Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge

Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge is a 2001 American fantasy comedy film released as a Disney Channel Original Movie for the Halloween season. It is the second installment in the Halloweentown series. Set two years after the first film, Marnie returns to find Halloweentown's citizens transformed into dull, black-and-white humans. With the help of her friend Luke and Grandma Aggie, she seeks to uncover and reverse the “Grey Spell” before it's too late.

Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge
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Based on	Characters by Paul Bernbaum and Jon Cooksey & Ali Matheson
Written by	Jon Cooksey Ali Matheson
Directed by	Mary Lambert
Starring	Debbie Reynolds Kimberly J. Brown Judith Hoag Daniel Kountz Joey Zimmerman Phillip Van Dyke Emily Roeske
Theme music composer	Mark Mothersbaugh
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Producer	Peter Lhotka
Cinematography	Tony Westman
Editor	Sharon L. Ross
Running time	80 minutes
Production company	Just Singer Entertainment
Original release
Network	Disney Channel
Release	October 12, 2001 (2001-10-12)

Plot

Marnie has just spent two years with her grandmother Aggie. While hosting a mortal neighborhood Halloween party at their house, Marnie tries to win over a cute new boy, Kal, by showing him Aggie's magically-hidden room with a spellbook in it. Soon Aggie notices unwelcome magical symptoms. She and Marnie travel to Halloweentown to investigate and to fix the problem before the portal between Halloweentown and the mortal world, open only on Halloween, closes at midnight.

They discover that the whole town has been turned into a black-and-white world, and that the inhabitants have been turned into dreary, discolored, monotonous humans. The victims include Marnie's goblin friend Luke. Aggie diagnoses this as the "Grey Spell". Aggie contacts her grandson Dylan back home for a spell from her spell book. Dylan and Sophie discover the book is missing. Marnie and Aggie learn that Kal is actually a warlock and the son of their enemy Kalabar (from the previous film). They learn that Kal stole Aggie's spell book to limit her ability to hinder his attempt to complete his father's revenge both on Halloweentown and on the mortal world. Aggie searches for a spare copy of her spell book at her house in Halloweentown, but it is missing and she despairs. During a conversation with Aggie, Marnie inadvertently reverts Luke back to his goblin form. Unable to explain the spell's reversal, the group soon believes that it is temporary.

The trio travel to the lair of the well-known junk-magnet of the universe, Gort, who acquires lost items from both realms. He had been discolored by the Grey Spell and sold most of his junk. The group becomes trapped in Gort's house. Aggie loses her color as well and sorts through missing socks with Gort. Marnie uses time travel to go back to Gort's house before the Grey Spell happened. When Marnie and Luke arrive, they learn that Gort had sold the spare spell book to Kalabar about 50 years prior. By remembering what things Marnie had been hastefully saying back when Luke returned to his normal goblin form, they realize that the Grey Spell can be reverted by saying "Trapa", which is "Apart" spelled backwards.

Kal, having enspelled Halloweentown into a monochrome caricature of the mortal world, is now at work enspelling the mortal world into a monster movie caricature of Halloweentown. Sophie and Dylan realize that Alex, believed to be Kal's father, is actually a golem intended to distract their mother Gwen at a high-school Halloween party. Kal puts his spell into effect, turning the party guests into the monsters they are dressed as, resulting in chaos. Dylan and Sophie hide from the monster humans including their mother.

Marnie frees Aggie, but they are too late - the portal to the mortal world closes, trapping them in Halloweentown. Marnie refuses to accept they are locked in. She contacts her siblings and they develop a new spell that forces the portal between Halloweentown and the mortal world to reopen permanently. Kal angrily confronts Marnie, who mocks him and demands the spell book. Kal produces slimy living-serpent vines of dark magic and uses them to take both spell books in an attempt to prove his own superiority, which fails when Marnie takes them from him. Kal is sent away by the vines and the family breaks his spells in the mortal world and in Halloweentown.

Cast

• Kimberly J. Brown as Marnie Piper, a 15-year-old witch who goes on a journey to undo Halloweentown's gray spell.
• Debbie Reynolds as Agatha "Aggie" Cromwell, the grandmother of Marnie, Dylan, and Sophie, and mother of Gwen. She is a witch.
• Judith Hoag as Gwen Piper, the mother of Marnie, Dylan, and Sophie.
• Joey Zimmerman as Dylan Piper, the 14-year-old brother of Marnie and Sophie.
• Emily Roeske as Sophie Piper, the 9-year-old sister of Marnie and Dylan.
• Phillip Van Dyke as Luke, the goblin. He helps Marnie on her journey.
• Daniel Kountz as Kal, the Son of Kalabar.
• Xantha Radley as Astrid, an elf.
• Peter Wingfield as Alex, a golem that Kal made of frogs.
• Blu Mankuma as Gort, the garbage collector.
• Richard Side as Benny, the skeleton taxi driver. He was previously voiced by Rino Romano in the first film.
• Jessica Lucas as Cindy, Marnie's friend who dresses as a vampire for Halloween.

Production

Casting

In a 2020 Galaxy Con Q&A panel, Daniel Kountz revealed he had four or five auditions for the film.

Release

Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge premiered on Disney Channel on October 12, 2001. It was made available to stream on Disney+. The film also aired on Freeform in October 2023. In 2018, Disney made the movie available for streaming on Disney Channel's YouTube channel through a live broadcast.

Reception

Critical response

Andy Herrera of Complex described Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge as a darker and more intense sequel to the first film, saying it bears similarities to an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer where characters become their Halloween costumes. They highlighted that while the sequel maintains the appeal of returning to Halloweentown, it represents the best installment among the Halloweentown sequels, noting improvements such as slightly enhanced special effects, including time travel sequences. Herrera also found the movie to be creepier and more serious compared to its predecessor. Rebecca Alter of Vulture stated that Halloweentown II surpasses its predecessor in quality. They described the sequel as featuring a more compelling narrative, and noted that the plot parallels a Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode where characters transform into their Halloween costumes, finding that it heightens the stakes and enhances the sense of menace with the character of Kalabar. Furthermore, also praised the movie for expanding the franchise's universe and lore, saying it provides tween viewers with an engaging storyline.

Chelsea Candelario of PureWow took notice of the anticipation surrounding the sequel, noting the original Halloweentown's considerable success and affirming that the sequel lived up to the expectations. Candelario suggested that the film might even be better than its predecessor, highlighting its engaging plot with unexpected twists, new antagonists, and memorable moments that continue to resonate with fans. Ellen Dendy of Common Sense Media gave Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge a score of three out of five stars and noted that it creates some suspense as the protagonist races against time to save her friends and family from the antagonist's spell, asserting that it may be slightly tense for younger viewers. However, Dendy observed that the sequel is less frightening than the original Halloweentown, finding that it incorporates humor into the more intense or sad moments, citing a curse transforms the quirky residents of Halloweentown into ordinary humans who engage in mundane activities like sorting socks and wearing dull clothing, stating it adds a humorous touch to the narrative.

Anna Govert of Paste ranked Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge third in their "10 Best Disney Channel Halloween Movies" list. Aubrey Page of Collider ranked Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge nine in their "Every Disney Channel Original Movie" list.

Accolades

Kimberly J. Brown was nominated for Best Performance in a TV Movie or Special - Leading Young Actress while Joey Zimmerman was nominated for Best Performance in a TV Movie or Special - Supporting Young Actor at the 23rd Young Artist Awards.

Sequels

Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge was followed by two sequels: Halloweentown High in 2004 and Return to Halloweentown in 2006.

See also

• List of films set around Halloween
• Halloweentown series
• Halloweentown (1998)
• Halloweentown High (2004)
• Return to Halloweentown (2006)

External links

• Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge at IMDb