Halloween is simply the best time of year for any horror fan. There is no better feeling than going to a store like Spirit Halloween to pick out your perfect costume and well… get in the Halloween spirit. If you ever walked into one of those magically haunting stores and wished they made a movie around this fabled location, then your wish has finally been granted. Reported exclusively by Variety, the iconic costume and prop shop is getting its own feature-length family film, fittingly titled Spirit Halloween. The film will star Christopher Lloyd and Rachael Leigh Cook.
Spirit Halloween has teamed up with Strike Back Studios, Hideout Pictures, and Particular Crowd for the project. That is somehow not even the best part, as the film has already wrapped production and is rightfully aiming for an October 2022 release. Michael Myers is going to have some competition this Halloween with the plot of the film being as follows:
“When a new Spirit Halloween store appears in a deserted strip mall, three middle-school friends who think they’ve outgrown trick-or-treating make a dare to spend the night locked inside the store Halloween night. But they soon find out that the store is haunted by an angry evil spirit who has possessed the creepy animatronic characters. The kids embark on a thrilling and spooky adventure in order to survive the night and avoid becoming possessed themselves.”
The kids in question joining Lloyd and Cook are Donavan Colan, Dylan Frankel, Jaiden Smith, and Marissa Reyes . Marla Gibbs is also starring in the project. David Poag will be making his directorial feature debut with Spirit Halloween and Billie Bates has written the screenplay for the film. Strike Back Studios has also released the first image of the film showing four young leads in the dimly lit Spirit Halloween looking at a mysterious note of some kind.
Noor Ahmed, president of Strike Back Studios, told Variety, “One of the reasons I immediately connected with the script is it is very much inspired by some of my favorite kid adventure films growing up, from ‘The Goonies,’ ‘Gremlins,’ ‘Monster Squad’ and so many great films made by Amblin Entertainment.” Ahmed will produce the film with Shannon Houchins while Tomás’ Yanelevich, Peter Bevan, Mariana Sanjurjo, and Clay Epstein are executive producing.
The description of the plot and what Ahmed said is enough to get really excited about this film. Spirit Halloween is as synonymous with the spooky holiday as Michael Myers or Ghostface. The franchise has 1,425 locations across North America, and when somebody needs a costume this is usually the premiere place to go. This film sounds like it captures the spirit of this famous store with the plot feeling very reminiscent of films like 2015’s Goosebumps, Night of the Museum, and a recent horror gem, Willy’s Wonderland, starring Nicolas Cage, while at the same time also gleefully harkening back to the Steven Spielberg produced adventure films of the 80s. All the pieces are here to make this a real treat for horror fans of all ages. It will be interesting to see if the film will feature any of the iconic licenses you would actually find in one of the stores like It or Freddy Krueger, but the film will probably be sticking with just Spirit Halloween’s original costume designs.
However, that should not dampen your anticipation, as these stores are filled to the brim with horror animatronics you could not find anywhere else. The fact that this film has already been shot is the icing on this sweet horror cake. Also, this probably means we are going to get our first trailer for the film very soon.
We have seen films based on popular franchises, toys, and even theme park rides, but Spirit Halloween has the great honor of being one of the first films based on a store. That should put a devilish smile on any horror lover’s face. As we get closer to Halloween, be on the lookout for more news on this unique horror picture.