The Spirit of Halloweentown is the latest by Documentary filmmakers Bradford Thomason & Brett Whitcomb, who some might know from their previous film Jasper Mall, which dug into the remnants of a bygone era of consumerism through a mall that’s in its final throes and it inhabitants. Here they once again have that nostalgic lens looking at a town in St. Helens, Oregon, that has leveraged being once a shooting location of a Disney Channel original movie in 1998, into a yearly 6 week celebration of all things halloween. Given my predilection for all things Disney and the fact that I love a good Halloween doc, I caught the film when it screened at Fantastic Fest and found it as charming as it was empathetic.
Reminiscent of The American Scream, the film follows a group of small town eccentrics leading up to and during the town’s Halloween celebration. The cast of characters include: the flamboyant new owner of the rumored haunted Klondike Tavern, the self proclaimed queen of halloween town, a recently graduated cheer captain, a paranormal investigator and a few others. The film begins with four weeks until Halloween and follows the town’s colorful residents who, as it turns out, all have their supernatural side hustle – from haunted houses to alien museums. The film’s end game slowly comes into focus when the paranormal investigators are tapped to investigate the rumored spiritual phenomena at the Klondike Tavern.
Bradford Thomason & Brett Whitcomb masterfully plant narrative seeds as they weave the stories of the townsfolk together as the days till Halloween tick by. It’s something I didn’t realize until the second time around that there are more than a few questions that set the stage for the film’s final set piece, the Halloween night seance at the Klondike Tavern. Like their previous endeavor the filmmakers are careful to never look down on their subjects or simply exploit them. Instead they carefully craft these character sketches of the sometimes eccentric town folks, ever conscious to never lose sight of their humanity. Some stories will definitely resonate more than others, but with the breadth of subjects shown that’s expected.
With Spooky Season rolling in I can’t recommend this great little doc enough, if it’s playing at a fest near you. While the film easily could spend the entire runtime ruminating on the nostalgia of the inspiration for the event, it instead digs into the more slice of life aspects of its participants. This particular angle lets us discover the event isn’t just an escape for those that come to their town, but for the townspeople themselves, who also look at it as a reprieve from the doldrums of their day to day existence. The Spirit of Halloweentown is a worthy addition to your wholesome Halloween doc rotation, come for the nostalgia, stay for the humanity, and some scares.
