Halloween is right around the corner – well, give or take a couple of months – and it isn’t complete without kitschy horror fic with dollops of spooky fun. While we keep falling back on nostalgia reruns of all our usual Halloween fare – Hocus Pocus, Halloween Town, Practical Magic, The Craft – every year, having something new to add to the ever-growing list of our Halloween faves is more than appreciated.

This year Netflix is bringing us The Curse of Bridge Hollow, which was formerly titled Boo!. The film stars Marlon Wayans and Priah Ferguson (aka Erica Sinclair of Stranger Things) in the leading roles.

From Bird Box and Gerald’s Game to Calibre and Cargo, Netflix offered quite a few critically acclaimed horror-thrillers over the years. But when it comes to delivering light, family-friendly entertainers Netflix cannot seem to toe the line between terribly bland and silly. The Babysitter (which has a respectable 72% rating on Rotten Tomatoes) and its sequel, The Babysitter: Killer Queen, are examples of how Netflix ends up fumbling on even relatively promising starts; with the latter being called a “defiantly stupid movie, with references so bizarrely dated that it verges on fascinating,” by RogerEbert.com.

We need to wait and watch if The Curse of Bridge Hollow is any real fun. Here’s all we know till now about the upcoming Netflix original.

The Curse Of Bridge Hollow: The Plot

     Netflix

Halloween has been used in numerous ways to set up horror plots in films and TV shows. In short, Halloween makes for the perfect setting for all things scary, evil, or amusing. Priah Ferguson’s Sydney accidentally sets an ancient Halloween spirit loose, and this poltergeist brings every Halloween decoration to life, wreaking havoc on the town. Sydney has to team up with her dad (played by Wayans), albeit reluctantly, to fight the spirit and stop it before things go out of hand.

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The plot and theme of the film sound very similar to the 2015 horror-comedy Goosebumps (starring Jack Black as a fictionalised version of the author RL Stine). The topic of Halloween decorations coming to life or a rip in the veil between worlds letting otherworldly creatures into ours is nothing new. But how the heroes put an end to the horrors unleashed is what makes every different story with similar themes entertaining to watch.

Even though Wayans is known for most notably acting in raunchy horror and comedy films, The Curse Of Bridge Hollow will be kid-friendly. In an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Wayans spoke about his love for mixing comedy with horror in his films:

But speaking about The Curse Of Bridge Hollow, in particular, Wayans had clarified on the late comedian Bob Saget’s podcast that there won’t be any adult jokes on the Netflix film, saying:

The Curse Of Bridge Hollow: Cast & Crew

Jeff Wadlow will be directing The Curse Of Bridge Hollow. He has directed films like Kick-Ass 2, Cry Wolf, Fantasy Island, and several episodes of the TV shows Are You Afraid Of The Dark? and Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Television. The film’s screenplay has been written by Todd Berger (The Happytime Murders, It’s A Disaster) and John R. Morey (Family Guy, The Beachbuds) based on a story written by Berger and Robert Rugan (a CLIO award-winning writer and director who has made the comedy Alice’s Misadventures In Wonderland).

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Apart from Wayans and Ferguson, the film will also star Kelly Rowland (the member of Destiny’s Child who was also seen in The Black Lady Sketch Show), Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Larry Crowne), Rob Riggle (The Daily Show, Holey Moley), Helen Slayton-Hughes (Parks And Recreation, Burning Love) John Michael Higgins (Great News, Happily Divorced) Lauren Lapkus (Orange Is The New Black, Jurassic World), Dave Sheridan (frequently seen on co-starring in Wayans films like Scary Movie, A Haunted House), Abi Monterey (Doom Patrol), Myles Perez (My Life With The Walter Boys), and Holly J Barrett (Young Sheldon, Suits, Life in Pieces) among others.

Release Date

Apart from a few promotional photos, Netflix has not released anything else yet – neither a teaser nor a trailer. We might have to wait until late September or early October to see more. The film is slated to release just a couple of weeks before Halloween this year, very close to the release of the fantasy adaptation, The School For Good And Evil.

The Curse of Bridge Hollow will be released on Friday, October 14, 2022, on Netflix.