Helstrom
A horror story through a child’s eyes
What would it be like to grow up with a father who is possessed by pure evil? For the title sequence of Hulu’s Helstrom, we asked ourselves this question as the show explored the darker side of the Marvel universe.
Working with showrunner Paul Zbyszewski, we created a range of drawings that spanned the character’s youth—as if some scenes were captured by a young child, while others were more sophisticated and interpretive, coming from a teenager’s POV. We married these visuals with a lighter upbeat track, pulling inspiration from 50’s pop standards, to create a strong and odd sense of irony.
We brought these drawings to life by using traditional cel animation, as if the memories are playing back within our character’s own imagination. We sketched thousands of individual frames, making sure the entire sequence was assembled by hand, and then digitally manipulated the frames to enhance the final style.
Viewers were drawn into the eerie mood of the show through the visuals and narrative that enrich our protagonists’ backstory. Each drawing offered a unique window into their collective and individual experiences, taking our viewers deeper into the unnerving horror story of Helstrom.