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This year, the Disney Channel Original movie Halloweentown celebrates its 20th anniversary. The 1998 film starred Legendary and late actress Debbie Reynolds alongside Judith Hoag, Kimberly J. Brown, Joey Zimmerman, Emily Roeske, Philip Van Dyke&Robin Thomas. The first film would go on to spawn three more sequels, but we try to ignore the fourth one for certain reasons. What are those reasons you ask? Don’t worry we’ll get to it below.
To celebrate the milestone, the original cast all reunited last week in St. Helens, Oregon where the original film was shot for their annual “Spirit of Halloweentown” event. The city of St. Helens recreates Halloweentown every year for locals and visitors who travel to visit Oregon to experience the magic. And here at ONTD, I will rank all the films from worst to best. Are you ready? Trapa!
4. “Return to Halloweentown (2006)”
Alright, let’s get this blasphemy out of the way. So why do we try and forget this entry into the franchise? Well, not only was the original Marnie replaced with a new actress but unfortunately this film barely featured Debbie Reynolds. She only appeared for a short moment in a hologram scene. The concept of Marnie returning to Halloweentown to attend Witch U wasn’t entirely terrible, but the unnecessary replacement of Kimberly J. Brown with Sara Paxton leaves a bad taste in my mouth all these years later.
For years we were left to wonder if the original actress simply was not available (she was filming Big Bad Wolf around the time production for Return to Halloweentown was slated to start), but then in 2015 Kimberly herself confirmed in an interview that she was fully available and wanted to return. Till this day she doesn’t know why Disney didn’t ask her back for this fourth installment. Keep it, Disney!
3. “Halloweentown High (2004)”
In the third installment, Marnie organizes a student exchange program between Halloweentown High and her High School in the mortal realm. A werewolf, troll, witch, gremlin, and an ogre are all given human appearances with magic so they can blend in with human students at the High School in the mortal world. However, there is an evil presence lurking looking to sabotage the whole program. An evil knight of sorts. An enjoyable film, but the lack of the actual Halloweentown gives this film the third spot on this list.
Fun Fact: American Horror Story’s Finn Wittrock appears as Cody, Marnie’s love interest from High School. I knew he looked vaguely familiar.
2. “Halloweentown (1998)”
*gasp* The original Halloweentown at number 2? I know. As much as I enjoy the first, it ties or is just barely surpassed by the sequel. Insert the toyou.gif here. In the original, Marnie’s grandmother Aggie visits Marnie when she turns 13. She and her siblings then find out that they are all powerful Cromwell witches and warlocks in another realm in Halloweentown. The family shortly afterwards go to the other realm to help Aggie Cromwell find out why the residents of the town are disappearing — only to discover it is the mayor of the town, Kalabar, behind it all.
1. “Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge (2001)”
The sequel starts off with a Halloween party in the Cromwell house that the whole neighborhood is invited to. New neighbors Kal and his father introduce themselves to Marnie and her mother during the festivities. Marnie develops a crush on Kal after she gives him a tour of her home and he gives her a rose. Soon after, Aggie Cromwell notices something is very wrong in the other realm: everyone in Halloweentown is turning grey and into boring humans. Who is behind it? Kal, son of Kalabar from the first film. How completely unexpected.
Fun Fact: Kimberly J. Brown (Marnie) and Daniel Kountz (Kal) are dating in real life and have been for a few years now.
So, what are the odds of a future fifth installment? It’s entirely possible. In a recent interview, the cast reveal they are totally down.
Kimberly J. Brown:“I’m open to anything, and I’m so humbled that people want to see more and still want to talk about it.”
Joey Zimmerman:“Let’s absolutely do it again. I’ll do it, we need everyone to get on board. Yes, please, let’s do it!”
Judith Hoag:“I think that there is more story in these stories. I think it would shift to now the Marnie character and she's the mom and it's her kids. And I think there's still more that can be mined in Halloweentown. Kimberly should be back, because we need our Kimberly back.”
Dedicated to Mary Frances "Debbie" Reynolds
(April 1, 1932 – December 28, 2016)
Sources: Me | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8