Pika Labs seems to be taking a different approach to the best AI video generators than its bigger rivals like Runway and Kling. It's fun: when Pika 1.5 launched, it came with a unique set of templates known as Pikaffects, which made it easy to create very cool stuff with your own images.

This GIF-like, TikTok-ready approach to AI video is a unique twist in a very crowded space, and it seems to have worked, as we see these effects on social media.

Not content with just a handful of effects, Pika Labs announced three new effects in time for Halloween, including eyeball popping, decapitation, and levitation. The company also promises that more effects will be coming in the future.

Built on top of the Pika 1.5 AI video model, these templates can be applied to any image and converted to video; initial tests when Pikaffects was first released inflated a typewriter and saw it bounce across a table .

Using these effects is as simple as uploading an image and selecting the effect you want to generate. In a few minutes, you'll have a great, share-worthy video that you can turn into a GIF and use to illustrate your point on social media.

That's not to say that Pika Labs doesn't have impressive models outside of fun effects. It can create up to 5 seconds of initial video with the same level of movement and realism as its competitors, but the effects give it a nice twist and unique angle.

Pika Labs can provide seasonal effects to draw attention to the platform so that users can create campaigns specific to that time of year or that season. Companies can also generate effects to help promote their products or events. Think of it as a new type of merchandising.

The latest effects are Halloween-specific and would be part of a fun project if you wanted to create your own version of Harry Potter. Especially if you use the levitation effect, which can make anything feel like it's floating in the air.

Then there are eye-popping and decapitation effects, which, while not as gruesome as they sound, do more or less what the name implies.