The Curse of Bridge Hollow Parent Guide

Sydney (Priah Ferguson) is convinced she’s suffering the worst tragedy imaginable to a 14-year-old: her parents have decided to move from Brooklyn to a sleepy little town in the middle of nowhere. Bridge Hollow, the place in question, has been officially named the safest small town in the country, so Sydney anticipates years of deathly boredom ahead. As they drive up to the house, however, Sydney notices that the neighbors have gone overboard with the Halloween decorations – way overboard. Hordes of zombies, witches, werewolves, spiders, and skeletons densely populate every front yard in town – a local tradition, Sydney’s family is told. Her father, Howard (Marlon Wayans), is staunchly opposed to the Halloween spirit, and indeed, anything supernatural at all. But he’s going to have to start believing in ghost stories soon, because something spooky is happening in Bridge Hollow. When the Halloween decorations start coming to life, they’re not just trick-or-treating….

Do you have nostalgic memories about the deeply stupid Disney Channel Halloween specials of the late nineties? Those mindless, schlocky, poorly written and dreadfully acted 90-minute commercials for Halloween decorations? Because if you do, then you’re going to have at least a little bit of fun with this movie. The Curse of Bridge Hollow faithfully follows the same formula, down to the horrendous script and acting so wooden you could build a bridge out of it.

Now, I like bad Halloween movies. I can’t help it. But I should warn you that, even by my admittedly low standards for spooky entertainment, this movie can be very annoying. Howard, in particular, is an infuriating character to put up with, so if you’re planning to enjoy this movie, I’d bring something else to do while he’s on screen – but that only applies to adult audiences. I’m sure kids, who are the target audience of this bit of pulp, won’t even notice.

This leads me to the content issues with the film. Netflix has inexplicably rated The Curse of Bridge Hollow TV-14, but there isn’t much negative content here. (Perhaps Netflix hopes that the rating will make tweens feel transgressive if they watch it?) The biggest surprise is the use of three scatological curses in the script, but that’s really the only issue of concern. Even the scary parts aren’t particularly scary. Most of them happen in brightly lit homes and see the characters beating up on plastic villains you could buy at your local Walmart. As far as seasonal entertainment goes, this is a lot like those little jack-o-lantern cookies you see in plastic containers at the bakery: dry, over-decorated, and just sweet enough to be edible. But kids don’t seem to care and beg for a box every year.