Spirit Halloween: The Movie

I have only missed one year of trick-or-treating with Lincoln, and it was horrible. It was his second year, and he had the most adorable Wolfman costume. Plus, he had just started walking a couple of months ago, and babies when they just learn to walk are adorable. After that, I told myself I wasn't going to miss another one because it was only a matter of time before they'd rather be with their friends. Because today is Halloween, and I had time to watch a movie with Dear, we wanted something that felt like Halloween, and what feels more like Halloween than...

Spirit Halloween: The Movie (2022)

I love Spirit Halloween, the store. There's something so awesome when they start popping up in September, giving vacant stores new life, like a zombie coming back with two months to live. I get giddy when I step into one for the first time that season. From the animatronics, the decorations and the overall vibe, I'm a kid in a candy store. I've wanted to make some big buys, but because of the career that I've chosen, that's out of the question. But when I start making the big bucks, I'm going all out with the Halloween decorations.

Spirit Halloween, the movie follows around three friends right before the holiday. They're all at that weird moment in their lives where they're in eighth grade, knowing high school is right around the corner. Jake lost his dad to bone cancer some unspecified time ago, Carson is desperate to get rid of his old self's "childishness," and then there's Bo, who is too timid to say anything, but seems more preoccupied with keeping the peace.

Jake wants to go trick-or-treating one last time, Carson wants to try and crash a high schoolers-only party that he won't be allowed into and Bo is gonna side with whoever gets angriest. Eventually, Jake convinces them to sneak into, and then stay the night at the Spirit Halloween that's taken over the old Toys R Us building. As an aside, I got a wave of nostalgia seeing that storefront. Much like video stores, I LOVED Toys R Us and I still know all the words to their theme song. The line, "I don't wanna grow up, 'cause if I did, then I wouldn't be a Toys R Us kid," hits harder now that all the brick and mortar stores are DED.

The problem is that the store was built on the grounds where a very greedy man died. Alex Windsor, played by Christopher Lloyd, informed a mother that she had 48 hours to leave after he bought her property. He comes to deliver the news and gloat, but unfortunately for him, the woman he's trying to evict is actually a witch! She casts a spell on him and he drops DED. According to the "Encyclopledia of Shadows" that Jake has, Alex comes back for one hour every Halloween to find a new body. Lucky for him, three boys, and Carson's sister, Kate, have stumbled into the store, so it becomes a race against the clock for him to get one of them so he can be reborn. In that hour, it's a full court press with Alex possessing the animatronics to go after the four trapped inside the building.

If you've read my stuff from the past 15 years, you'll know that I have no problem watching and enjoying kids movies. In fact, I had three perfect scores this month and two of them were for kids. They were Sketch and KPop Demon Hunters for those keeping score at home. This one, I didn't like nearly as much. There was too much preteen angst for my liking. Like, Carson was SUCH dick about acting like he was above it all. I get it, that was his character's point, but he was such a BUTT about everything, he was like a carcicature of the kid trying to be older than he was. I did like Jake the most out of the group, but that's not saying all that much. He had a backstory and his desire to hang onto his childhood as long as possible was understandable. He and his father loved Halloween and all things spooky, and him not trick-or-treating is just another thing that reminds him that his dad is gone. Bo, on the hand, is wallpaper. He was there strictly to, at the right moment, yell at both his friends that they needed to stop being jerks in order to give them the kick in the butt they needed to work together, but other than that, he's just kinda there to agree with Carson and be the reluctant tag-a-long. That's not a knock on the actor, who did the best with what he was given, but moreso the writing that failed.

Another thing about Jake, his mother remarried and now he has a stepdad and stepsister who is much younger than him. He comes home aghast to find them decorating for Halloween, but they're adding princess decorations to go along with the spooky stuff. He's understandably upset and it gives you the first real look at how the loss hurts him. While he puts on a hard exterior, the film does show one way that he cares for his little sister, even if he can't admit it yet. While he's helping Kate decorate, he notices a princess pin and asks if he can have it. Then, the next time we see it, his little sister finds it on her dresser. It's sweet and shows that Jake isn't an asshole, he just needs to work through everything in his head. I appreciated that moment, because the main trio weren't all that interesting or likable.

As for the movie, it's fine, but I realize that I'm not the target audience. Most of the kids movies have some winks to parents to keep it enjoyable for them, but this one seems to be entirely aimed at a certain age group. They do have Jake's mother, but she doesn't have much to do in this. I can imagine how difficult it must be for her. She lost her husband and when she finds happiness again, she has to deal with a son who kinda resents her for moving on when he clearly hasn't.

I didn't dislike it, even if it is a feature-length commercial for Spirit Halloween. But, it was inventive enough and I think if we had watched this movie with Lincoln, we probably would have enjoyed it more, but he doesn't like scary movies all that much (yet!) So I have my work cut out for me. This is a shade under 90 minutes and there are worse ways to spend your time.

One last thing before we say goodbye. I want to thank each and every one of you for reading, liking and commenting on my posts this October. This year was easily the hardest for me to get everything done with all the changes my family and I have gone through, so thank you for helping me get through this. Until next October, stay spooky everyone!

6 Dr. Chainsaws!

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