'ParaNorman' Teaser Trailer: Laika Crafts A Weird And Super-Cute Kids' Horror Story

I'm eager to see anything that comes out of the animation house Laika. The company's last major production, Coraline, was a beautiful little film. Laika is following that with ParaNorman, a film written by Coraline storyboard supervisor Chris Butler.

The film has a great voice cast — Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In, The Road) in the lead, with Casey Affleck, Tempestt Bledsoe, Jeff Garlin, John Goodman, Bernard Hill (Titanic), Anna Kendrick, Leslie Mann, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Elaine Stritch (30 Rock) — and tells the story of a young boy who has to protect his town against a zombie uprising. The first teaser has just been released and it looks like exactly the sort of movie that would have made me deliriously happy between the ages of ten and, well, now. Check it out below.

What a great choice, too, to use Donovan's 'Season of the Witch' as the score for the trailer. I hear Donovan and think of the opening murder in Zodiac, and that really sets a tone in my mind. Even if that association isn't what crops up for you, I think the song gives the trailer a feeling that is more complex and suggestive than might have been the case with an instrumental score or a poppier tune.

Yahoo will give you a look at the teaser in HD. ParaNorman will be released on August 17, 2012. Chris Butler and Sam Fell (The Tale of Despereaux, Flushed Away) are co-directing.

In the comedy thriller, a small town comes under siege by zombies. Who can it call? Only misunderstood local boy Norman, who is able to speak with the dead. In addition to the zombies, he'll have to take on ghosts, witches and, worst of all, moronic grown-ups, to save his town from a centuries-old curse. But this young ghoul whisperer may find his paranormal activities pushed to their otherworldly limits.