It is directed by Jeff Wadlow, written by Todd Berger and Robert Rugan, and it is based on a story written by John R. Morey and Todd Berger, “The Curse of Bridge Hollow” follows Howard Gordon (Marlon Wayans), his wife Emily ( Kelly Rowland) and their daughter Sydney (Priah Ferguson) as they move from Brooklyn to a town called Bridge Hollow. And as they move in for Halloween, the town is covered to the teeth in all manner of horror-themed decorations and paraphernalia. Now Howard hates Halloween ’87, Sydney is furious about leaving Brooklyn, and Emily seems the only one reasonably positive about the change.

There is also bad blood between Howard and Sydney as she doesn’t want to be the person her father wants her to be. But when the ghost of Stingy Jack descends upon the town to haunt them, they are forced to overcome their differences and defeat this embodiment of evil.

What’s Up With All The Signs For Stingy Jack?

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When Mayor Tammy (Lauren Lapkus) meets with the Gordons, Emily questions her about the town’s obsession with Stingy Jack. Then, with the visual aid of her intricately designed sweater, she explains that according to  Irish legend, an evil person named Stingy Jack was hanged to death by the residents of Bridge Hollow. But the devil took pity on Jack and gave him a jack-o’-lantern in which the flames were made from the fires of hell. And every Halloween, Jack returns to BridgeHollow to exact revenge on the descendants of the villagers who wronged him.

Why would the Gordons worry about that? Well, while visiting  Bridge Hollow Cemetery, Sydney meets three children: Mario (Myles Vincent Perez), Ramona (Abi Monterey), and Jamie (Holly J. Barrett). They say the Gordons moved into the home of Madam Hawthorne,  the spiritualist who defeated Stingy Jack. This information obviously piques Sydney’s interest, and she assumes that Madam Hawthorne’s spirit lives in her home and uses the Ouija board app to contact her. An unknown entity leads them to a tribe with a lantern shaped like a pumpkin head. While arguing with her father about leaving the science team, Sydney turns on the flashlight, awakening Stingy Jack’s spirit and allowing his magic to spread to any inanimate Halloween decorations, bringing them back to life. 

Sydney obviously wants to know what all this spooky activity is based on, while Howard tends to dismiss them as handy magic tricks conjured up by the townsfolk. In this way, the main conflict of “The Curse of Bridge Hollow” is established: a believer versus a non-believer in the supernatural. And the conflict that runs parallel is that Sydney wants to be herself while Howard wants her to be the person he couldn’t be.

Madam Hawthorne’s Spell Is The Only Thing That Can Stop Stingy Jack.

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To learn more about Hawthorne and the curse of Bridge Hollow, Sydney and Howard visit Shady Appletree Nursing Home,  where Madam Hawthorne’s granddaughter Victoria (Helen Slayton-Hughes) lives. Victoria says that this lantern is not a pumpkin, but a turnip. When Sydney asks her to tell them more about him, she says that long ago, on a dark and stormy night, mystics from around the world came to this house to meet Josephine Hawthorne. They used their grimoire (a grimoire) to summon the spirit of Stingy Jack and put an end to his yearly violent visits to Bridge Hollow. However, Jack had other plans. 

He wanted every night to be Halloween, and he was able to achieve that by replacing his soul with someone else’s “forever”. Apparently, Jack wanted Josephine’s soul for that. But since she caught him with her flashlight, her plan failed. Now you have a second chance to immerse Bridge Hollow in the eternal Halloween because your lantern has come on again. To defeat Stingy Jack again, Sydney and Howard find Hawthorne’s spellbook, cast the spell, and once again trap Jack’s spirit in her lantern. You have to take a very complicated but action-packed path full of brilliant  SFX, VFX, and stunt work to director Floyd (John Michael Higgins) who is the current owner of the spellbook and lives on Elm Street. Yes, The Curse of Bridge Hollow has references to The Walking Dead, Nightmare on elm street, Killer Clowns From Space, Army of Darkness, Enter the Dragon, and more.

If you understand the reference, good for you. If you can’t, the film will continue. Getting back to the tale, Howard and the kids find Hawthorne’s spellbook at Floyd’s house. But when they are attacked by the soccer-themed skeletons outside, the page of the book with the spell burns, forcing them to go to Hawthorne’s grave to awaken his spirit and ask him to repeat the spell for them.

How Do Howard And Sydney Beat Stingy Jack?

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While Howard and the kids work their magic on Hawthorne,  animated Halloween decorations make their way to the carnival to bring the Stingy Jack statue to life. Howard and Sydney discover that Jack will now reunite with his lantern and then send a soul to the afterlife so he can begin his reign of Bridge Hollow. Since the flashlight is in the Gordon/Hawthorne house, where Emily is alone and unaware of what is going on, Howard and Sydney realize that will become Jack’s victim. So they grab the mayor’s pumpkin car (since she and the rest of the residents are busy battling the animated decorations) and run to Emily’s rescue. And just as Jack is about to throw Emily into the void, Howard casts the spell with all the conviction he can muster, ending this horrible nightmare. The film ends with Howard and Sydney locking Jack’s lantern away forever, only to find the attic cluttered with several other chests likely full of Hawthorne’s secrets. Day. But it’s also about outsiders coming into a city with old customs and breaking them immediately because they are unaware of the repercussions.

Whereas a horror film like “Midsommar” brutally punishes its protagonists for doing the exact same thing, “The Curse of Bridge Hollow” allows its protagonists to correct their mistakes because it aims to provide people with a kid-friendly experience. . Serious film about a black family inheriting secrets from a white spiritualist (who has an estranged granddaughter), it would have had many historical overtones about race and generational trauma. Maybe it’s in the DNA of this movie. However, being a relatively mild subject, this interpretation can be limited to a family being enticed into buying a house that is cheap because of their. Haunted story. Last but not least, he is a staunch supporter of facts and science, forced by the supernatural to question his reality.

I don’t think The Curse of Bridge Hollow does a brilliant job of solving the problems that are evident in its script. Jack’s choice of the victim seems very strange given that Emily had little to nothing to do with Sydney would have been the most obvious choice because she was the one turning her on. Emily’s career change from lawyer to vegan baker doesn’t suit me either. There seems to be a comment about the city’s remoteness. Contemporary. Civilization led to the emergence of supernatural beliefs and minor quarrels with neighboring races, unintentionally fueling the supernatural. And of course, Howard’s conversion from a non-believer to a believer seems too “simple” because the narrative is manipulated to outweigh fact with fiction. But despite all these problems, the film is a lot of fun. It features some of the most amazing special effects, graphics, stunts Work, action direction, and acting I’ve seen in a horror comedy in a long time. Marlon Wayans and Priah Ferguson are clearly having a great time. Reason enough for me to watch this film on Netflix.

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