"Curse of Bridge Hollow" a light-hearted, mildly spooky diversion for the season

The Curse of Bridge Hollow (2022)

Completely built around the holiday that lands on October 31, “The Curse of Bridge Hollow” is a pleasant, entry-level horror-comedy for pre-teens and the fun-sized set. It has a high-concept premise for a gateway spookshow that’s understandably light on chills but amusing and light-hearted just the same. Paired well with the surprisingly likable Adam Sandler treat “Hubie Halloween”—one positive thing the world could bond over on Netflix during 2020—“The Curse of Bridge Hollow” works as a safe diversion after taking your kids trick-or-treating.


The Gordon family—father Howard (Marlon Wayans), wife and mother Emily (Kelly Rowland), and 14-year-old daughter Sydney (Priah Ferguson)—leaves the hustle and bustle of Brooklyn for the quaint small town of Bridge Hollow in New England. Just in time for Halloween! The town is big into the holiday, even though Howard, a science teacher taking a job at the local high school mid-semester, really does not care for the supernatural or anything Halloween-related. His daughter, on the other hand, enjoys the holiday. Sydney is initially hesitant about giving their new home in Bridge Hollow a chance, until realizing they’ve moved into the old Hawthorne house, where wicked local legend Stingy Jack died. When Sydney finds Stingy Jack’s old jack-o’-lantern in their attic and lights the candle inside, the ghostly spirit brings all of the town’s lawn decorations to life to wreak havoc. Despite Howard’s skepticism, this supernatural phenomenon cannot be explained with science. Teaming up with her trio of new friends, Sydney and Howard will have to make Stingy Jack and his minions of zombies, spiders, clowns, and witches hit the road.


After another kid-friendly, novelty shop-inspired release, “The Curse of Bridge Hollow” answers the question, “What if the Halloween-décor-coming-to-life scenes in ‘Goosebumps: Haunted Halloween’ became a whole movie?” It’s a well that filmmakers like going back to, but a concept that perfectly encapsulates the spirit of Halloween without getting scary or gory. There is a moral to the father-daughter story, too, and it’s one that won’t go out of style and isn’t presented like a spoonful of medicine or a sit-down lesson at the end of a “Full House” episode. Listen up, parents: don’t force your children to like things they just aren't interested in or have outgrown. Without the pressure to actually frighten, director Jeff Wadlow (who took Blumhouse off its winning streak with both 2018’s “Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare” and 2020’s “Fantasy Island”) delivers a lively, hijinks-filled series of chase set-pieces with a giant spider attacking a retirement home and killer clowns chasing characters through a Halloween maze.

 

Priah Ferguson (such an irresistible spitfire as the no-nonsense Erica Sinclair in “Stranger Things”) gets to play the smartest person in the room again, and a more-restrained Marlon Wayans is game and still having a blast even as an out-of-touch dad who shrieks at anything spooky. As wife and mother Emily who spends most of the movie working a booth at the town’s festival, Kelly Rowland doesn’t really get to be along for the ride with Ferguson and Wayans. She does get to participate in the climax at least, but her one running piece of character business—no one, not even her husband and daughter, likes her healthy vegan, gluten-free, sugar-free baked goods—isn’t much. The filmmakers must be “Freddy vs. Jason” fans, though, considering Rowland appears in a movie where the central villain’s house resided on Elm Street. 


The script by Todd Berger and Robert Rugan is pretty standard, but it gets most of its juice out of the premise, charmingly crude visual effects, and a spirited cast. Lauren Lapkus puts on the heavy New England accent, and she’s mostly an endearing hoot as Mayor Tammy, who tells the story of Stingy Jack with her knitted sweater as an illustration. The rest of the ensemble includes the shticky likes of Rob Riggle, as the Gordons’ Halloween-obsessed neighbor who decorates every year, this time the theme being “The Walking Dead” in his front yard; John Michael Higgins, as the school principal who dabbles in the occult; and Nia Vardalos, in a flashback cameo and a funnier vocal performance through Wayans as late medium Madam Hawthorne. “The Curse of Bridge Hollow” never tries to be more than it is, and for that, it achieves being warm, a little spooky, and all in good, festive fun.


Grade: B -


Netflix released “The Curse of Bridge Hollow” (91 min.) to stream on October 14, 2022.

Comments