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Image Via Focus Features
15 years after its release, Coraline continues to draw viewers to the theater with its theatrical re-release in the United States, holding its own among new titles like Alien: Romulus and Deadpool & Wolverine. Based on Neil Gaiman's 2002 novella of the same name, Coraline is widely considered one of the best-animated films of all time and has become a cult classic since it first hit theaters in 2009. It's also one of the scariest children's movies, traumatizing an entire generation of kids (myself included) thanks to the Beldam, aka Coraline's (Dakota Fanning) Other Mother (Terri Hatcher). Her smile and black button eyes are creepy enough, but it's Other Mother's obsession with Coraline and her transformation into a horrifying, spider-like creature that has cemented her as one of the scariest mothers in horror movie history. Coraline's Other Mother combines characteristics of the traditional American housewife with those of a spider into a monster that's uniquely terrifying for both children and adult viewers.
'Coraline's Other Mother Is a Little Too Perfect
The Beldam, referred to primarily as Other Mother, is a shape-shifter that takes on different forms to prey on children, and her name is hardly incidental. While "Beldam" is an archaic term used to refer to an ugly old woman or hag, the Beldam also derives from “La Belle Dame sans Merci," an 1819 ballad by John Keats. The poem, which translates as "The Beautiful Lady Without Mercy," tells the story of a knight who stumbles upon a beautiful fairy woman who seduces him, lures him to a cave, and abandons him. Coraline creates its own version of the Beldam — a skeletal, spiderlike creature who disguises herself as a belle dame, or beautiful lady, to kidnap children. Instead of romantic seduction like Keats' Belle Dame, Other Mother uses the hallmarks of traditional motherhood and the prospect of a better childhood to lure Coraline into her clutches.
To entice Coraline, the Beldam transforms into an idealized version of her mother, Other Mother. She's presented as the antithesis of Coraline's real mother, Mel, who's tired, overworked, and neglects spending time with her daughter, whereas Other Mother exists only to take care of her. Unlike Mel, Other Mother is always dressed to the nines, with perfect hair and makeup, embodying the essence of the post-WWII American housewife in both appearance and attitude. She's the perfect mother who wants to do nothing but cook for, entertain, and take care of Coraline, and look great while doing it. While Mel represents the type of imperfect, working mother that's often demonized for not fully conforming to the role of homemaker, Other Mother represents a more traditional type of womanhood where a woman is stripped of any role or identifiers beyond "wife" and "mother." The Beldam herself depends on children for survival, and the version of motherhood she portrays also needs children to care for in order to fulfill what they’ve been told their purpose is.
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Aside from her much more polished appearance, the other major component that distinguishes Other Mother from Coraline’s real mother is her black button eyes. Combined with her creepy fake smile, her pitch-black button eyes are immediately unsettling and suggest that this version of her mother is not human. Though she spoils Coraline and caters to her every whim, Other Mother’s emotionless button eyes and insistence that Coraline sew in button eyes of her own is a reminder to Coraline that the Other World is not exactly what it seems, and living in such an idyllic world comes with a price. It’s also a simple but effective way to disturb the audience without revealing too much of the Beldam's true nature, which emerges later on once Coraline refuses to conform.
Coraline Falls Into Other Mother’s Web
We don't know when, why, or how long the Beldam has been trapped at the Pink Palace Apartments, but the Other World begins and ends with her. Like a spider, the Beldam does not hunt but waits for her victims to come into her trap, using her hand-sewn dolls to observe their lives and construct their ideal reality so that when they visit her they won't want to leave. She not only transforms herself into the kind of mom she thinks Coraline desires but also creates Other Father (John Hodgman) and Other Wybie, versions of her father and friend Wybie (Robert Bailey Jr.) that she thinks Coraline would prefer. She capitalizes on Coraline's feelings of neglect to conjure up a version of her parents who celebrate and spoil her instead of ignoring her to focus on work. Other Mother sews, cooks delicious meals, and likes to play games. Other Father is a musician and creates an elaborate flower garden in the shape of Coraline's face. All of this could be hers forever if she simply sews buttons into her eyes.
Other Mother's domestic bliss is a facade, however, used to coax Coraline away from her parents and trap her. Part of what makes the Beldam so sinister is that she takes the form of Coraline's real mother, Mel, but once she sheds her disguise and her true skeletal, spidery appearance is revealed, she becomes even more terrifying. She uses a romanticized but completely unattainable version of motherhood to appeal to and manipulate Coraline's trust. However, once Coraline starts showing some resistance, she drops all pretense of being a kind, caring mother, and her appearance shifts accordingly. Once the Beldam realizes she won't be able to get Coraline to sew the buttons over her eyes by her own free will, her creepily plastered-on smile disappears, and she no longer resembles Coraline's real mother at all, but a different and more frightening creature entirely.
In order to lure Coraline in, the Beldam tailors the Other World to her liking, but as Coraline gets closer and closer to escaping, the Other World starts disintegrating around her, forcing her back into the Beldam's reach. The Other World does not exist without the Other Mother, and the Other Mother cannot exist without a child to take care of. When Coraline eventually escapes back through the portal, the Beldam screams, "Don't leave me, I'll die without you." This plea could just be a desperate manipulation tactic or an attempt to appeal to Coraline's empathy. However, it could also be literal, with Coraline locking her in and throwing the key (and Other Mother's hand) down the well.
How Other Mother Compares to Some of Horror’s Scariest Moms
Image Via Focus Features Whether they’re victims, villains, or a combination of both, mothers make for some of the most compelling and terrifying characters in horror. Mothers are generally expected to be nurturing, loving, trustworthy figures, but the scariest mothers in horror subvert this assumption. There are vengeful mothers like Pamela Vorhees from Friday the 13th and Nancy Loomis in Scream 2; overbearing, abusive mothers like Margaret White from Carrie; and "other" mothers, who, like Coraline's, aren't who they appear to be, like Mother from Goodnight Mommy and Adelaide Wilson in Us. What sets Coraline's Other Mother apart from other horror mothers and motherly doppelgangers is the way she tricks her child victims into joining her willingly and how she manipulates Coraline much like an abusive parent would. By presenting herself as her mother but "better," Coraline is already inclined to trust Other Mother, as she embodies the type of motherhood that's most appealing to a child like Coraline. She's unable to totally disguise her true nature, however, and Coraline takes note of her rhythmic finger tapping pretty early on as an indication that something is off.
The Beldam's character design, both while disguised as Other Mother and in her true monstrous form, plays a major role in her memorability as one of horror's creepiest moms. Coraline's use of stop-motion animation makes the Beldam's transformation from Other Mother into her monster form horrifying in a way that's hard to effectively replicate in live action. Her final form also capitalizes on a common fear among both children and adults: spiders. The escalation of the Beldam's behavior and how her appearance transforms along with it make her one of the most uniquely frightening mothers in horror and one that has stuck with viewers of all ages.
In the 15 years since its release, viewers have walked away from Coraline with a wide array of interpretations and theories about the Beldam and the film's ending Whether it scarred you as a kid or inspired a love of horror movies, Coraline has become a beloved film that fans return to year after year come October, and its recent box office success in August speaks to its staying power. Aside from being one of the best animated films of all time, part of what makes Coraline so worth returning to in 2024 is the fact that it gave audiences one of the scariest mothers of 21st-century horror.
Coraline is currently showing in select theaters across the U.S.
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