You know about Spirit Halloween, right? It’s that pop-up retailer that takes up empty store space to sell costumes and other Halloween-related products during the fright-filled season, then leaves when all the trick or treating and costumed shenanigans are done. Well, later in 2022, Spirit Halloween will be getting more than just retail attention from its 1,425 locations across North America, as a horror movie centered on the store chain is on the way.
The Spirit Halloween chain has partnered with with Strike Back Studios, Hideout Pictures and Particular Crowd to deliver a feature-length Spirit Halloween movie that, while packed with scary elements, is intended to be a family offering. The story will follow three middle school-aged friends who make a dare to spend the night locked in a Spirit Halloween store located in a deserted strip mall. Unfortunately, the trio soon learns that this store is haunted by an angry spirit that’s possessed the creepy animatronic characters, resulting in them having to embark on a spooky adventure to survive the night and avoid becoming possessed themselves.
As reported by Variety, Back to the Future’s Christopher Lloyd, She’s All That’s Rachael Leigh Cook and El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie’s Marla Gibbs will star in Spirit Halloween, and the lineup of younger talent includes Zoe’s Donavan Colin, Blue Bloods’ Jaiden Smith and Raven’s Home stars Dylan Frankel and Marissa Reyes. Behind the scenes, David Poag will make his feature directorial debut on Spirit Halloween, and Billie Bates wrote the screenplay. Filming has already been completed and the movie is expected to come out sometime in October 2022.
While the horror genre has been thriving in recent years, through both major franchises like Halloween and The Conjuring, as well as standalone offerings like Get Out and Ready or Not, this is still a corner of the cinematic realm that primarily caters to adults. Sure, every now and then we get something like Goosebumps or The House with a Clock in its Walls (the latter of which earned Steven Spielberg’s endorsement) to give kids a taste of horror without going too deep into scary territory, but this definitely feels like an underserved subgenere. Still, at least Spirit Halloween is another option for the little ones to check out this Halloween season if they’re not in the mood to watch Hocus Pocus 2 with a Disney+ subscription.
Keep yours eyes peeled on our 2022 movie releases guide to learn when Spirit Halloween will come out (at this point, it’s unclear if the movie will receive a wide theatrical rollout or end up on VOD/streaming). You’re also welcome to look through the lineup of upcoming horror movies to learn what other scary offerings are arriving later this year and beyond.