You know how everyone keeps talking about how we need a movie about Spirit Halloween? Well, it seems Hollywood FINALLY heard our voices, because a Spirit Halloween movie is on the way! Here’s everything we know so far.
Wait, Are We Talking About THAT Spirit Halloween?
You mean the giant Halloween store that takes over abandoned storefronts every fall to sell costumes and decorations and stuff? The one that puts up huge orange banners—with that spooky grim reaper—where that old Ross Dress for Less used to be, in what almost feels like a subtle indictment of the insatiable capitalist machine? Yep, that’s the one. You’ve already had the in-person Spirit Halloween experience—going in for some cat ears or something and coming out with three animatronic witches, plastic table service for six vampires, a truckload of spiderwebs, and a full Queen Elizabeth I costume—and now, you get to live out the shopping experience you WISH you had on the big screen. Where the monsters are real!
What Is This Movie Going to Be About?
We’re so glad you asked! Here’s the official plot synopsis from IMDB:
When a new Spirit Halloween store appears in a deserted strip mall, three middle school friends who think they’ve outgrown trick or treating make a dare to spend the night locked inside the store Halloween night. But they soon find out that the store is haunted by an angry evil spirit who has possessed the creepy animatronic characters. The kids embark on a thrilling and spooky adventure in order to survive the night and avoid becoming possessed themselves.
“When a Spirit Halloween store appears in a deserted strip mall.” I love this movie already. One of the best things about Spirit Halloween is that those stores really do seem to pop up on their own, with no human involvement. A Borders bites the dust? BAM! Spirit Halloween! It’s like it happened by itself! I also love that the synopsis paints the strip mall’s desertedness as spooky window dressing, instead of the literal reason why a Spirit Halloween would pop up there in the first place. It’s usually not the bustling, thriving shopping centers that get Spirit Halloweens. Look, it’s not the in-person shopping comeback we wanted, but it’s probably the one we deserved.
I also love the idea that kids would dare each other to spend Halloween night locked in a Spirit Halloween. This store is so hokey and over the top that it seems like it would actually be one of the safer places to spend the most haunted night of the year. How would a real ghost hear itself over all the racket?
But that’s why I’m not a screenwriter. Clearly, ghosts want to be haunting those sweet, sweet animatronics. Maybe they all played Five Nights at Freddy’s and thought, “GENIUS!”
Who’s Starring in It?
Christopher Lloyd, that’s who!
Not so funny now, is it? Not with national treasure, Lloyd, on board. Lloyd is, of course, best known for playing Doc Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy, but he’s also done some spookier films. He played Uncle Fester in the 1991 Addams Family movie and its sequel, Addams Family Values. He also played Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, and if you’re one of the many kids who peed themselves in the theater when his eyes popped out, then you know he has the capacity to be really freaking scary when he wants.
Also starring in the movie is Rachael Leigh Cook. Cook played Mary Anne in The Babysitter’s Club (no, not the Netflix show, the movie from 1995), was in She’s All That, and since then, has done voice work for Robot Chicken, played Tifa in recent Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts games, and done various movies and TV shows.
Interestingly, even though production has wrapped, we still don’t have any information about what characters Lloyd and Cook will be playing. Maybe Lloyd will be a monster! Or maybe the gruff old man who tries to warn the middle school kids away from the haunted kitsch at the seasonal costume store. Or maybe he’ll play one of the middle school kids, who knows! Maybe Cook will play their mom, or an animatronic Dracula or something. Maybe she’s the title character, the spirit…of Halloween. With a premise like this, the possibilities are endless.
Along with Lloyd and Cook, the cast also includes Brad Carter, Marla Gibbs, Dylan Martin Frankel, Jaiden J. Smith, Donovan Colan, Marissa Reyes as Kate, and Billie Roy as Joanie.
Who Else Is Bringing the Magic to Life?
Spirit Halloween is directed by David Poag and written by Billy Bates for Strike Back Studios.
When Is This Masterpiece of Cinema Going to Come Out?
All we know so far is that it’s set to release in October 2022. I might hazard a guess that it’ll come out a little before Halloween, but that may just be wild speculation.
And I assume the movie theaters it will play in will materialize around October 1st, in what used to be the K-Mart, so keep your eyes out.
(image: Getty Images/Spirit Halloween)
