Director – Jacob Ennis (Red River, Kill Granny Kill)
Starring – Heather Harlow (Curse of the Weredeer, Psycho Ape Part II: The Wrath of Kong), Kayla Perkins (Wicked Ones, Clown Nightmare), and Dixie Gers (Crazy Fat Ethel, Bigfoot Exorcist)
Release Date – 2024
Rating – 3/5
I’ve seen so many Halloween movies during my life and a lot of them are easily forgettable. While I do have favorites like The Midnight Hour, Night of the Demons, Double Double Toil and Trouble, Trick ‘r Treat, Hack O’ Lantern, and a few more, there is dozens, if not hundreds, more that are centered around Halloween but are not worth your time. I’ll be completely honest here, I absolutely love Halloween but I don’t get excited for Halloween horror flicks anymore.
Too many have let me down over the years so unless it’s something I truly want to see then I usually skip them. However, a few days ago a new Halloween flick was brought to my attention when actress and director Dixie Gers announced that The Town Without Halloween was streaming on Tubi. I’ve been a fan of Gers for sometime and decided to added it to my Halloween viewing. I’m glad I did because it was actually a lot of fun.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows a small town with a mayor who plans on stopping Halloween completely. He is working with an evil presence and once he can channel the power of Halloween he will become unstoppable. He uses a special elixir to brainwash some of the townspeople to accomplish his sinister plan while turning a select few into tiny creatures to do his bidding. Stuck in the middle of all this is a group of kids who want nothing more than to celebrate their favorite holiday and score some candy. **Spoiler Alert**
The Town Without Halloween only caught my attention because Dixie Gers was attached to it. The title and artwork did nothing for me. However, the film is actually really fucking good. I knew very little about it going into it and was very surprised by the overall film and I could see myself revisiting it every October.
The acting in this one is very well done. The entire cast delivers exceptional performances. The film has a lot of great characters that are very memorable and enjoyable to watch but it’s the film’s young cast that makes it stand out. I’ve been fortunate enough to review a few films recently that does feature a young cast and a lot of time their age and inexperience hinders them. That is not the case for this film. This young cast demonstrates a lot of natural talent and I will not be surprised if I see their names appear in another genre film in the future.
The story for this one is not what I was expecting when I saw the title and film’s artwork. The movie has so much going on and while the title is related to the story, it doesn’t do it any justice. I absolutely love the occult angle and when you toss in the little monsters like this one did then you have me hooked. Personally, I feel like these little delights didn’t didn’t get enough screen time and could have been a bigger part of the story. Regardless, I like the flow of the film and the story but some of the scenes felt out of place. I don’t know if that was a result of editing or if some parts of the story had to be cut due to budget.
Finally, the film has a lot of practical effects but those looking for gore and a lot of carnage will be very disappointed. We do get some make-up effects along with some fun looking puppets. While they are stiff and don’t show a lot of motion, I still enjoyed them and hope that if we get a sequel they are updated. However, the lack of death scenes was a bit of a disappointment. While the film is clearly being aimed at children and as family friendly, but some fun deaths would have knocked it over the top. Overall, The Town Without Halloween isn’t going to be for everyone. However, fans of shows like Eerie, Indiana and Big Wolf on Campus will appreciate this light hearted horror. Check it out.
