Sonic: Night of the Werehog
is a Sonic the Hedgehog short meant to tie into Sonic Unleashed.
The short takes place during the events of Sonic Unleashed. In it, Sonic and Chip enter a Haunted House that's haunted by three ghosts. Two of them, Su and Uh, fight over Lah's affections by taking photos of people they scare. Though Chip scares easily, Sonic doesn't, leading the ghosts to take more drastic measures to scare him and get his picture. But unbeknownst to the ghosts, Sonic can transform into something even scarier than a ghost.
Sonic: Night of the Werehog was released online in November 2008. It was animated by Marza Animation Planet. A follow-up short, Ghost Tale was released 15 years later on Halloween, 2023.
On December 20, 2023, the short's 15th anniversary, Marza Animation Planet would officially upload the short on their YouTube channel. The short can be viewed here.
This short provides examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Lah laughs at the irony of Su and Uh terrified at a live person, specifically Sonic.
- All-CGI Cartoon: All rendered in 3D CGI.
- Bedsheet Ghost: Su and Uh are stereotypical ghosts who both look like floating bedsheets.
- Boy Meets Ghoul: Or more appropriately, werehog meets ghoul. Who is currently shapeshifted into Chip.
- Console Cameo: A Sega Dreamcast appears three times in the short.
- Cute Ghost Girl: Lah, a cheerful female ghost glowing in cute pink and purple. She also looks more human than Su and Uh.
- Disappointed in You: Lah gives her fellow ghosts the cold shoulder after seeing that Sonic is unfazed by them.
- Fat and Skinny: Su's the fat one, Uh's the skinny one.
- Fusion Dance: Su and Uh merge together to form a mightier minotaur-like ghost named Baker to get their revenge on Sonic.
- Haunted House: Sonic and Chip enter an abandoned mansion haunted by ghosts.
- Lightmare Fuel: The whole premise is that two ghosts are scaring people... and taking photos of their scared faces to win the affection of a ghost girl.
- Mime and Music-Only Cartoon: The short contains only five, one word lines of dialogue. Despite this, it has both an English and Japanese version that dub over the words.
- Morphic Resonance: At the end of the short, the heart mark on Chip's cheek gives away that it's really Lah in Chip's form.
- Mythology Gag: Sonic's classic design makes a cameo appearance in the credits.
- Nerves of Steel: Sonic is not scared at all of the ghosts, and even teases them by making a face, disappointing Lah and angering Su and Uh.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: As the Werehog, Sonic still retains his normal personality, like in Sonic Unleashed. Unlike in the game, where the Werehog transformation occurs every night, here it only happens when the full moon appears, akin to traditional werewolves.
- Painful Transformation: Just like in the original game, Sonic's transformation into the Werehog is depicted as less than pleasant, with him shaking until he collapses to his knees and snarling in pain through the whole process.
- Peek-a-Bogeyman: Su and Uh like to scare people who wander into their Haunted House, but never try to hurt them (with the exception of Sonic, who got on their nerves), and only snap photos of them to show to Lah.
- Perspective Reversal: Sonic teases Su and Uh by yawning, holding a book and making a silly face at the camera when they get his pictures, angering them when Lah rejects the photos. Later on during the Werehog and Baker's fight, when Sonic attempts to take Baker's picture so he can see where he is, the ghost is making the same poses, causing Sonic to fly into a rage.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: The female ghost, Lah, is pink, while the two male ghosts, Su and Uh, are blueish white.
- Scary Flashlight Face: Sonic scares Chip by doing this.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Su and Uh end up being defeated by Sonic, and Lah falls for Sonic the Werehog instead.
- Shout-Out: Lah's mural contains a poster of The Wolf Man (1941) and The Mummy (1932).
- Silly Spook: Su and Uh are two bumbling ghosts who fight over Lah's affection.
- Transformation Horror: Sonic's transformation into the Werehog when the full moon shows itself, complete with Chip only being able to look on in horror as Sonic's shadow-obscured form grows larger and larger.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Lah can shapeshift into someone else, including Chip. She still has her heart cheek mark.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: It's never elaborated if, when, or how Sonic rescued the kidnapped Chip at the end of the short.
