Netflix is known for having movies based on certain holidays for viewing on their streaming service and it is October and it is time for some Halloween action. Marlon Wayans led this comedic Halloween story that felt like a combination of Hocus Pocus, Goosebumps, Jumanji with a splattering of Stranger Things… only not as awesome as any of them.

According to IMDB, “A teenage girl, who accidentally releases an ancient and mischievous spirit on Halloween which causes decorations to come alive and wreak havoc, must team up with the last person she’d want to in order to save their town – her father.”

The teenage girl, Sydney, was played by Stranger Things actor Priah Ferguson and her father was Marlon Wayans. Wayans played Sydney’s father and he started the film as pretentious as he could be. He was dismissive and judgmental and simply unlikable. Thankfully, as you would expect, he changed his attitude as the weird Halloween stuff started happening.

This is, at best, a harmless, somewhat stupid movie that would be good for kids and their families during the holiday season. It does not try to do anything new or interesting. It feels just like a recycled plot of some of those better films that I mentioned earlier. In fact, there were moments that felt like it was directly taken from Hocus Pocus (when Sidney found the spell book, I literally yelled, ‘Boooooooooooook’ like Bette Midler did in the Hocus Pocus films). There was also a character here, played by John Michael Higgins, who was wearing, I swear, the identical outfit that was worn by Gary Marshall in the original Hocus Pocus. It is like they were not even trying to hide it.

Priah Ferguson was a fun, pseudo-lead of the film, getting to do more (though admittedly similar) things than she did as Lucas’s sister in Stranger Things. However, she is very charismatic and enjoyable to watch, so she is able to elevate the below average material to make it, at least, watchable.

Marlon Wayans was overacting as he always does in these films, but some of what he does is funny, so he could be forgiven. As I said, I think kids will enjoy the film more and be forgiving of its obvious flaws.

I think the best thing I could say about The Curse of Bridge Hollow is that it knows what its target audience is and it does a decent job of reaching it. Unfortunately, I am not in that range. I did not hate watching it, but I would not say that i was entertained by it either.

2.8 stars