One ofStephen King’s earliest short stories, “Here There Be Tygers,” has now been turned into an animated short film. King remains one of the most iconic and prolific horror authors of all time, writing novels likeIt,Carrie,The Shining, andMisery, among others, as well as many short stories. “Here There Be Tygers” was first published in Ubris magazine in 1968 before appearing in hisSkeleton Crewcollection in 1985.King’s short storyfollows a third-grader who discovers a tiger hiding out in the school bathroom and the scary encounters that follow.
Dark Corners Filmsnow releases an animated short film calledLily, which adapts the events of King’s “Here There Be Tygers.” The short film, which clocks in at just under 10 minutes, is told mostly in black-and-white, with splashes of bold red and green to help convey some of the story’s key themes and moments.
Kate Siegel, who is best known for appearing in Mike Flanagan projects likeHush(2016),The Haunting of Hill House(2018), andMidnight Mass(2021), directs and narrates the short. Unfortunately, the comment section has been disabled, meaning it’s difficult to gauge how the short has been received thus far. Check it out below:
“The Monkey"is another short story that features inSkeleton Crew, and a feature film adaption directed byLonglegsdirector Oz Perkins is set to hit theaters next year.
What Lily’s Release Means For Stephen King’s Collection Of Adaptations
Will There Be More Animated Content Coming?
“Here There Be Tygers” was adapted once before in 2019 into a short film, butLilymarks the first time it has been adapted in animation. In fact,there have been no major animated adaptations of King’s work, with almost all taking the form of live-action. The most recent adaptations, all of which are live-action, includeSalem’s Lot(2024),The Boogeyman(2023),Mr. Harrigan’s Phone(2022), andFirestarter(2022).
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There are currently no major animated King projects in the works, and it’s not hard to see why. Animation is typically a medium reserved for youth or family audiences, and most of King’s stories are in the horror genre. Unfortunately,there isn’t a big demand for animated horror content. That being said, something likeLove, Death & Robotssuggests there certainly is a way to make more adult-oriented animation content work, and King certainly has neough short stories to make such an anthology series work.
Siegel participated in previous King adaptations likeGerald’s Game(2017) and the upcomingThe Life of Chuck. With Flanagan, her husband and frequent collaborator, set to make aDark TowerTV show for Prime Video, it’s possible she could appear in that as well.
Our Take On Lily
More King Stories Should Get The Animation Treatment
Lilyis a short but sweet take on one ofKing’s lesser-known short stories, and it certainly suggests that more of his works should be adapted into the medium of animation.Animation can be used to bring to life more surreal elements of King’s writing and add a level of stylizationthat is sometimes challenging to achieve in live-action. “Here There Be Tygers,” in particular, is a great fit for animation as it features a young protagonist and the story isn’t overly scary.
Though a feature-length animated King adaptation may be a stretch,Lilyshows that animated YouTube shorts could be a great way to introduce King’s smaller works to new audiences. Hopefully, Siegel and Dark Corners Films decide to give anotherKingstory the same treatment.
Source:Dark Corners Films
Stephen King
Discover the latest news and filmography for Stephen King, known for The Dark Tower series, The Stand, IT, The Shining, Carrie, Cujo, Misery, the Bill Hodges trilogy, and more.
