scared by misunderstood things going bump in the night, and any little kids would be scared by ghosts regardless of skin tone. I liked them, I thought they were sweet and funny, 'nuff said! So this short sees two adorable lively kids at first intentionally trying to scare each other, and then inadvertently scaring each other about to death in a broken down old empty house one stormy afternoon. What I liked the most about this one was that unlike most other short cartoons from this era that involve spooky houses and situations, there really ain't no spooks to be found anywhere in this old house, except for the ones the two precocious kids come up with and think they see and invent as they get snagged on and entwined in the dusty old junk in the house and get carried away with the natural creepiness of the place and run around in a blind panic. And the things that they come up with that appear like ghosts to the characters were downright ingenious. The version of the short that I saw was a very scratched and muted print, but I could still discern that the backgrounds and the rustic details in everything were incredibly rich and intricate in detail and everything was fantastically rendered. And the movements of the characters as they ran around were very fluid, and their faces were very expressionful. To say it was made way back in 1936 there was quite a lot of action going on, and it was pretty non-stop! I loved when Bosko was running around with a sheet and springs got stuck on his legs that made a funny 'boing' sound with each bounce, and when Honey had a stuffed moose head stuck on her, and when the dumb dog gets covered in a black cloak and a skull and is dragging along some kind of old radio broadcasting device that's playing a scary story and screaming out as the seemingly terrifying apparition races after the kids. "It's a good night for murder!" I loved how impressively ominous the thunderstorm is that seems to challenge Honey's attitude about ghosts and causes her to first seek refuge in the creaky old abandoned house. And there was some pretty excellent perception of depth to the scenes where Boskko first goes into the house and runs up the stairs to the attic and falls right through the ceiling! I loved all of the stuff with the skeletons, just what the heck had that place once been anyway? Mad scientist's lab going by the look of it! This beautifully antiquated short is a wonderful little work of art that's funny, well-paced and entertaining, and this is one classic gem that doesn't ever deserve any kind of negative reputation just because of how its cute characters look and it should be remembered for the right reasons. Loved it.