Spirited Away: 10 Ways It’s Actually A Horror Movie

Hiyo Miyazaki’s beloved 2001 fantasy masterpiece Spirited Away has maintained its hold over audiences long after its release, making it one of the most iconic animated films and international movies of all time, on top of the many accolades it has received and merch that crowds the corners of any fan’s living quarters. Part of what has made the film so memorable and such an inspiration to many of all ages is its boundless and shameless creativity in the design of the characters and world-building.

On top of enchanting those who view it, there is also a side of danger that inspires fear. The stakes of the plot are made clear from the very beginning as the protagonist Chihiro’s life is at risk of being turned into a pig and eaten by selfish spirits or being forgotten as a child servant forever. This level of horror-film intensity is part of what keeps people watching.

10 Haku’s Many Papercuts

Not many child-friendly films are anywhere near as gruesome. Not only is Haku abused and manipulated as Yubaba’s servant due to him having lost his identity to her, but he is also placed under attack when Yubaba’s twin sister tries to get revenge for stealing her goldenseal.

She does so by sending in thousands of paper Shikigami to literally give Haku the “thousand cuts” punishment. He is seen toiling about in pain in the air as a dragon when being attacked by a cloud of paper.

9 Falling Down the Stairs

Any kid had this problem if they had stairs growing up because stairs are realistically built for adult bodies. For a kid or any person having to imagine quickly escaping down a shady, old wooden staircase built at a high altitude, the idea would seem stressful if not terrifying.

In a well-paced scene in which Chihiro slinks away to see the boilerman, she nervously steps down the large steps one by one, attempting her footing at each until a step breaks underneath her, prompting her to fall and forced to run the entire long flight of stairs, screaming all the way.

8 Harpy with Yubaba’s Face

This nightmare fuel would creep any horror fan out. It’s easy to imagine the harpy, one of Yubaba’s henchmen, being able to star in its very own creature feature. As to why it has Yubaba’s face, is likely due to the witch’s vanity.

The harpy is first seen as a foreshadowing to Yubaba’s power and security measures when Haku first protects Chihiro, it flies about scouring the grounds much like a vulture would, though understanding its position as henchmen, it’s really looking for anyone acting out of line.

7 The Three Grunting Heads

If the harpy wasn’t bad enough, the three heads are here to disturb anyone’s day. Though relatively harmless as Yubaba’s vague-minded henchmen, the three heads aren’t really given any reason as to why or who they are.

In their first appearance, they approach Chihiro when she first arrives at Yubaba’s office, grunting and hopping about, causing her to rightfully start screaming. The heads are oversized and, although they seem to have their full senses such as sight and hunger, their eyes are constantly bulging wide open.

6 Environmental Horror of the Stink Spirit

There are multiple unshakable levels to the entire stink spirit scene. When explaining the inspiration behind the scene, Miyazaki described seeing a river full of trash, including seeing a bicycle in it. The mistreatment of environments and nature brought him to create the stink spirit, a massive spirit that is not only daunting in the concept that it smells horrible enough to spoil any nearby foods and in its constant oozing but also the memorial of all dirtied ecosystems out there.

Even Haku is revealed to be a river that will be built over by apartments. After the stink spirit is cleansed and healed, it then transforms into an admittedly more chilling-looking mask-like dragon figure.

5 Yubaba Threatens to Turn Chihiro into a Pig

After seeing what happened to her parents and the many pigs that may have been people once, the threat is very real to Chihiro. She is told by Yubaba that she will be given a chance to work for her, but if she steps out of line, complains, or is reported for anything, Yubaba will turn her into a pig just like her parents.

For a scared ten-year-old who has presumably never worked in her life, the odds don’t seem to be in her favor. Later on, after being taken in by Lin as a sort of apprentice, Chihiro has a nervous stomachache and cannot sleep.

4 The theme of Loss of Innocence

There is many a theory behind the meanings of Spirited Away, one of them being that the endeavor is a metaphor for human trafficking. Nonetheless, the theme of maturity and loss of innocence is also made abundantly clear. Chihiro is forced to grow up and accept her reality, deciding to take a hold of it instead of letting it consume her, thanks also to the effort of her friends.

Yubaba even takes Chihiro’s name and replaces it as an indicator that she means to completely rewrite her identity as a laborer rather than a child. Chihiro even almost forgets her own name soon after the deal with the bathhouse witch is made.

3 Yubaba’s Giant Baby

It doesn’t matter if someone likes kids or not – having a baby this big not only seems painful but incredibly unnecessary. The giant, spoiled baby is teased at the beginning of the film, heard throwing a huge hissy fit and seeming to daunt even the forceful Yubaba.

It kicks her in the face, throws things about, and nearly crushes everything in sight, wearing the witch down. When Chihiro finally meets the baby, he persists in using her as a toy as they hide under a mound of pillows. He threatens to scream and break her arm if she leaves and does not play with it, gripping her small arm in its giant, pudgy fists as he does so.

2 Chihiro’s Parents Turn Into Pigs

In one of the most notably horrifying scenes kicking off Chihiro’s nightmarish descent into the spirit world, her parents are inexplicably consumed by the idea of eating food left out in the empty park grounds. It’s creepy how they immediately seemed to gravitate towards trespassing into the grounds in the first place, seeming to have been lured in while Chihiro is left skittish and protests the whole detour.

When the parents come across the delicious-looking food, they start inhaling the buffet, leaving Chihiro to her own devices. When she comes back for them, they turn around to reveal that they are turning into bloated, squealing, giant pig-people.

1 No-Face

The creepiest nightmare of all, No-Face is first seen skulking about, an outsider to the bathhouse who is forbidden to enter. They often watch Chihiro, their intentions unknown. When she shows kindness by letting it inside during a rainy night, No-Face begins its tirade of consumption and false-wealth.

Its design is strange and uncanny as the mask-face doesn’t seem to be its real face. The face can change to match No-Face’s expression, but its mouth actually lies under the mask, used to the fullest extent after eating multiple beings in order to use their traits to become more like the others.

About The Author