“A Tale of Two Witches” is a weird special in that it involves Mickey telling the story that becomes the center of the entire short. There’s no reason why we have to keep jumping back and forth from Mickey telling Pluto the story, and getting to the story. I don’t know why this couldn’t have been just a stand alone Halloween tale. In either case, “A Tale of Two Witches” is a fun and simple Halloween special that has a good time celebrating the holiday.
Tag Archives: Fantasy
Muppets Haunted Mansion (2021)
I’m quite surprised that the Muppets have never really been about Halloween in all their time on screen. They’ve mostly been about Christmas and Thanksgiving which is a shame, because they’re fitted well for the holiday. I’d love it if the Henson company allowed for yearly Halloween specials, but at this point it’s probably wishful thinking. Nonetheless, “Muppets Haunted Mansion” does a good job mixing the Disney attraction with the Muppets.
Spirit Halloween: The Movie (2022)
It truly pains me to see that “Spirit Halloween: The Movie” is a genuinely terrible movie, in spite of its best intentions. I love “Spirit Halloween,” I love the whole spirit of their stores, and their charity work, but “The Movie” is a misfire on all cylinders. It’s a boring, poorly concocted adventure film that, shocking enough, doesn’t know how to utilize the Spirit Halloween setting all that well at all. The best way to describe “Spirit Halloween: The Movie” is that, at best, it feels like mid-tier straight to video fodder from Charles Band circa 1994. Even the script feels retro-fitted from probably a screenplay that was finished in the late 90’s.
Le espera (The Wait) (2023) [Fantastic Fest 2023]
The Spine of Night (2021)
What I loved about “The Spine of Night” is that directors Philip Gelatt, and Morgan Galen King don’t shy away from the fact that their movie is meant to be a modern “Heavy Metal.” It’s an unabashed celebration of Ralph Bakshi, Frank Frazetta, steam punk, and heavy metal right down to the rotoscoping animation that is used to bring the film’s vision to life. The animation is right on par with what you’d expect from the master Ralph Bakshi but I was happy that the pair of directors who write the film kept true to the story that they were telling through the very end.
The Adventures of the Scrabble People in A Pumpkin Full of Nonsense (1985)
Also known as “A Pumpkin Full of Nonsense,” this animated short from the eighties is probably one of the more bizarre product tie ins I’ve ever seen. While it’s traditionally known as a Halloween special, the idea of Halloween is only minimal in what is a more unusual fantasy adventure. The entire narrative lives and breathes by the implementation of the trademark letter tiles, in so many unusual and baffling ways.
The Five Scariest Studio Ghibli Monsters
Founded in 1985, Studio Ghibli has managed to give us some of the most fantastic, scariest, and emotional animated movies ever made. Along the way with masters like Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, we’ve always been introduced to some truly heinous beasts and entities that have either passed through these worlds or met the heroes of these respective films. Among the myriad, these are five of, what I deem, the Scariest Studio Ghibli Monsters.