Drama
The Tattooist of Auschwitz
The Tattooist of Auschwitz is a little like its titular character. It’s painful. It gets under your skin. And it just might leave a mark.
There’s very little that will overcome a dog’s desire to chomp down on free food. Not even a spooky séance.
Well, the three stray puppies, Booey, Lewey and Chewy, all figured out exactly what happens when you meddle (even unintentionally) with the supernatural, and now, they’re ghosts. The evil dog spirit Grim turned them all transparent to make himself corporeal, forever condemning them to spend the rest of eternity haunting the grounds of the (now) haunted house.
That was 30 years ago, and unfortunately, despite the pups’ friendliest of intentions, they can’t seem to make friends with anyone who dares move in. Turns out, people are just too afraid of ghosts to listen to anything they have to say.
Well, that’s until the Hazel family moves in to try to fix the house up, and the puppies make quick pals with Hazel children Freddie and Mimi. Now, the three phantoms have finally found people who are willing to help them transform back into their original, fur-covered bodies.
But it won’t be easy. For one, some ghost hunters out there would rather make a quick buck by capturing the spirits. For another, Grim won’t take too kindly to having his plans foiled.
It’s October, which means it’s that time of year when all the spooky movies and shows come out in force. But let’s be honest: Phantom Pups isn’t spooky. It would actually be more accurately described as cute. But it’s also got a few serious issues.
The biggest issue here is, of course, the heavy occult themes which pervade the children’s show. In fact, the whole plot is set off because the puppies interrupt a medium as she performs a séance, unintentionally releasing an evil dog spirit which traps the medium and turns the puppies into ghosts.
That, by itself, could be enough to cause many parents to say no to this one, but there’s more. A trio of children attempt to help the puppies return to their corporeal forms using seances, incantations, tomes and spirit boards. Make no mistake, the show correctly says that the supernatural realm is dangerous, but it also presumes that diving into the occult could also be helpful. Christians know that latter idea is not only false, but forbidden (Deut. 18:9-14). And in terms of other content, we’ll deal with a bit of toilet humor and the occasional misuse of God’s name.
The puppies in this 10-episode series are cute. But no amount of cute puppies can distract from the show’s nonchalance regarding the occult.
When the trio of pups enter a house and accidentally interrupt a séance, they invoke the wrath of an evil spirit, who turns them all into ghosts. Thirty years later, a family moves into the home to try to fix it up.
A woman holds a séance for dogs who have passed on. The séance is compromised when one of the puppies breaks the circle, allowing the evil dog spirit Grim to trap the medium in another realm. A boy falls out of a window but is saved by the ghost pups.
Chewy belches and flatulates. We hear talk about ghost poop.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
The Tattooist of Auschwitz is a little like its titular character. It’s painful. It gets under your skin. And it just might leave a mark.
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