Director: David Poag
Year: 2022
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
After his plans fall through, a kid trying to remain attached to the traditions of his past decides to sneak into a closed-down Spirit Halloween store with his friends, but when a mischievous spirit is released and possesses the decorations inside to carry out a curse must find a way to stop it.
Review:
For a family-friendly genre effort, there was a lot to like here. Among the better features here is the fine setup that brings together the various storylines at play within this one. The first half here dives into the origins of their various subplots including the friend group getting too old for trick-or-treating and deciding to try more adult fare that goes against his desire not to abandon the old traditions he had with his family before everything changed, the family trying to keep his attitude in check about trying to honor his duties to his younger sister and the antics of the parents to try to make him stop being a sarcastic, self-centered kid which generates a rather strong opening to this one. As it all generates a fine understanding of his condition and general desires to continue on with the world he knew for a long time against the changes coming along through the process of growing up, there’s a lot to work with here that’s pretty fun overall.
As well, once the film utilizes these aspects to bring them to the fateful store and enact the curse, there are a lot of likable attacks and encounters throughout here. Featuring the impressive atmosphere and layout of the store to great effect as their staying there after dark allows for quite a lot of effective moments here. With the initial scenes of the decorations coming to life and chasing them around the building and the series of quick-thinking escapes that go on, this all manages to provide plenty of goofy scenarios with the next possessed object coming after them. The confrontations in the underground tunnel provide a highly chilling series of ideas with the most terrifying decoration being possessed and sent after them that has some fun, and the energetic finale lets everything come together in fine fashion. With the lighter tone of these scenes carried across the whole film, these factors all make for a highly enjoyable time here.
This one does have a few minor drawbacks that bring it down. The biggest factor here is a series of rather hard-to-overlook plot holes that emerge here which strain the credibility of the storyline even in a kids’ film like this. The main setup to get control of the property which sets everything in motion is never explained as to how or why he gets the property, and it comes off like two different outcomes as to what actually happens to him. Likewise, the whole idea of the events taking place inside the store that everyone seems to know where it is but is not aware of the supernatural actions taking place inside with all the glowing lights being visible to passersby makes it feel quite unlikely that no one would find out something was going on inside the store. While that all needs to happen in order to move the film along and not even be noticed by the younger crowd it’s appealing to, those need to be brought up.
Overview: ****/5
A highly effective family-friendly genre outing, this one manages to remain enjoyable enough to hold itself up as the few minor flaws don't hold this down that much. Give this a look if you're a fan of this kind of effort or are curious about this kind of film working as it does while only those turned off by the status used here should heed caution with this one.
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