Directed by Jeff Wadlow, written by Todd Berger and Robert Rugan, and grounded on a story by John R. Morey and Todd Berger, “ The Curse of Bridge Hollow ” follows Howard Gordon( Marlon Wayans), his woman Emily( Kelly Rowland), and their daughter Sydney( Priah Ferguson) as they move from Brooklyn into a city called Bridge Hollow. And since they're moving in on Halloween, the city is decked to the teeth with all kinds of horror-themed decorations and paraphernalia. Now, Howard hates Halloween, Sydney is angry about leaving Brooklyn, and it seems that Emily is the only bone who's kindly positive about the shift. There’s some bad blood between Howard and Sydney as well, as she doesn’t want to come to the person her father wants her to be. But when the spirit of Stingy Jack descends upon the city to hang it, they're forced to work through their differences and defeat this instantiation of wrong.
Major Spoilers Ahead
What’s Up With All The Signs For Stingy Jack?
When Mayor Tammy( Lauren Lapkus) runs into the Gordons, Emily asks her about the city’s preoccupation with Stingy Jack. So, she explains – with some visual aid handed by her intricately designed sweater – that, according to an Irish legend, an evil person called Stingy Jack was hanged to death by the residers of Bridge Hollow. But the Devil felt sorry for Jack and gave him a pumpkin lantern in which the dears were made of the fires of hell. And every Halloween, Jack returns to Bridge Hollow to seek revenge on the descendants of the villagers who wronged him. Why should that concern the Gordons? Well, while visiting the Bridge Hollow cemetery, Sydney comes across three kiddies Mario( Myles Vincent Perez) Ramona( Abi Monterey), and Jamie( HollyJ. Barrett). They say that the Gordons have moved into the house of Madam Hawthorne, i.e., the spiritualist who subdued Stingy Jack.
This piece of information piques Sydney’s interest, and, assuming that the spirit of Madam Hawthorne lives in her house, she uses the Ouija board app to communicate with her. Some unknown reality leads her to a box with a lantern in it that’s shaped like a pumpkin head. While having a tiff with her dad over leaving the wisdom platoon, Sydney lights the lantern, thereby awakening the spirit of Stingy Jack and allowing his magic to spread to all the insensible Halloween decorations and bring them to life. Sydney wants to follow what all this spooky exertion is erecting up to, while Howard is inclined to rubbish it as practical magic tricks being supplicated by the people of the city. In doing so, the main conflict of “ The Curse of Bridge Hollow ” is established as a believer versus an anon-believer in the supernatural. And the conflict that runs resemblant to it's Sydney wanting to be her person while Howard wants her to come to the person he couldn’t.
Madam Hawthorne’s Spell Is The Only Thing That Can Stop Stingy Jack.
To learn further about Hawthorne and the curse on Bridge Hollow, Sydney and Howard head to the Shady Appletree Retirement Home, which is where Madam Hawthorne’s granddaughter, Victoria( Helen Slayton- Hughes), resides. And the first thing that Victoria says is that that lantern isn’t a pumpkin but a turnip. When Sydney asks her to tell them further about it, she says that a long time agone, on a dark and stormy night, mystics from all around the world came to that house to meet Josephine Hawthorne. They used her grimoire( a book of spells) to supplicate the spirit of Stingy Jack and put an end to his monthly, violent visits to Bridge Hollow. still, Jack had other plans. He wanted every night to be Halloween, and he could achieve that by replacing his soul in the “ ever after ” with someone different Jack wanted Jospehine’s soul for that. But since she trapped him in his lantern, his plan failed. Now he has an alternate chance to plunge Bridge Hollow into eternal Halloween because his lantern has been lit again.
So, to beat Stingy Jack again, Sydney and Howard do find Hawthorne’s grimoire, utter the spell, and trap Jack’s spirit back in his lantern. They're forced to take a veritably sophisticated but action-packed route – filled with some brilliant use of SFX, VFX, and stunt work – to star Floyd( John Michael Higgins), who's the current proprietor of the grimoire and lives on Elm Street. Yes, “ The Curse of Bridge Hollow ” has nods to “ The Walking Dead, ” “ Nightmare on Elm Street, ” “ Killer zanies From Space, ” “ Army of Darkness, ” “ Enter the Dragon ” and more. But it’s done veritably adeptly, and the movie doesn’t dwell on it for tooling. However, good for you, If you can catch the reference. However, the movie keeps moving on, If you can’t. Coming back to the narrative, Howard and the kiddies do find Hawthorne’s grimoire in Floyd’s house. But when they're attacked by the football-themed configurations outdoors, the runner of the book with the spell in it gets burned, thereby forcing them to go to Hawthorne’s grave to awaken her spirit and request her to repeat the spell for them.
‘ The Curse Of Bridge Hollow ’ Ending Explained How Do Howard And Sydney Beat Stingy Jack?
While Howard and the kiddies prize the spell from Hawthorne, the animated Halloween decorations head to the city fair to breathe life into the statue of Stingy Jack. Howard and Sydney figure out that Jack is now going to reunite with his lantern and also shoot a soul to the afterlife so that he can begin his reign over Bridge Hollow. Since the lantern is at the Gordon/ Hawthorne ménage, where Emily is by herself and ignorant of anything that’s going on, Howard and Sydney realize that she’s going to come Jack’s victim. So, they take the Mayor’s jack- o- lantern- themed auto( since she and the rest of the residents are busy fighting the animated decorations) and rush to Emily’s deliverance. And just when Jack is about to throw Emily into the void, Howard utters the spell with all the conviction he can muster and puts an end to this spooky agony. The film concludes with Howard and Sydney locking up Jack’s lantern for good, only to find the garret jam-packed with several other trunks that are presumably full of Hawthorne’s secrets.
Howard and Sydney’s battle against Stingy Jack can simply be seen as a fight between good and evil and how good will always overpower wrong at the end of the day. But it’s also about outlanders coming into a city with ancient customs and incontinently breaking them because they're ignorant of that action’s impacts. While a horror movie like “ Midsommar ” severely punishes its protagonists for doing the same thing, “ The Curse of Bridge Hollow ” lets its protagonists right their wrongs because it wants to give people a sprat-friendly experience. However, it would’ve had a lot of literal connotations about race and generational trauma, If this was a serious movie about a Black family inheriting the secrets of a White psychic( who has an estranged granddaughter). perhaps it's in this film’s DNA. still, since it’s enough to light on its subject matter, that interpretation can be limited to a family being swindled into buying a house that’s cheap because of its haunted history. And last but not least, it’s about a loyal supporter of data and wisdom being forced to question his reality by the supernatural.
I don’t suppose “ The Curse of Bridge Hollow ” does a brilliant job of dealing with the themes that are veritably obviously there in its script. Jack’s choice of the victim seems veritably weird since Emily had little to nothing to do with the lantern. Sydney would’ve been the more egregious choice because she’s the one who lit it. Also, Emily’s career shift from a lawyer to a vegan chef doesn’t sit right with me. It feels like there’s a commentary about the city’s fairness from ultramodern civilization leading to their rise in supernatural beliefs and petty feuds with the neighboring city, which inadvertently energies the supernatural. But all that's mentioned or observed in end. And, of course, Howard’s conversion from anon-believer to a believer looks way too “ simple ” because the narrative is outfitted to overweigh the data with fabrication. But, despite all these issues, the film is veritably pleasurable. It boasts some of the most amazing special goods, visual goods, trick work, action direction, and acting I’ve seen in a horror-comedy in a long time. Marlon Wayans and Priah Ferguson are having a blast. For me, that’s reason enough to give this Netflix film a watch.
“ The Curse of Bridge Hollow ” is a 2022 Drama Comedy film directed by Jeff Wadlow.