Halloweentown (1998)
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A young girl discovers her secret heritage as a witch when she is transported to a mystical town where monsters live in peace.
The story
Gwen Piper, a widowed mother who wants to live a normal mortal life, refuses to let her children participate in Halloween. However, her mother Aggie, a secret witch, arrives for a visit and encourages the children to embrace their magical heritage. After Aggie reads a bedtime story about a mystical place called Halloweentown, Marnie and Dylan covertly follow her onto a magical bus. They arrive in the magical town, where they find Aggie is attempting to train Marnie before she loses her powers at age 13. The children soon discover that foul play is involved as citizens of Halloweentown begin to disappear.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Gwen Piper, a widow, wants to raise her children, Marnie, Dylan, and Sophie, as mortals, despite her mother Aggie being a witch. Aggie wants to train Marnie before her 13th birthday to ensure she keeps her powers. After Marnie and Dylan sneak onto a magical bus with Aggie, they arrive in Halloweentown. Aggie reveals a vision of a hooded figure in her cauldron and seeks to activate Merlin's talisman to defeat it. The children help Aggie gather ingredients—werewolf hair, ghost sweat, and a vampire's fang—while Gwen arrives in Halloweentown and discovers the mayor is her ex-boyfriend, Kalabar. They find Aggie in an abandoned theater where she is frozen in time by a hooded demon. The children escape, gather the ingredients, and realize they must place the talisman in a large jack-o'-lantern. The demon is revealed to be Kalabar, who wants to rule both worlds. Marnie manages to drop the talisman into the jack-o'-lantern, unfreezing the town and weakening Kalabar. Dylan discovers he has magic powers and helps the family defeat Kalabar, who is vaporized. Aggie decides to stay in the mortal world for a while, and the family agrees to train Marnie as a witch.
- First release year
- 1998
- Runtime (minutes)
- 84
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Duwayne Dunham
- Writers
- Paul Bernbaum · story; Paul Bernbaum · screenplay; Jon Cooksey · screenplay; Ali Matheson · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Debbie Reynolds · Agatha "Aggie" Cromwell; Judith Hoag · Gwendolyn "Gwen" Piper; Kimberly J. Brown · Marnie Piper; Joey Zimmerman · Dylan Piper; Phillip Van Dyke · Luke; Emily Roeske · Sophie Piper; Robin Thomas · Kalabar
- Genres
- Fantasy; Comedy; Family film
- Themes
- Identity; Family dynamics; Creativity; Individuality
- Premise and plot tags
- Witchcraft; Magic; Monsters; Family Adventure
- Franchise connections
- Halloweentown series
- Reception
- The film is a beloved tradition for many fans, particularly millennials, and is praised for its performances, whimsical elements, and message of individuality. It is considered a pioneering Disney Channel Original Movie.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 83% · review count: 6 critics; Common Sense Media · score: 3 · scale: 5 stars
- Awards and nominations
- Best Performance in a TV Movie/Pilot/Mini-Series or Series - Leading Young Actress · Youth in Film Awards · 20th · Nomination
- Production trivia
- The budget was only $4 million despite being presented as a $20 million to $30 million project.; The 'Halloweentown' book prop was created using a photo of Kimberly J. Brown.; The voice of the skeleton Benny was added in post-production using a voice-less animatronic on set.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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