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SPIRIT HALLOWEEN: THE MOVIE
Director: David Poag Cast: Donovan Colan, Dylan Martin Frankel, Jaiden J. Smith, Marissa Reyes, Rachel Leigh Cook, Billie Roy, Marla Gibbs, Brad Carter, Christopher Lloyd MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:27 Release Date: 9/30/22 (limited); 10/11/22 (digital & on-demand) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | September 29, 2022 "The store is trying to kill us," explains and exclaims one of young protagonists of Spirit Halloween: The Movie. That sounds like a decent idea for a horror movie, as well as a terrible bit of advertising—unless, of course, one is selling a chain of stores, such as the one in the title, that specialize in products for Halloween. In theory, then, this is a creative piece of marketing. In practice, though, the movie is far too formulaic to succeed as either a horror story or an advertising gimmick. Screenwriter Billie Bates' premise is as simplistically straightforward as it is contrived. On Halloween "a long time ago," a ruthless businessman (played by Christopher Lloyd) buys the land where an orphanage stands, only to be struck down by a curse from the proprietor of the children's home. In the present day, a trio of pre-teen friends—horror enthusiast Jake (Donovan Colan), puberty-stricken Carson (Dylan Martin Frankel), and science nerd Bo (Jaiden J. Smith)—are trying to negotiate a plan for how to spend this Halloween. Carson thinks they're too old to trick-or-treat, so Jake comes up with a plan to sneak into and spend the night in the newly opened pop-up Halloween shop on an abandoned lot outside town. This is a bad idea, of course, because the lot is the spot of the old orphanage. The spirit of that cruel businessman haunts the place every Halloween, looking for a body to possess so that he can return to the mortal realm. As one might expect, director David Poag's movie is torn between telling its story and showcasing all of the fun, creepy stuff one can buy from the eponymous store. A lengthy scene in the first act has the three friends walking around, admiring—and being scared by—the displays, and making sure to announce that they'll be buying costumes. After their in-store sleepover begins, they start playing with all the plastic weapons, before playing with them some more (The montage is so repetitive that it has the opposite effect of highlighting the supposed fun of the place). Anyway, the businessman's spirit returns, starts possessing various for-sale animatronic figures and decorations, and chases the trio, along with Carson's older sister/Jake's crush Kate (Marissa Reyes), through the store and beyond. Whatever potential might exist for the central notion of a haunted Halloween shop runs out quickly, apparently. The rest of the story—a lot of redundant exposition and some cheap scare tactics—takes place elsewhere—in dark maintenance areas and an underground cavern. One probably shouldn't expect much from the hybrid of pre-teen-friendly horror and overt marketing that is Spirit Halloween: The Movie. We should, though, expect it to work within the realm of at least one of those intentions. Alas, it's cheap and predictable as both a story and advertising. Copyright © 2022 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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