Dan O'Bannon

For lovers of the dark, otherworldly and macabre, delighting through the 93-minute "ParaNorman" will be akin to attending a horror-themed amusement park, exploring a desolate and foreboding haunted house, and simultaneously watching 1985's "The Return of the Living Dead" and 1993's " Hocus Pocus " all rolled up into one.

…an early experiment by Victor involves half a corpse coming to life in a gasp-worthy but somehow funny scene that feels plucked right out of The Return of the Living Dead…