Directed By: Kelly Sandefur
MVP’s: Elliot Page, Carlos Alazraqui, Gary Hudson, Vince Corazza, Sheldon Bergstrom, Michael Kanevsky, Ariel Bastian, Barbar Alyn Woods
Plot: Winston Pritchett is a ghost with unfinished business, Stella Blackstone is the kid who downloaded him off the dark web, together they just might save Halloween and learn valuable lessons about being yourself in the process!
Response: Elliot Page does a Mrs. Doubtfire. Ghost horned up for Elliot Page’s mom. Cartoon ghosts kill at the Trick’R’Treat open mic.
Review: Millenial vibes for days in this Made-for-Canadian television kid’s film that got sold to the Disney channel. There’s a ton of original ska/punk/alternative jams. Some really great hammy acting by Canadian character actors and cartoon vocal talent*. The movie opens with a Scream parody/pastiche. And the comedy is surprisingly good (I didn’t lol but I smiled a bunch. Somewhere between Benny Hill (with the goofy montage chase scenes) and a kid’s Marx brothers with its silly irreverence. At one point the ghost is playing piano and one of the kids says, “stick a sock in it” so the ghost pulls off his gym sock and closes it in the piano. I mean, that’s good right?
The most jaw-dropping element of the movie though is its depiction of transness, especially as Elliot Page would later come out as a trans man. I told you it starts with a Scream pastiche, the mom being stalked while she’s popping popcorn, “Do you like scary movies?” all that. What I didn’t tell you is that when it’s revealed to be her kiddo, Stella Blackstone (played by a 14 year old Elliot Page) the mom says, “why can’t you be more like a girl?”
Later, when Stella fails to expose the evil superintendent, and thinks he’s let down the whole town and especially his family, he femmes up to try and fit in. The scene is played like an inverse She’s All That, where the beautiful swan inside the ugly duckling is actually a depressed child with intense body dysmorphia. Wild.
In the end, Stella’s haunted house is better. He salvages his friendship with the ghost Winston, and Winston overcomes his stage fright ad cracks ‘em all up.
You could do a lot worse.
Can Kid’s Watch It?:
100%. Get it in the rotation. But be forewarned with littles, there is an early (non-graphic, implied) death scene.
Halloween Score:
Autumn Vibes: 5/5
Scares & Chills: 1/5
Cultural & Cinematic Importance: 2/5
Monster Action: 3/5
Second Opinions:
“Hokey family film, another one that is really just for kids and that adults will not enjoy much. It is so improbable and silly. like these two 10 year olds could create a haunted house like that...I know it's a family film, but come on.”- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Review
“I love the part where the ghost’s stand-up set doesn’t bomb in front of a crowd and as a reward he gets to ascend to heaven” - Joey Shapiro on Letterboxed
“I did NOT expect the Joe Pesci, William Shatner, Keanu Reeves, Bill Clinton, and Billy Crystal impressions. And I'm missing a few others.” -TimbreMidst on Letterboxed
“this was a trans allegory and also had bad cgi ghost in it so it was incredible” - Kai on Letterboxed
Where to Watch:
Plex is the place to go for free streaming unless you want it dubbed in Spanish, in which case, go Tubi. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, U Block Origin has been a game changer for us for ad blocking. If you don’t wanna download dat ghost though, it’s also on Hoopla through participating libraries.
Hint for Tomorrow’s Movie:
Back to Hong Kong, where the best wizard battle movies are born.
* Check out the IMDB voice acting credits for Carlos Alazraqui from this year alone: Family Guy, SpongeBob Square Pants, The Proud Family, Rick and Morty, Minions & Monsters, Iron Man and His Awesome Friends, Robogobo, Hoppers, Mating Season, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and that’s just the one’s you might have heard of!