Local Drama Outshines the Main Event

Read Time:5 Minute, 38 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
The Spirit of Halloweentown

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Genre: Documentary
Year Released: 2024
Runtime: 1h 31m
Director(s): Brett Whitcomb, Bradford Thomason
Where To Watch: Shown at the 2025 Overlook Film Festival


RAVING REVIEW: Nobody planned for a Disney Channel movie to shape a town's economic and cultural identity for decades, but that happened in St. Helens, Oregon. In the late '90s, it played host to a modest made-for-TV Halloween movie (full disclosure, I’m a huge fan of the entire HALLOWEENTOWN series), and a lifetime later, it now puts on an elaborate multi-week celebration rooted in that film’s legacy. THE SPIRIT OF HALLOWEENTOWN sets out to document this phenomenon, peeling back the layers of a community that chose to build an identity from the bones of nostalgic pop culture. While the premise should’ve provided fantastic footing for a compelling exploration, the film too often dances around its strongest elements, leaving behind a slightly scattered but occasionally charming portrait.


What keeps the documentary afloat is its collection of offbeat local personalities. There’s something undeniably magnetic about the residents who return year after year to decorate, perform, organize, or complain. Some live for the spectacle. One woman crowns herself the “Queen” of the festivities and throws herself into preparations like it’s her full-time job. Another teaches high school cheerleaders how to perform in full zombie attire, creating a spooky set piece worthy of a horror musical montage (think a high school production of the short film/music video of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’). These characters belong in a documentary—eccentric but grounded, passionate but relatable. Their quirks feel authentic and provide small, glowing moments of humanity in a film that struggles to find a clear direction.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is a subplot involving a restaurant owner and a disgruntled diner guest, which escalates from a negative review into a local scandal. What could have been trimmed down into a brief aside instead becomes one of the movie’s more prolonged storylines, and oddly enough. The filmmakers stumble into a strange blend of absurdity and sincerity with this conflict, turning it into an unexpectedly sharp critique of small-town politics, social media pettiness, and the intensity of local reputation. The energy of this incident almost demands its feature. While this was undoubtedly interesting, it’s also one of the biggest reasons for my middle-of-the-ground rating. I still enjoyed it, but it caused so much lost focus.

The film’s strongest achievements come through in its environmental details. Long takes of jack-o’-lanterns being wheeled into position, storefronts transformed into spooky showpieces, and kids trick-or-treating under the street lights offer more emotional depth than many talking heads. There's a richness to how the camera lingers on the quiet corners of the town—its aging bowling alley, its creaky movie theater, its lovingly prepared haunted houses. These images do more than just decorate the background; they underscore a town whose identity is rooted in handmade charm and community effort. This grounded approach gives the film a pleasing texture, even when its narrative coherence slips away.

One group that feels especially undercooked is the local ghost hunters. Their segment feels plucked from a different project altogether, offering little narrative payoff and crowding out more emotionally resonant storylines. Their investigation of a supposedly haunted tavern never intersects with other characters’ stories meaningfully, highlighting how disconnected some storylines are. It’s not just that the inclusion feels tonally off—it interrupts the documentary’s more grounded storytelling with a jarring detour that offers no clear insight.

With such a unique premise, the documentary misses several opportunities to ask tougher questions. How does a town cope with seasonal identity, especially when it doesn’t necessarily align with the values of all its residents? How does local infrastructure support—or strain under—the pressure of thousands of visitors arriving in a short window of time? How do generational perspectives shape the town’s vision for the future? The film touches on many of these issues but doesn’t pursue any of them in a focused way.

It’s also strange that the town’s ties to other pop culture phenomena—like its involvement in another major movie franchise (where are my TWILIGHT fans?)—go mostly unmentioned. There's a fascinating potential thread about how one place can become a pilgrimage site for multiple fanbases and how those fandoms overlap or clash.

And then there’s the matter of structure. Rather than guiding us through a cohesive arc, the film hops between stories in a way that sometimes feels lost, occasionally charming but largely disconnected. There’s no crescendo, no real sense of completion or catharsis. Even the expected Halloween-night wrap-up—something that could have been a natural point to tie these characters together—never quite lands. Without that emotional payoff, the documentary feels more like a patchwork of anecdotes than a completed narrative.

Despite its scattered approach, there is a certain sincerity that shines through. THE SPIRIT OF HALLOWEENTOWN doesn’t talk down to its subjects or treat them like punchlines. There’s admiration in how it captures the joy people take in this annual tradition. But a great documentary needs more than admiration—clarity, intention, and connective storytelling. This ultimately settles for being watchable and mildly amusing, rarely digging deep enough to uncover the real stories underneath the costumes and decorations.

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