Spirit Halloween

These are the consequences of IT and Stranger Things being so commercially successful. Every film studio now wants to make a "a group of goofy kids on the brink of going to high school get caught up in something spooky" film, and they always forget to add anything else remotely interesting to the movie. IT and Stranger Things work because each kid is unique in some way. They can't ALL be the annoying one. Even if I was able to look past the annoying main characters, there's not much to like about this movie. The animatronics are vastly underutilized and serve more as a commercial for the real product than an actual plot element. I'm sure if you're a kid trying to get into horror then this is slightly entertaining, similar to Goosebumps, but it feels so soulless and empty. This would've been so much better had they gone for an R rating and an older set of main characters in a legitimately high-stakes story.

My daughter and I recently watched Spirit Halloween (2022) on Shudder. The storyline revolves around a group of teenage friends who feel they've outgrown Halloween and seek a new, eerie ways to celebrate the holiday. They stumble upon a Spirit store and decide to break in, spending the night inside, unaware that an evil spirit from the town's past has taken over the store with dark intentions.

Directed by David Poag in his directorial debut, the film stars Donovan Colan (Theatre Camp), Jaiden J. Smith (Blue Bloods), Dylan Martin Frankel (Life & Beth), Marissa Reyes (A Little Family Drama), and Rachael Leigh Cook (She's All That).

The child actors in this film deliver solid performances, and it incorporates meaningful coming-of-age elements. It evokes a Stranger Things vibe in terms of relationships and perspectives. Spirit Halloween is clearly aimed at younger audiences, offering more "fun" than genuinely frightening horror. It includes some effective jump scares and well-executed CGI that adds a creepy atmosphere without going overboard. Christopher Lloyd's performance is enjoyable, and the monsters in the film are visually appealing. However, the ending falls somewhat flat.

In conclusion, Spirit Halloween is a suitable horror movie for kids who are beginning to explore the genre. I would give it a 3.5/10 and recommend watching it once.

I do not know how the Spirit Halloween store got a movie, but now we have Spirit Halloween: The Movie (2022). The main plot to the movie sounds interesting but it is not executed in a clever way.

The main characters are standard, and the acting is not that great. Christopher Lloyd is not in the movie that much and I do not know why he is in this movie; it feels weirdly random.

The animatronics that come alive sometimes look creepy, but you can tell they are people in suits. The animatronics are barely in the movie and when the animatronics are chasing after them once in the movie, they are not used again which is a waste it is supposed to focus on this part of the story.

There are some damaging effects and there are scenes that were funny and not scary. I would have wanted more out of this plot and more of an explanation on what is happening.

I do not think I would recommend watching this. If you do the movie is short and I would hope you could find anything that would be entertaining or worth watching. I guess you can watch it for the plot, but you will not get much out of it.

Spirit Halloween: The Movie (2022) had an interesting idea that could be entertaining, but it was standard and wasted potential. The acting, less use of the possessed animatronics, and the execution of the plot is what brought this movie down for me.

Well its a film based on the ultra cool Halloween store. Its alright but visiting the actual store is much more fun. Its about 4 kids who get themselves locked in the store after hours on Halloween. Not sure why they dont just break a window to get out when trouble starts. The spirit of a evil Christopher Lloyd possess the store items and tries to get the kids. Basically it looks like a big ad for the store but the store (although looks cool) lacks because the big name horror properties are nowhere to be found. However Night of the Living Dead plays on TV but that film is public domain. Rachael Leigh Cook plays the mom. She is still all that!

This was much better than I was expecting or anticipating. This has all the great compliments of a great fun-filled Halloween flick for kids but has the adventure of like The Goonies. Yeah some parts are a little cheesy but it's a good kind of cheesy. Some of the animatronics coming to life can be a bit on the lower end but the story, premise, and characters aren't half bad. Like I said earlier I was expecting something not nearly as good or fleshed out. It's definitely made for kids but it can be fun for the whole family to watch on Halloween night and not get too scared but just to enjoy the vibes. It's like hocus pocus, meets the goonies, meets Scooby-Doo all wrapped into a really nice Halloween spooky adventure!