When it comes to producing family-friendly Halloween-themed movies, I think we can all agree that Disney is king, with beloved favorites like “Hocus Pocus,” “Halloweentown,” and “Bedknobs.” and Broomsticks” to his credit. But now Netflix has thrown its hat in the ring with the recent release of “The Curse of Bridge Hollow.” The sweet story stars Marlon Wayans as pragmatic, Halloween-hating science teacher Howard Gordon, who moves his wife, Emily (Kelly Rowland), and daughter, Sydney (Priah Ferguson), from an apartment in Brooklyn. to a spacious old house in Bridge Hollow, a fictional suburb that Howard says “smells like apples and a hint of white privilege” and “has been named the safest small town in the United States for the past ten consecutive years “.
As the family soon discovers, the town is also obsessed with Halloween, much to Gordon’s chagrin, with locals reveling in the legend of miserly jack, a local villain hanged centuries ago for his evil deeds, who would come back to life every Halloween to wreak havoc until he was finally banished to hell by Madam Hawthorne (Nia Vardalos), “one preeminent spirit mediums of the 20th century.” Shortly after moving into their new dig, Sydney rekindles the curse by inadvertently conjuring up Jack’s evil spirit. He, in turn, brings Bridge Hollow’s many Halloween decorations to life, and the town is soon plagued by wandering plastic skeletons, giant synthetic spiders, and sadistic clowns filled with stuffed animals. It’s up to Sydney and her father to save their new community and end Stingy Jack’s reign once and for all.
To create the film’s idyllic small-town setting, director Jeff Wadlow and production designer Michael Perry turned to Georgia, primarily using Monticello, a scenic town about 60 miles southeast of Atlanta, for replace Bridge Hollow. The enclave’s charming downtown area, with its brick buildings and leafy central plaza, plays the starring role in several scenes, including those involving the Stingy Jack Festival. Fun fact – downtown Monticello also appears as the rural Alabama town where Bill Gambini (Ralph Macchio) and Stan Rothenstein (Mitchell Whitfield) stand trial for murder in the 1992 comedy “My Cousin Vinny.”
A handful of spots in Atlanta were also used to complement the on-screen borough. The graveyard scenes, where Sydney first meets the Bridge Hollow High Paranormal Society and where she and Howard later seek Madam Hawthorne’s help, were captured at Greenwood Cemetery in West Atlanta.
Comments are closed.