Gothic Phone Cases: Horror Prints and Dark Classical Art
A gothic phone case can go two ways. It can be horror: eyes, demons and scrawled laughter, printed on black. Or it can be art that was dark long before it was ever a print style, like a skeleton Van Gogh painted with a cigarette between its teeth.
We make both. Below is a walk through each, how to change the colours on the ones that allow it, and how long to allow if you want one for Halloween.
Our Horror collection has eight original designs, from illustrated characters to text you can read from across a room, and every one of them can be recoloured on its product page. For something painterly, The Gallery holds several classical works with a dark streak, printed exactly as they were painted. If it's for Halloween, count back in working days: every case is printed after the order comes in, which takes between 3 and 13 working days across most of Europe, depending on country and shipping tier.
The eight designs in our horror collection
All eight are original artwork, and they're dark in different ways. A few are illustrations of a single figure. A few are built out of text. And two are patterns that look almost decorative until you notice what the pattern is made of.
Three to start with, one from each of those directions:
Hand-drawn eyes, dozens of them, tilted at every angle and outlined in thin white strokes on black. From arm's length it reads as a loose pattern. Closer in, all of it is looking back at you.
Shown in Black & White. Also made in Black & Red.
See all our horror phone cases →
A pale girl with a heavy black fringe and spiral eyes, standing in front of rings that circle out behind her like ripples. There's almost no colour in it, which is exactly why the face stands out the way it does.
Shown in Black & Gray. Also made in Black & White.
See Hypnotized →
A horned silhouette on deep red, under lettering cut and scratched like a ransom note. It's the least serious design in the collection: sinister in outline, and a bit of a joke once you read the words.
Shown in red. Six versions in all, in red or black, with the figure and the words, the figure alone, or the words alone.
See Cute Demon →The other five fill in the range. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA is crimson "HA!" scrawled over black at every angle, like a page from a villain's notebook. Danger crosses red warning tape over a black background. Binary is rows of white code, and its Cryptic version threads red digits through the white. Chalkboard fills every other square of a checkerboard with frantic white hatching, as if someone had been scratching at it. And Demon is a figure in a long coat whose shadow grows into a grinning demon behind him.
Classical paintings with a dark streak
Some of the darkest things we print were never made as horror. They're paintings. Most are well over a century old, and all of them sit in The Gallery, our range of classical art. Each one is printed exactly as the artist painted it.
Van Gogh painted it in early 1886 while he was a student at the art academy in Antwerp. The Van Gogh Museum, which catalogues it as Head of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette, describes it plainly as "a juvenile joke". Drawing skeletons was a standard exercise at the academy. Painting one with a lit cigarette wasn't on the curriculum (Van Gogh Museum).
Olive, ochre and bone on black, with the brushwork left rough.
See the Van Gogh skull →
One of the Black Paintings, which Goya made in oil straight onto the plaster walls of his own house around 1820 to 1823. Almost the whole picture is empty ochre. Near the bottom, a small dog's head looks up over a dark slope. An old photograph of the wall shows it was once watching two birds, which were lost when the painting was moved to canvas (Fundación Goya en Aragón).
Warm and quiet in colour, and probably the loneliest image we print.
See The Dog →
Before he painted it, Munch wrote a note about walking with two friends at sunset. The sky turned blood red, he stopped at a fence, and he felt "a great infinite scream" go through nature. The version on this case is the 1893 painting held by the National Museum in Oslo (Nasjonalmuseet).
The brightest thing here, colour-wise. The dread is all in the figure.
See The Scream →Three more sit in the same corner of the range. Wheatfields with Crows has the most dramatic reputation of anything here. It's often called Van Gogh's last painting, which the Van Gogh Museum calls "a persistent myth". He painted it in July 1890 and made several more works after it (Van Gogh Museum).
Love and Pain is the one with a second name. Munch gave it that title: a woman with long red hair holding a man and kissing his neck. His friend, the writer Stanisław Przybyszewski, saw "a biting vampire face on his neck" instead, and the Munch Museum now lists its 1893 canvas as Vampire (Munchmuseet). Waterhouse's Ophelia is quieter, dark in palette more than in subject. The Gallery has the full set.
Changing the colours of a horror design
Every design in the Horror collection can be recoloured on its product page before you order. Open Customise. Then shift the whole palette at once, swap a single colour for another, or adjust hue and saturation until it's where you want it.
That's useful when the idea is right and the colour isn't. Cute Demon's red could become a deep purple. Danger's tape could go from red to a sharp yellow. Paranoia's eyes could drop to grey. Or they could pick up a colour from the rest of what you carry. The Gallery paintings are the exception, since they're printed exactly as painted.
Ordering a dark phone case in time for Halloween
Count back from 31 October in working days, using the higher number for your country below. Weekends don't count.
Every case is printed once the order comes in, so these figures cover making it as well as delivering it. They run from the day you order to the day it reaches you.
| Delivering to | Tracked (working days) | Express (working days) |
|---|---|---|
| Netherlands | 3 to 5 | 3 to 4 |
| Belgium | 4 to 6 | 4 to 6 |
| Germany | 4 to 7 | 4 to 6 |
| France | 5 to 8 | 4 to 6 |
| United Kingdom | 5 to 8 | 4 to 6 |
| Sweden | 6 to 9 | 3 to 5 |
| United States | 5 to 11 | 4 to 6 |
| Rest of the EU | 7 to 13 | 5 to 8 |
| Australia | 12 to 23 | 5 to 8 |
These are estimates, not guarantees. If your country isn't listed, the delivery line on any product page works out the same figures for your address.
If you'd rather browse than read, every design in this post except Ophelia sits together in our Halloween phone cases collection.
Printing your own dark photo or artwork
If what you have in mind isn't in either collection, you can print your own picture on a Custom Phone Case. Upload any image: a photo, or artwork you've drawn or made somewhere else.
Dark pictures tend to suit a case. The shadows read as depth rather than as empty space. A photo taken at night, a drawing of your own in black ink, an old family photograph gone brown at the edges. Anything you have the rights to use prints the same way. You see it on your exact phone model before you pay, and every upload is enlarged automatically before it's printed. There's one limit. A very small or very low-quality image can't be fully rescued. There's a full walkthrough of how it works if you want the detail first.
Pick the design, then choose your phone model on the product page.
Frequently asked questions
Can I change the colours of a horror phone case?
Yes. Every design in the Horror collection can be recoloured on its product page before you order. You can shift the whole palette, swap one colour for another, or adjust hue and saturation. The classical paintings in The Gallery are the exception, since they're printed exactly as the artist painted them.
Which phones do the horror designs fit?
More than 100 models across iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel and Xiaomi. You choose your model on the product page, and the design is printed for that phone specifically. A Pro and a standard version of the same phone take different cases, so check the exact model first.
How long does a phone case take to arrive before Halloween?
Each case is printed after the order comes in, so allow for both making and delivery. From the day you order, that's 3 to 5 working days to the Netherlands, 5 to 8 to the UK and France, and 5 to 11 to the United States on the standard Tracked tier. Count back from 31 October using the higher number, and leave weekends out.
Was Wheatfields with Crows Van Gogh's last painting?
No. It's often described that way, but the Van Gogh Museum calls it a persistent myth. He painted it in July 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise and made several other works after it.
Keep exploring
- Custom phone case design ideas that actually look good
- How to design your own phone case, from photo to print
- Snap vs Tough vs MagSafe vs Wallet: which case do you need?
Sources
- Van Gogh Museum, Head of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette, collection entry, retrieved 2026-09-27, https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collection/s0083V1962
- Van Gogh Museum, Wheatfield with Crows, collection entry, retrieved 2026-09-27, https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collection/s0149v1962
- Fundación Goya en Aragón, Half-Submerged Dog (Perro semihundido), catalogue entry, retrieved 2026-09-27, https://fundaciongoyaenaragon.es/eng/obra/perro-semihundido/671
- Munchmuseet, An interpretation of Edvard Munch's Vampire, published 2023-09-05, retrieved 2026-09-27, https://www.munch.no/en/our-collection/en-tolkning-av-edvard-munchs-vampyr/
- Nasjonalmuseet, The Scream, collection entry, retrieved 2026-09-27, https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/en/collection/object/NG.M.00939
- Caselier delivery estimates, order to doorstep including printing, retrieved 2026-09-27