Hallmark Channel
The Hallmark Channel has already had a successful run of Christmas holiday films in 2022 and 2023 under the Haul Out the Holly banner, starring network favorites Lacey Chabert and Wes Brown, and now they are expanding the franchise with Haul Out the Halloween, which reunites almost all the residents of Evergreen Lane, and adds a couple of new neighbors, giving viewers a surprise reunion of Disney’s Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge stars.
Haul Out the Halloween follows the events of Haul Out the Holly: Lit Up as lead characters Emily (Chabert) and Jared (Brown) marry right the top, and return home after a month to discover new neighbors have moved in and have — gasp! — gone overboard with their Halloween decorations, setting off Jared’s alarm bells as the president of the neighborhood HOA. The new arrivals, Luna (Kimberly J. Brown) and Marvin (Daniel Kountz) — very much into the Halloween spirit — are taken aback by Jared’s protestations as they were informed when they moved in that Evergreen Lane was the most festive neighborhood in all of Utah. That is true, but it only applies to Christmas. It is soon revealed that Emily had a terrifying experience on Halloween during her childhood when a neighbor friend scared her while trick-or-treating, and she has never recovered from the incident leading all of the neighbors to pull back from celebrating the holiday out of respect for Emily. That Halloween was also significant because it was the last one with her Grammy, who drove Emily and Jared around in her golf cart, collecting more candy than Emily lost during her fright.
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But the new neighbors have brought back the good memories from that night with her grandmother and she’s ready to jump back into the Spooky Season spirit, calling a meeting with the neighborhood to reveal their plans for a week of events leading up to Halloween, which will also be a fundraiser as well. Luna and Marvin also want to contribute with a haunted attraction, but they have to agree to keep the scare level to a five since this will be for all ages. They agree and also want to make that an additional part of the fundraiser. Everyone is on board to transform Evergreen Lane into Ever Scream Lane, but there are a few bumps in the road. Neighbor Pam (Melissa Peterman) is a competition beast and is certain she will win the cookie baking contest … until she doesn’t, which leads to a hilarious Wizard of Oz moment after she regains consciousness (she passed out and face-planted the floor). But there are two other major obstacles — one is the arrival of local reporter Ashlynn Ashworth, former Evergreen Lane neighbor and the girl responsible for Emily’s fear of Halloween. She’s coming to do a report on the activities to help bring the fundraising aspect to the public. Everyone is concerned that she’s just there to do a hatchet job on the street because, it seems, her family was basically driven out of the neighborhood because of that Halloween incident. Jared only compounds matters when his suspicions about his mother Belinda and across the street neighbor Ned are confirmed — the two are dating, sort of. Jared flashes back to several instances of Ned being overly familiar with Belinda, including at the wedding where he called her ‘dear’, and the inexplicable rage he feels causes him to smash the pumpkin Ned had painted right on camera. The incident made Ashlynn’s story, which then did turn out to be a hit job on the neighborhood, casting doubt on the success of the fundraiser. It also got Jared temporarily removed from his position as HOA president until he sat down for a talk with Ned. Emily and the other neighbors remind him that he’s not taking his mother’s feelings into consideration, so he decides to take her to afternoon tea — springing for the full royal treatment — to hear her out. The whole situation just made Jared bug out because Ned’s been one of his best friends on the street, and was even a groomsman at his wedding. He saw it as a betrayal of the friendship but he finally took a breath and agreed to let the two explore whatever it is they have going.
Meanwhile, Emily also had the issue of Ashlynn to deal with, putting her personal feelings aside and paying a visit to the TV station to apologize for what happened after the Halloween event, concerned that it was her family and neighbors that drove Ashlynn’s family away. Ashlynn does not confirm or deny if that was why they moved, but she is called to the studio before they can talk more, and Emily returns home hoping that she was able to fix things as Ashlynn has agreed to return on Halloween to report on the festivities. Emily has also been surprised by how quickly Jared embraced the Halloween spirit, but he is apparently the type of person who can show disdain for something one day and then be fully immersed in it the next. He is totally into Halloween now but instead of doing a couple’s costume — they are supposed to do the Phantom of the Opera together — he wants to do something of his own, which Emily is surprised by but is okay with. The big night arrives, but the neighbors are still fearful that Ashlynn will sabotage everything. Neighbors Mary Louise and Bob kick off the costume contest with ‘The Frankenstein Rap’, dressed as the Monster and his Bride, and Emily is a witch (Ashlynn shows up as Glinda so they give off a sort of Wicked vibe, although Emily is not green). Jared debuts his costume but it turns out it’s not what he wanted after all, and surprised Emily with their own couples costumes which represent an iconic moment in American history. And it turns out Ashlynn has been won over by the neighbors and has been posting on her social media account about the event, so they better be prepared for a flood of people. In the end, Halloween was a hit, they raised double what their Christmas event brought in last year and all was well with the world — and it all seemed to make Grammy’s spirit happy because that pesky portrait of hers that kept going crooked finally righted itself.
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If you haven’t followed the previous Haul Out the Holly films, there’s no need to worry about being lost with Haul Out the Halloween. Yes, the neighbors are all well-established by this point, but somehow the story manages to make newbie viewers feel like they already know them. Every one of them feels familiar and the actors do a great job of bringing them all to life. The screenplay is also filled with wacky humor, not something we often get from Hallmark movies outside of Halloween (last year’s Haunted Wedding was also different as it actually embraced the supernatural and added a lot of humor), and really funny one-liners for pop culture fans to pick up on, like the time Emily gets frustrated with Jared and says, ‘You’re killing me, Smalls.’ That Wizard of Oz moment is done perfectly, thanks to the brilliant staging by director Maclain Nelson, and Peterman’s character also has another funny visual reference to The Shining. The whole movie has a very light-hearted tone, and it’s not saddled with having to get the two protagonists into a relationship before the credits roll. The only budding romance here is between Belinda and Ned, and while it is a key side plot to the story, it’s not the major factor so that make the movie a bit of a breath of fresh air.
The cast all do outstanding work delivering the comedy and the warmth, really making the viewers feel that they are neighbors who all love and respect one another. There’s not much one can say about Hallmark veterans Chabert and Brown. They work together effortlessly, making their on-screen relationship feel real, with Emily the more level-headed of the two, while Brown gets to go completely over-the-top with his comedy. They are truly the anchors of the story, and the neighborhood. Peterman is just a comedy genius with her line delivery, facial expressions and physical humor, a real modern-day Lucille Ball. She is a hoot every second she is on screen, and you actually begin to miss her when she isn’t.
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Stephen Tobolowsky is a seasoned comedy professional and he can play the role of Ned in his sleep. He’s got such great comic timing and line delivery that you have to wonder if he isn’t just playing himself at this point because he just fits into this role with such ease. If you are familiar at all with Tobolowsky, you pretty much know what to expect from him and he does not disappoint. Some may feel that he just plays the same type of character in everything … but even if that’s true, it doesn’t matter. He’s a complete joy and elicits a lot of the biggest laughs from the viewers even with the simplest of words or gestures. Laure Wardle as Belinda doesn’t get a lot to do, but her little interactions with Ned and her big scene with Jared are all handled very well. Ellen Travolta and Walter Platz are extremely funny as senior neighbors Mary Louise and Bob, the long-time married couple who love to bicker but still clearly love each other, and their rap number is one for the books. Newcomers to the franchise Kimberly J. Brown and Daniel Kountz are perfect as Goth-adjacent couple Luna and Marvin, and the movie gets a lot of mileage out of their last name, Balmer and Marvin’s first initial (think about it). They are totally into Halloween and Shakespeare, which also helps them connect with Ned. They help bring the excitement for Halloween to the neighborhood and they are both a lot of fun, so it will be nice if they can stick around should there be another Christmas movie on Evergreen Lane. Ashley Whelan also does a good job as the story’s villain Ashlynn, giving her a bit of a ‘mean girl’ persona, keeping us wondering how she will report on Halloween night, but ultimately showing that perhaps she herself was just feeling a bit hurt after the scare that drove her family away. Just really nice work from everyone which definitely makes you want to live on Evergreen Lane with them.
All in all, Haul Out the Halloween forgoes the overt romanticism of usual Hallmark movies, piling on the laughs, subtle and broad, with enough pop culture references to keep any trivia buff entertained, and in the end it even manages to warm your heart right in the middle of Spooky Season. This one is a real treat.
Haul Out the Halloween has a run time of 1 hour 23 minutes, and is rated TV-G. The film is streaming on Hallmark+.
Preview – Haul Out the Halloween
Hallmark Channel