To enjoy the kiddy horror picture, you must suspend a substantial amount of disbelief “Spirit Halloween: The Movie”It is, in fact, a feature-length commercial featuring Spirit Halloween chainstore. The action-adventure commercial is lighthearted and easy to understand. It cites a number of recognized influences including Amblin productions. “Gremlins”And “The Goonies.”
You might also think of Robert Zemeckis’s two Amblin movies, “Back to the Future”And “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,”Christopher Lloyd is present and makes a brief appearance, playing a ghostly figure who wants to take control of a new body. (Lloyd is also a voice actor and delivers his lines off camera.
Unfortunately, screenwriter Billie Bates and first-time director David Poag don’t have a knack for snappy dialogue or a general sensitivity for child and/or amateurish acting, which inadvertently puts way too much strain on the movie’s younger performers. There’s nothing wrong, in other words, with the idea of setting an all-ages haunted house-style chase movie in a corny bulk retail store. The only thing stopping you is your imagination. “Spirit Halloween: The Movie”It is because its young stars never convincingly act their age.
Lloyd steals the movie’s good-enough opening scene and also sets the bar a little too high for the movie that follows. Luckily for his costars, Lloyd manages to disappear right after the introductory flashback. His character Alec Windsor is cursed by Michelle Civile, the caretaker of the Sacred Hearts Homes Home for Wayward Children. She casts a spell after he tries retake her orphanage.
Fast-forward to today: Jake (Donovan Colan), middle-schooler, struggles to get in the Halloween mood after Carson (Dylan Martin Frankel), “Life & Beth”) warns him that he’d rather not go trick-or-treating this year. Carson’s just been love-tapped by puberty — there’s a recurring joke about his “peach fuzz” facial hair — and seems ready to put aside childish things. Jake considers Halloween a very important holiday, as it was a holiday he used to celebrate alongside his father.
Time’s moving way too fast for Jake now that he lives with his concerned mother Sue (Rachael Leigh Cook), his princess-loving sister Joanie (Billie Roy), and his concerned stepfather Frank (Brad Carter, “Ozark”). Virginia, yes, indeed, there are characters with backstories “Spirit Halloween: The Movie.”
To appease his newly mature buddy, Jake plans an unforgettable Halloween night activity for himself, Carson, and their underdeveloped mutual friend Bo (Jaiden J. Smith): they’re going to spend the night in their local Spirit Halloween store. They play with some plastic swords, have fun with NERF-style foam guns and awaken Alec Windsor’s cranky spirit. Jake and his friends must rally their courage to stop Windsor and also team up together with Kate (Marissa Reyes). “Raven’s Home”), Carson’s older sister and Jake’s puppy love crush. They fight and are chased by Windsor, who (lord help us) inhabits many chintzy-looking full length costumes, including a bear, clown, skeleton, and so on.
Really, if you’re watching “Spirit Halloween: The Movie”, you’re probably not expecting a deeply involving storyline nor expensive-looking special effects. In that regard, you won’t be disappointed. You might, however, feel weirdly let down by the ensemble cast’s performances. Some actors have trouble bringing life to the scripted placeholder dialogue, such as when Bo yelps. “Let me go, you demonic bear!”Lloyd shows leadership by changing the rhythm of his dialogue. This helps when you are reading lines like. “Just so we’re all clear on the rules: I can’t leave here without a body.”
The kids don’t fare as well, despite their best efforts. Most of them show promise, like when Roy nails her character’s cute widwwe kid schtick and begs her big brother to take her trick-or-treating. Or when Smith hisses or Bo farts. “I told you that I’m lactose intolerant!”This is not exactly iambic Pentameter, but these kids do their best to reach the lowest possible level of this material.
Sadly, the movie’s younger actors seem to be hamstrung by bad direction since, in many scenes, the main thing stopping them from hitting their lines is a slower pace or a more playful approach. It’s hard to imagine anybody selling Colan or Smiths’s baldest lines, but they both have flashes of Lloyd-worthy inspiration.
That said, Bates and Poag generally don’t seem to know how to capture a low-budget Amblin vibe. Their uninspiring premise (or location, really) certainly doesn’t help, but nothing really could if you don’t treat your movie’s child performers like they’re the main draw in a movie for and starring children. “Spirit Halloween: The Movie” would have been a lot better if it was a more thoughtful showcase for what these kids can do when they’re not trying to sell us some dweeby costumes and a desperate-to-please retail franchise.
“Spirit Halloween: The Movie”Opening in U.S. theaters Sept. 30, and online Oct. 11, via Strike Back Studios