31 Days of Halloween: Haul Out the Halloween

2025, Maclain Nelson (Christmas in Vienna) -- download

In the same vein as the last movie (fits in because its set during Halloween), and yes, this is a Hallmarkie set at Halloween, and apparently one of a few in a "Haul Out the..." series. I learned one thing in watching this movie, in that if I am not watching a Hallmarkie with at least the thinnest hint of "the formula" then... well, I am not interested -- and they don't have to be just Xmas; I rather enjoyed a "harvest fest" a few years ago. This Hallmarkie came more by way of a terrible Disney Channel sitcom than a "proper" Hallmarkie, and yes, I said that -- "proper". But it was about decorating for Halloween, so at least that can be fun, huh?

Nuh uh.

So, it starts with Emily Melrose (Lacey Chabert, The Christmas Waltz) getting married to Jared Farnsworth (Wes Brown, My Southern Family Christmas). Sorry, it starts with a flyover of a Picturesque Small Town with snow capped mountains in the background, and some dialogue about Evergreen Lane. No, not Evergreen, the perpetual Xmas village of other Hallmarkies, nor Evergreen of Peacemaker but just some town with a cul-de-sac called Evergreen Lane. It is Autumn and the town is aflame in colours.

So yeah the main characters are getting married. I guess there were escapades in previous movies that have brought us to this moment, and we are supposed to recognize most of the supporting wedding cast. The wedding is typical Hallmarkie sweet but almost immediately the movie jumps into the plot -- new neighbours have moved in and they are a little over-the-top when it comes to decorating for Halloween. As in Violating the HOA Charter over-the-top. 

Yes, this is a movie about overbearing HOA members, and wherein most movies have the HOA as an unstoppable force of Evil, this one has them as the main characters. It says something about the current American value system that the Main Characters are all members of a horrible political system. Anywayz, it seems Halloween Decorating was not outright banned on Evergreen Lane but expected to be very toned down because of The Incident. What Incident, you ask? Well apparently Emily got jump scared when she was 10, so for the last 30 years... seriously, WTF? A kid gets scared at Halloween and they basically ban the event for THIRTY YEARS?!?! Pay no mind, obviously they repeal that or we wouldn't have the movie but... ?!?!?!

The rest of the movie is about the lead up to decorating, some internal squabbling with the neighbours and families, and complications with the local news reporter. I guess they assume that since these aspects are typical plot points in other Hallmarkies, just lumping them together in this movie as connectors between the plot and all the other sitcom-y shenanigans will satisfy viewers? I won't comment on what truly typical Hallmarkie viewers think of this mash-up but it is not for me. There was some fun spins on the Baking Competition and the Holiday Sweater (set decorators had fun, plot basically ignored the element) but for the most part the movie focused on the shenanigans. And the actual Halloween night event is... toned down? One thing I love about the Xmas Hallmarkies is how utterly over-the-top they go in decorating their Xmas Villages or Squares, but here it was only one notch up from Spirit Halloween. In fact, I am pretty sure they shot in one of its stores. 

This was a Hallmarkie that was boring, stupid, celebrated terrible people and barely enjoyed the thrill of the season, and worst of all, the Main Characters had zero chemistry or charm.

Speaking of terrible, while trying to find a poster for this post, I ran into at least two different AI generated posters, which were created for AI generated posts meaning to lead people to malware and scammy stuff. The posters were decently done, but not this movie and the movie they described were not even this movie, but something entirely fabricated. I even ran into one that generated a terrible AI version of a poster for this actual movie, but still... so so wrong. Its amazing how quickly the Use AI for Evil has gotten out of hand.