Haul Out The Halloween: A Valiant Attempt At Expanding The Holiday Universe

Evergreen Lane is the most festive block in the world and normally, I would be down for that. The first two movies in the franchise had me laughing so hard that it hurt. My stomach muscles worked so hard for those two movies, that in my mind I felt like I had to have six pack abs developing. Haul Out the Holly is a great franchise and the attempt to add another holiday worth celebrating onto it felt as though it was going to be good. Unfortunately Haul Out The Halloween was a valiant effort, but a miss.

When you have an all star cast – Lacey Chabert, Wes Brown, Melissa Peterman just to name a few – anyone would go into a movie with expectations. Even if you try to lower that expectation, it still remains. The press surrounding this movie also encouraged the expectation of how good it was going to be. Billed over and over again as a reunion – Daniel Kountz and Kimberly J. Brown reuniting with Lacey Chabert.

But, that being said, the reunion meant little to nothing to me. If anything I wished that they never would have mentioned it, because then I would not have cared about the lack luster reunion. I would have focused on other things. Instead I was sitting with the television on and doom scrolling, hoping that something would draw me in.

Unfortunately it didn’t.

When the new people on the block decorate their home for Halloween, it gives a tightly wound Jared – excitement. Pull out that clipboard, write those tickets, and tell people what to do. The HOA is going to make its suggestions and it will be up to the culdesac what rules that they follow. Just keep in mind that here – everything happens for a reason and sometime that reasoning makes absolutely no sense.

Like none.

Evergreen Lane embraces Christmas. From the beginning of this movie, it felt weird and all I could think was that we are cheating on Christmas. It felt like a big ol’ slap in the face and having to do the “its not you, its me” talk.

It turns out that the lane focuses on Christmas because of Emily. Her parents had made sure that the lane wouldn’t focus on any other holiday because of her. Halloween, fear of so many things, he relationship with her Grandma – it all addresses Emilys feelings.

And though Emily has a deep connection with the lane, I am having a hard time understanding why in this block they would give up the chance to decorate. I swear that they keep the decorations store turning a profit. They will protect their own, yes. However, this lasting so long – the one holiday thing – threw me off as it didn’t seem plausible to me.

While the whole Halloween story line did nothing for me, what did make a difference was the way that relationships were changing and growing. What I do know is that the characters in this franchise are what kept it alive and people watching.

While I did love that we opened with Jared and Emily’s wedding. So many times we need to wait until the middle of a movie or the end to see happily ever after. What I didn’t like was Jared being so weird over his Mom dating and finding happiness again. He’s a grown man and he should be supportive of his Mom being happy. And being happy with someone he trusts – Ned.

I guess that what it is telling me is that it doesn’t matter how old a guy gets – they are going to want to protect their Mama’s.

There was no part of me that didn’t love the characters in this movie. Was it all over the place? A little. But you will never not see me laughing when it comes to a cast that stars Lacey Chabert, Wes Brown, Melissa Peterson, and Stephen Tobolowsky. The cast of characters on Evergreen Lane are fun, relatable, and are so unique.

I didn’t think that it needed the hype of a Halloween reunion because the guest stars didn’t really didn’t change the story for me. They seemed there for the impact, but when it’s the cast the has been in the rest of the franchise that carry the story.

Do I hope that the franchise does other holidays? Absolutely. Give me Valentines Day, the 4th of July – I want it all. But I do hope that they remain with the cast that is there. The franchise doesn’t need any big tricks. It just needs the solid cast that it has.