Spirit Halloween: The Movie Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Spirit Halloween: The Movie Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf September 24, 2023

Spirit Halloween is a chain of stores that typically open for business in August, offering holiday costumes and decoration for rabid fans of the season and families trying to solve any outfit issues in one fell swoop. Spirit Halloween is big news these days, with the fetishization of Halloween growing more intense every year, and the company seems perfectly comfortable with jabs at its business model, taking over buildings previously inhabited by retail failures. “Spirit Halloween” is the first film based on the brand, emerging as seasonal entertainment for younger viewers and a commercial for the stores, pitting excitable kids against possessed inventory. Director David Poag and screenwriter Billie Bates seem to understand the creative mission, creating broad emotion and conflicts to help inspire a mildly enjoyable adventure in the “Goosebumps” tradition, keeping things relatively easygoing and mercifully short.

Long ago, Alec Windsor (Christopher Lloyd) was a mean old man happy to shut down a local orphanage, putting its residents out on the street. A woman connected to magic put a stop to such a cold-hearted act, making sure he never bothered them again. Today, Jake (Donovan Colan) is an eighth grader who absolutely loves Halloween, gearing up for another season with his friends, Bo (Jaiden J. Smith) and Carson (Dylan Martin Frankel), while dealing with his new stepfather and stepsister after the death of his dad. Carson feels he’s outgrown trick or treating, but Jake persuades him to participate one last time, with the boys taking off on their bikes for the night. Looking for a fresh thrill, the kids elect to sneak into a Spirit Halloween store and stay after dark, unaware that the spirit of Alec is resurrected for an hour on this special day, capable of possessing the robots inside the building. Joining the gang is Carson’s sister, Kate (Marissa Reyes), who’s looking for her brother, and Jake’s mother, Sue (Rachael Leigh Cook), tours the streets, concerned about the boys.

The dark magic used in “Spirit Halloween” is a bit hazy, but it works, shutting down Alec’s reign of terror as he delights in evictions, thrilled to finally get rid of an orphanage for his own financial gain. This confrontation opens the film, with Lloyd present for a cameo as Alec before the story jumps to today, picking up with Jake, who’s dealing with many challenges to his young mind, including the loss of his father to cancer, putting him at odds with new family members in the house after Sue remarries. He’s also concerned about growing up, with Carson delighted to develop body hair and attend high school in the near future, ready for more mature adventures. He’s critical of Jake’s Halloween obsession, putting the main character in a tough spot as he tries to work up excitement for another year of trick or treating.

There’s an interesting psychological space to explore with this age, and “Spirit Halloween” takes a few minutes to study Jake’s concerns about maturation, fearful of losing his routine while pubescent interests begin to take hold, including a crush on Kate. Such depth is only briefly present, with the writing soon sending the trio to a Spirit Halloween store for the night, where they plan to have a blast in a closed building, exploring the spooky decorations. “Spirit Halloween” doesn’t want to be a simple romp, with Bates looking to complicate the stay, returning to the magic of before with the resurrection of Alec’s spirit and the presence of a spell book in Jake’s possessions. Soon enough, Alec is back, tormenting the boys by bringing various robots to life, along with a giant teddy bear (which may be a nod to the chain’s frequent use of Toys “R” Us buildings), and Kate joins the survivors, bringing her gymnastic skills to the fight.

Spirit Halloween: The Movie Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (2.00:1 aspect ratio) presentation for "Spirit Halloween" preserves the colorful cinematography, which explores the autumnal setting of the story and seasonal decoration, which carries distinct primaries. Orange is prioritized in the Halloween adventure as well. Lighting schemes also brings a potent look to the feature. Skin tones are natural. Detail is good, with a decent look at character particulars, from skin surfaces to textured costuming. Store interiors are dimensional, exploring merchandise and robotic additions. Delineation is satisfactory as the action turns to shadow play and subterranean activity. Banding is present, along with some blockiness during darker events.

Spirit Halloween: The Movie Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix offers an immersive listening event for the feature, with surrounds active, often creating a circular experience during attack sequences and musical moods. Scoring is crisp, with distinct instrumentation, also maintaining some percussive presence on the track. Low-end also registers with more potent physical action. Dialogue exchanges are clear. Sound effects are distinct, along with atmospherics with neighborhood events.

Spirit Halloween: The Movie Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary features director David Poag, screenwriter Billie Bates, and cinematographer Andy Kugler.

• Interview (10:39, HD) discusses "Spirit Halloween" with director David Poag and screenwriter Billie Bates, with the twosome sharing their Halloween memories, struggles with the development process on the movie, and working with senior cast members. The pair also play a face off game with Spirit Halloween characters, and rate an assortment of Halloween candy.

• Interview (9:55, HD) sits down with actors Jaiden J. Smith and Marissa Reyes. The pair discuss their characters, share filming highlights, and how they dealt with sets and stunts. They close with a "Guess the Monster" game, and rate an assortment of Halloween candy.

• Interview (3:56, HD) explores the world of Spirit Halloween with franchise PR director, Nikki Balles. The interviewee briefly goes into the history of the brand name, identifies the most popular items for sale, and describes how the Halloween shop is actually a year-round job, with heavy planning required before the spooky season arrives. Most interesting is Balles admitting Spirit Halloween had nothing to do with the movie's development, merely providing a store for the production.

• Featurettes (HD) include "Shooting in the Cave" (1:00), "Storyboard Comparison of the Opening Scene" (2:29), "Marla Gibbs on Set" (1:04), "Christopher Lloyd on Set" (1:30), "On Location at Real Spirit Halloween Store" (1:44), and "On Location at Jake's House" (1:02).

• Image Gallery collects poster art and marketing photos.

• T.V. Spot (:22) offers one commercial for "Spirit Halloween."

• And Special Promotional Trailers (7:17), Teaser Trailer (1:32), and Trailer (1:09) are included.

Spirit Halloween: The Movie Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Spirit Halloween" isn't the extravaganza I'm sure many are hoping it to be. Poag doesn't have much of a budget to work with, keeping visual effects to a minimum. There's more of a "Goonies" vibe in the second half, which follows the gang into caverns located below the store, learning more about Alec and his curse. The film eventually reaches its "Evil Dead" potential in the finale, which really should be the entire vibe of the feature, but such delightful chaos is too expensive for the production. What's provided here are breezy chills for a more impressionable audience, hitting big feelings about life and death, also offering minor scrapes with monsters. "Spirit Halloween" is a strange ad for the company (the store is depicted as completely empty during Halloween week), and it's not a powerful genre event, with Nerf gun attacks about as dangerous as it gets. The picture is made for younger viewers, hoping to add some seasonal creepiness and softer action to Halloween countdown festivities.