THE SPIRIT OF HALLOWEENTOWN
Directors: Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb
This film has been reviewed by Nick and Paige as part of Bitesize Breakdown's coverage of the 2024 Fantastic Film Festival.
PAIGE
The Spirit of Halloweentown is a somewhat intriguing documentary that captures the essence of a town forever tied to Disney's Halloweentown. While certain anecdotes are definitely more interesting than others, directors Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb do a decent job of capturing the atmosphere of the town by delving into the lives of the locals and how they have or have not embraced the legacy of the spooky season. However, my main issue with this documentary is that it's dull and a bit uneven in its approach.
NICK
Although The Spirit of Halloweentown is a documentary, it’s filled with a collection of characters, some quite unlikable. In terms of following the case of two camps - those who are in favour of the Spirit of Halloweentown and those fighting against its existence - the film does a good job. What it doesn’t do a good job of is putting everything together. Its uneven approach and tendency to jump from story to story doesn’t work (the paranormal focus takes up far too much time), and I didn’t feel like I really learned that much, which is kind of the point of a documentary, no?