The road to Halloween is paved with good films. Wherein we countdown to the spirited season with a hundred doses of horror. 23 days to go.
Disney channel original Halloweentown and its sequels have been described as a “cult” series. Though instead they should be called what they are: abnormally successful TV movies. And so, as is the painful truth with many childhood favourites, it is basically unwatchable now.
Yet it remains an enduring seasonal staple for the tens of thousands who attend the month-long Spirit of Halloweentown festival in St. Helens, Oregon every year. Where the first movie was filmed over 20 years ago. For many of a generation, Halloweentown had everything – grotesque monsters, parental defiance, and their fellow kids driving a story.
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The basic premise is that you and I live in the Mortal World, but there exists another world where all supernatural creatures live (and thrive) without our interference and judgement. There was once a time when we all co-existed harmoniously. Until mortals grew intolerant of the freakish appearance and innate powers of monsters, ghosts, goblins, vampires, gnomes, skeletons, witches and the like. And so now the worlds are kept separate, except on Halloween when the portal opens temporarily and then closes again until the next year.
Clocking in at just 84 minutes, a heck of a lot happens in this movie.
It begins one Halloween night with the frustrated grumblings of Marnie (Kimberly J. Brown), who is 13-years-old and obsessed with “weird stuff”. Her recently-widowed mother Gwen (Judith Hoag) mysteriously denies her three children anything to do with Halloween. For reasons she refuses to explain.
Suddenly, eccentric grandma Aggie (an essential Debbie Reynolds) drops in, visits with the grandkids, and eventually tells them a bedtime story about a magical place called Halloweentown. Marnie later overhears that her maternal side are in fact witches. And that she’s inherited hereditary powers her mother has been hiding from her. The kids secretly follow their grandmother out. They stumble upon the portal to the place from the story, where suspicious goings-on give reason to believe something evil is brewing in Halloweentown.
And that’s just the setup.
The first item worth discussing is the absolutely insane casting of Debbie Reynolds as a charming but witchy grandmother. One would think, she would be way too big for this movie, even in the late nineties. And yet the Halloweentown series was my first introduction (and likely many, many others’) to the iconic actress.
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The leads of Halloweentown are three child actors (who naturally grow older in the subsequent films), but this movie is no exception to the rule that kid actors are dreadful. Kimberly J. Brown’s enthusiasm and energy perfectly suit her character, and for an audience of children she’s the perfect proxy. But through the prescription (as opposed to rose-tinted) glasses of an adult, watching these kids try to be believable in their roles is cute at best. And second-hand embarrassing at worst.
Which brings us to the aesthetics. The special effects, costumes, props, and sets are totally inconsistent. Some are standard or impressive for their time, while others suggest a very limited budget. The movie’s villain, Kalabar, is cartoonishly evil and corny. At one point, he announces a plan for the town “to celebrate evil within us.” There is no subtlety on offer.
To address the obvious, this is a children’s movie. And a terrific one at that.
It is one of my all-time favourite Halloween films, and I literally own it and Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge on DVD.
Though overshadowed by The Cheetah Girls in 2003, High School Musical in 2006, and Camp Rock in 2008 in more recent memory, the Halloweentown series is a clear standout in the golden age of Disney’s TV movies. It is a testament to how great children’s programming can connect a generation. And frankly, what little resources are needed to make something aimed at kids, as long as imagination is in generous supply.