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Halloweentown

Halloweentown

Family · Fantasy · Comedy · 1998

On her 13th birthday, Marnie learns she's a witch, discovers a secret portal, and is transported to Halloweentown — a magical place where ghosts and ghouls, witches and werewolves live apart from the human world. But she soon finds herself battling wicked warlocks, evil curses, and endless surprises.

Movie details

Halloweentown

1998 Family · Fantasy · Comedy 1h 24m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.8 / 10

Community rating

On her 13th birthday, Marnie learns she's a witch, discovers a secret portal, and is transported to Halloweentown — a magical place where ghosts and ghouls, witches and werewolves live apart from the human world. But she soon finds herself battling wicked warlocks, evil curses, and endless surprises.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Halloweentown?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge

Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge

Family · 2001

The Cromwell clan lives in the real world, except for their grandmother who lives in Halloweentown, a place where monsters go to escape reality. But now the son of the Cromwells' old enemy Kalabar has a plan to use the grandmother's book to turn Halloweentown into a grey dreary version of the real world while transforming the denizens of the real world into monsters.

Hocus Pocus

Hocus Pocus

Fantasy · 1993

After 300 years of slumber, three sister witches are accidentally resurrected in Salem on Halloween night, and it is up to three kids and their newfound feline friend to put an end to the witches' reign of terror once and for all.

The Addams Family

The Addams Family

Family · 2019

The Addams family's lives begin to unravel when they face-off against a treacherous, greedy crafty reality-TV host while also preparing for their extended family to arrive for a major celebration.

Return to Halloweentown

Return to Halloweentown

Family · 2006

As Halloweentown prepares to celebrate its 1,000th anniversary, Marnie Piper and her brother Dylan return to Witch University, where trouble is in session from the Sinister Sisters and from someone who's plotting to use Marnie's powers for evil.

Halloweentown High

Halloweentown High

Family · 2004

Marnie puts her magic on the line to get several Halloweentown teenagers transferred to her high school in the mortal world. But soon, Marnie and her new friends are in trouble and out of luck when the evil Knight Of The Iron Dagger appears. He's determined to destroy all things magical, and it's up to Marnie to save her high school, the human world and her magic.

Hotel Transylvania

Hotel Transylvania

Animation · 2012

Welcome to Hotel Transylvania, Dracula's lavish five-stake resort, where monsters and their families can live it up and no humans are allowed. One special weekend, Dracula has invited all his best friends to celebrate his beloved daughter Mavis's 118th birthday. For Dracula catering to all of these legendary monsters is no problem but the party really starts when one ordinary guy stumbles into the hotel and changes everything!

Monster High: Fright On!

Monster High: Fright On!

Family · 2011

See what happens when the student bodies of an all-vampire school and an all-werewolf school integrate with Monster High.

The Black Cauldron

The Black Cauldron

Animation · 1985

Taran is an assistant pigkeeper with boyish dreams of becoming a great warrior. However, he has to put the daydreaming aside when his charge, an oracular pig named Hen Wen, is kidnapped by an evil lord known as the Horned King. The villain hopes Hen will show him the way to The Black Cauldron, which has the power to create a giant army of unstoppable soldiers.

Mickey's House of Villains

Mickey's House of Villains

Family · 2002

The villains from the popular animated Disney films are gathered at the House of Mouse with plans to take over. Soon, the villains take over the house and kick out Mickey, Donald and Goofy. It's all up to Mickey and his friends to overthrow evil and return the House of Mouse to normal--or as close to normal as it gets.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Fantasy · 1993

Tired of scaring humans every October 31 with the same old bag of tricks, Jack Skellington, the spindly king of Halloween Town, kidnaps Santa Claus and plans to deliver shrunken heads and other ghoulish gifts to children on Christmas morning. But as Christmas approaches, Jack's rag-doll girlfriend, Sally, tries to foil his misguided plans.

Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Duwayne Dunham

Written by

Jon Cooksey · Ali Marie Matheson · Paul Bernbaum

Kimberly J. Brown

Kimberly J. Brown

Marnie Piper

Debbie Reynolds

Debbie Reynolds

Aggie Cromwell

Joey Zimmerman

Joey Zimmerman

Dylan Piper

Judith Hoag

Judith Hoag

Gwen Piper

Phillip Van Dyke

Phillip Van Dyke

Luke

Emily Roeske

Emily Roeske

Sophie Piper

Robin Thomas

Robin Thomas

Calabar

Court is in session

Put Halloweentown on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.