Directed by David Poag
Written by Billie Bates
Starring Rachael Leigh Cook, Christopher Lloyd, Melissa Reyes, Donovan Colan
Rated PG-13
Runtime: 1 hour, 27 minutes
In theaters September 30, VOD beginning October 11

by Joe Carlough, Staff Writer

I grew up on Goosebumps and The Goonies, Arachnophobia and sitcom Halloween specials. I was introduced to horror through the black and white sci-fi my dad loved. My mom, a forever crafter and coupon-a-holic, spent hours making the house perfect for each holiday. Regardless of how many seasons of Stranger Things that I watch, or how many big-budget A24 flicks come my way, there are times when all I want is to relive the simpler times of my childhood, the excitement of popping a tape of Beetlejuice or Garfield’s Halloween Adventure into the VCR while hugging a pillow with a cross-stitched black cat on it. That’s exactly the energy Spirit Halloween: The Movie is looking to capture: an entry-level and family-friendly introduction to horror for the young and uninitiated. The movie largely accomplishes this feat, though not without a few missteps. 

Spirit Halloween boasts a more-than-competent script from Billie Bates: the film follows tween Jake (Donovan Colan) who looks to build on years of great Halloweens with his friends and his father, an ardent fan of horror who he recently lost to cancer. As Jake clings to his favorite holiday, his two best friends, the so-cool-he’s-not-cool-at-all Carson (Dylan Martin Frankel) and classic-late-bloomer Bo (Jaidan J. Smith), attempt to “grow up” and ditch trick or treating to weasel their way into a high school party. In an attempt to stave off losing Halloween for one more year, Jake devises a plan for he and his friends to spend the night in the local Spirit Halloween store, unaware of the curse that besets the grounds due to the immoral greed shown by Christopher Lloyd’s Alex Windsor, who proves to be as evil in death as he was in life. The crux of the movie lies in whether the kids can survive the night and resist possession by Windsor’s spirit as he haunts the Spirit Halloween merchandise, bringing lawn ornaments and animatronics alike to life in order to chase them throughout the store’s vaunted aisles.

The film’s greatest strengths come from a cozy and familiar atmosphere–who’s surprised that a movie about Spirit Halloween would nail the feeling of Halloween in a middle class suburb?–and standout performances from Donovan Colan as protagonist Jake, tasked with accepting a new step-family and moving on from the holiday that felt like his one true connection to his father, and Melissa Reyes, who plays friend Carson’s older sister who eventually gets caught up in the storyline with the boys. Reyes proves a charming physical actor, providing a lot of comic relief in her facial expressions alone. The heart of the film is fun, and the movie’s fun alright, unafraid to find the humor in its low budget Halloween monsters. I found something particularly funny about hearing Christopher Lloyd yowl and grunt menacing phrases from the mouth of a giant teddy bear one moment, and a maniacal lumberjack lawn ogre the next.

Where Spirit Halloween falters is its strict adherence to horror tropes and its failure to do the one thing horror movies, even those meant for kids, are supposed to do: provide some scares! There are a couple stilted jump scares that are so slow as to be almost awkward, and a few chase scenes that show off some of the unfortunate CGI limitations of working with Spirit Halloween props. Director David Poag too often pulls back from the action instead of letting tension build, giving the characters too much time to collect themselves when the monster is at the door, often losing the sense of urgency. Even Alex Windsor’s spirit, the malevolent being possessing horror objects with intent to kill, flits about whimsically like a flying jellyfish when he’s not enchanting a grim reaper or worse. The film should have made a few choices on its own besides falling back on the most trod-out horror ideas: broom handles barricading doorways, a chance finding of the curse’s cure in a secret basement, unnecessary inter-character conflict. I would have liked to have spent more time with the friends to better learn their dynamic and a little less time involved in Jake’s family drama, which seemed like a flimsy vehicle for the emotional healing that paves the way to the kids’ salvation.

While there were times that, yes, I wished Spirit Halloween the Movie spent less time with Jake’s parents and stepfamily and more time showing us monsters from the store chasing kids, I left the movie feeling satisfied. The premise is a really fun concept that errs on the side of wish fulfillment instead of capitalism: I never felt like spending a night trapped in Spirit Halloween was anything more than the kind of idle thought I might have while shopping there as opposed to heavy-handed corporate sponsorship. I was left with some of that nostalgic warmth, too, like watching Spirit Halloween helped me connect a little with the younger version of me, sitting on my old family couch watching scary movies with my siblings and parents. The movie let me have fun, and while it might not have the staying power of a Beetlejuice or a Corpse Bride, I can already envision fond remembrances of it worming their ways onto horror movie podcasts fifteen years from now.