10/26/23

Blood Capsule #162

SPIRIT HALLOWEEN: THE MOVIE (2022)

A part of me wants to deride this film, a see-through stratagem created to entice shoppers into walking through the doors of what has become the Wal-Mart of seasonal retail.  The conventional tropes are there, the dopey character motives are there, and the painful attempts at comedy are there.  Be that as it may, another part of me appreciates Spirit Halloween as "gateway horror."  If you didn't know, this is aimed squarely at the kiddie crowd.  I don't believe that it was submitted to the MPAA, but if it were, it would most certainly earn a benign PG rating.  And hey, that's okay.  There is a place for all shades of this beautiful genre.  The spook spectrum is vast, and it's not like we need every new release to be Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre.

Jake, Bo, and Carson are about to begin high school.  As such, there is some dissention on the subject of trick-or-treating.  Carson says they're too old to bother, while Jake still has a soft spot for costumes and confections.  No one asked me, but I side with Jake.  In any event, they decide to compromise and spend the night locked inside of their local Spirit Halloween.  The Imperial Japanese army then proceeds to assail refugee safety zones.  Wait, wrong movie.  The three friends wind up doing battle against the ghost of Alex Windsor, a nefarious land developer who goes to the trouble of possessing animatronic monsters for...reasons, I'm sure.  Silly, but that comes with the territory.  I can think of worse ways to spend 90 minutes.  Keep an eye out for Rachel Leigh Cook.  Yep.  She plays the mom, which means I'm officially old.


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