Tim Burton’s 2012 ‘Frankenweenie’ Was Inspired by His Forgotten 1984 Short Film

There’s quite few directors capable of doing something truly mesmerising on the screen when it comes to adapting Gothic novels, and Tim Burton is surely one of the first names to be associated with horror-ish stories.

Over the decades spent in the movie industry, Burton has created a number of gloomy features that would put its viewers into the Victorian-styled world full of mysterious characters and compelling creatures.

More specifically, Burton’s credits also include 2012’s Frankenweenie, some sort of an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s hit novel “Frankenstein” that, unlike the original source material, goes back in time to witness some surprising events from Victor Frankenstein’s childhood.

However, Burton actually elaborated the plot many years before Frankenweenie’s release in his 1984 short movie.

Tim Burton’s ‘Frankenweenie’ Is Based on 1984 Short Film of the Same Name

Those who have been smitten with the 2012 animated movie where young Victor Frankenstein reanimates his beloved dog Sparky might have had no idea that Frankenweenie comes from Tim Burton’s 1984 film of the same name which at the time didn’t receive a proper release.

Burton started working on the original Frankenweenie in the 1980s when he was an animator at Disney, though eventually the studio decided to not release the project for some reason.

Then 25-year-old Burton went on to separate himself from Disney and become a big-name director, and several years later Frankenweenie got some kind of video premiere, now being featured on the DVDs of The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Unlike 2012’s Frankeweenie, the 1984 version in the live-action movie where real actors are playing the parts.

‘Frankenweenie’ Might Be Tim Burton’s Most Personal Project Ever

Even though both movies are some kind of prequel and homage to all the previous adaptations of Shelley’s “Frankenstein”, Frankenweenie is also partially based on Burton’s own life.

As the director revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly not long before Frankenweenie’s release in 2012, he based the main character on himself as a child, translating his own feelings of loneliness and isolation from peers through Victor Frankenstein.

“That’s how I felt as a kid. I felt very weird, isolated, and lonely, but at the same time I didn’t feel that way as a person. I didn’t feel like a weirdo. So you’re kind of in between a rock and a hard place — you’re treated one way, and yet you don’t really feel that way at all”, Burton said.