In Western culture, animation has historically been seen as a medium for children's entertainment. This is due in large part to the Hays code, mass censorship that forced film producers to censor their material by disallowing wide distribution of those not meeting the code's standards. The code was applied to all films, both live action, and animation; however, due to the costly and time-consuming nature of animation (especially pre-digital era), the effect was especially severe, outright causing child-friendly Disney's then-biggest competitor, Max Fleitshcer to go bankrupt and stop production. "Adult content" in the case of these films primarily consisted of sexual humour and serious subject matter. For obvious reasons, this did not bode well for the existence of animated horror works.
The Hays code has not been effective for decades at this point, however, its effects are still apparent in the animation industry today. Animated media is increasingly enjoyed by a secondary adult audience, and has throughout its history been home to a diverse range of stories, especially in parts of the world besides the US. However, the medium is still seen as inherently childlike by most of the general public.
But is there something inherent about animation that makes it ill-suited for horror? This could potentially be the case. The effectiveness of horror often relies on viewer immersion, on being able to make one feel, even momentarily, that the threats on screen could potentially be a threat to them. Animation gives more room for imaginatively horrific imagery, but what good is it if the audience is unable to believe and becomes invested enough to produce fear?
This is somewhat of a problem even in the world of Japanese animation, where there had never been an equivalent to the Hays code, thus animation is allowed to cover all genres and is enjoyed by many demographics - horror animation thus exists and is at times quite successful.
Stop-motion animation circumvents the issue as well, by feeling more real, more visceral, despite the audience's knowledge that it is not. The Wolf House is a Chilean stop motion film making great use of its medium to chilling effect.
While under-utilised, I would argue there is potential in combining this medium with this genre.
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