Day 21: This our Town of Halloween …no the other one
October 21, 2022
Dear Disney,
No 31 Days of Disney Halloween can be complete without the Halloweentown series, and today, for the 21st day of Halloween we will be starting the Halloweentown original, Halloweentown.
Halloweentown was one of Darling’s movies growing up that she remembers, but for me, I never saw it. Halloweentown was a 1998 Disney Channel original, the fourth Disney Channel Original movie, starring Debbie Reynolds, Kimberly J. Brown, Joey Zimmerman, and Judith Hoag. The story, at its core, is about family, mother/daughter relationships, and accepting oneself. There are four Halloweentown’s in all, so we will cover some of the more obscure things in other articles, but for today, we will focus on the first.
The story starts with an argument between Marnie, played by Kimberly J. Brown, and her mom Gwen, played by Judith Hoag. Marnie wanted to take her younger sister and herself out trick-or-treating, but her Mom forbade it. In comes Gwen’s mom, Grandma Aggie, played by Debbie Reynolds. Aggie and Gwen fight. Aggie wants to train Marnie as a witch, but Gwen does not. Before Aggie leaves, she reads the kids a story about “Halloweentown”. Aggie asks Gwen for help as citizens of Halloweentown are disappearing. Gwen does not help. As Aggie leaves, Marnie and her brother follow her out and into a bus driven by a Skeleton. The bus takes them to Halloweentown. Instead of sending the kids back, Aggie shows them around. After showing the kids around and explaining what is happening to the people of Halloweentown, Aggie tries to make a spell of protection, but fails. The three of them head back to downtown Halloweentown, where Aggie is captured by a hooded figure. The kids escape, they go back to Aggie’s house and collect all the needed ingredients for the protection spell. They make the spell, a talisman, and bring it to the towns Jack-o-lantern, where they are confronted by the hooded figure, who turns out to be Kalabar. Kalabar is defeated and everyone is returned to Halloweentown. Aggie brings the kids home to Gwen. Aggie decides to stay and be with her grandchildren and Gwen decides to teach Marnie how to be a witch.
The town of Halloweentown was filmed in St. Helens, Oregon. St. Helens has embraced the concept of Halloweentown and every year decorates the town to look like the movie. If you have the chance, you should come and see it.
There is so much more interesting facts to talk about, but we will leave that till tomorrow.
Sincerely,
Jim Dear and Darling
