Frankelda's Book of Spooks explained

Native Name:

Open Theme:

"Tinta Invisible"

Composer:

Kevin Smithers

Country:

Mexico
United States

Language:

Spanish
English

Num Seasons:

Num Episodes:

Runtime:

12-16 min.

Network:

HBO Max Latin America

First Aired:

(Latin America)
(United States and Canada)

Frankelda's Book of Spooks (Spanish: Los Sustos Ocultos de Frankelda) is a Mexican stop motion animated television series created by brothers Arturo and Roy Ambriz Rendón and produced by the animation studio Cinema Fantasma for Cartoon Network Latin America and HBO Max.

Premise

Frankelda, a mysterious ghostwriter, tells tales of terror with the assistance of her grumpy enchanted book Herneval, primarily focused on children encountering supernatural entities such as gnomes, witches, sirens and the Coco collectively known as "Spooks", that rely on human fear to survive. Trapped in the consciousness of a sentient haunted house for 150 years, telling stories allows the two an opportunity to gradually regain their strength and make an escape plan, though with the obstacle of the house itself waking up.

Characters

Frankelda (voiced by Mireya Mendoza), is the show's narrator, loosely inspired by Frankenstein author Mary Shelley. She is the energetic ghost of Francisca Imelda, an aspiring horror writer from 1870s Mexico. Growing up with a fondness for reading and writing scary stories, her passions were discouraged by her family and her manuscripts were rejected by sexist publishers, resulting in her taking on her pen name. She takes an offer from Herneval to become his new Royal Nightmare Writer, allowing her stories to find an audience in people's dreams, though her consciousness has to be separated from her body to make the trip to the realm of the Spooks. However, with the journey turning into a one-way trip and the nature of dreams leaving her anonymous, she has become a literal ghostwriter.
Herneval (voiced by Arturo Mercado Jr.) is Frankelda's cautious and grumpy enchanted book. Prior to taking on his current state, he was an owl-like creature that was the Prince of the Spooks Kingdom. Admiring her work since the two were children, he makes a romantic offer for her to become the Spooks' new nightmare writer. Herneval can make people sleep by touching them and can induce astral projection in humans.
Procustes (voiced by Luis Leonardo Suarez) is a giant spider monster that was the previous Royal Nightmare Writer of the Spooks. When his stories had become tired, cliche and less effective for creating the nightmares the kingdom needed, Herneval sought to replace him with Frankelda. In revenge he made sure Frankelda's consciousness would not leave the Spook realm, and through unknown circumstances, he has transformed into a living haunted house that has trapped Frankelda and Herneval within the walls of his mind.

Production

Frankelda's Book of Spooks was initially pitched as a small web series with a four-minute pilot episode being released in 2019 on the Cartoon Network YouTube channel, inspired by Tales from the Crypt and The Storyteller. When the series was backed by HBO Max as part of their larger initiative to develop 100 projects in Latin America, the Ambriz brothers expanded the scope of the project into something more dramatic with musical numbers. 122 puppets and 42 sets were created for the series.^[1]

The series was dubbed into English twice over, first by the Miami-based studio BKS as a language option for its initial HBO Max Latin America release and a second time by Keywords Studios in Los Angeles for its October 12, 2023, US release. This second dub had the three leads of the Mexican cast reprise their roles in English.

The series is being positioned as a "calling card" for Cinema Fantasma, with the Ambriz brothers describing Frankelda's extended backstory as offering enough depth as a hook for potential later seasons or a movie.^[2] A spinoff exploring the backstory of Frankelda and Herneval further was announced at the Pixelatl 2022 festival, titled Frankelda and the Prince of Spooks,^[3] later being confirmed as a movie when it was announced it would be featured as a work in progress at the 2023 Annecy International Animation Festival as part of a showcase of Mexican animation.^[4]

Notes and References

Web site: 'Frankelda's Book of Spooks': Cool New Stop-Motion from Mexico.
Web site: Are anthologies a viable business model?.
Web site: Cinema Fantasma presentó un nuevo spin-off de Frankelda en el festival Pixelatl - TVLaint .
Web site: Annecy > News .