SPOOK HOUSE DAVE

I must admit that I braced myself for the worst when I was invited to have a look at Spook House Dave, an online puppet show about a boy living in a haunted castle. While the premise was appealing, for some reason my expectations defaulted to thoughts of a schlocky production filled with corny, pun-driven monster humor, or perhaps a South Park wannabe. (Sheesh, how did I reach this lowly state of puppet cynicism?)

But with a click of the play button I perked up at the minimal yet brilliant puppet designs. After a while I even found myself laughing out loud. Now, our society likes to casually throw around this term "lol" but I'm telling you I literally laughed aloud– more than once! And I liked the sensation very much. The humor is surprisingly subtle and character driven for a puppet show; I'd go as far as comparing it to Homestar Runner. And the fact that they tip their hat to Forrest J. Ackerman of Famous Monsters of Filmland fame tells me that the creative team at Dragonfruit Studios are more than just casual fans of the spooky genre.

So forget everything you've learned about online monster-related puppet shows, and take a look at the seven minute premiere webisode of Spook House Dave in which the gang pays homage to classic soap operas...