We all remember Disney’s Monstober celebration around Halloween time: the new original movies that were set to air, the special episodes, and the commercials (oh the fantastic commercials). But alas, those days are over, and sadly there has been an extreme lack of any new content at all up until now because of  Covid-19 . Having said that, as Halloween looms in the distance, so do some returning shows and new movies. Today I will be taking a look at a new movie, the final season of the CW’s show Supernatural, and compare The Twilight Zone series from the last couple of years vs the original. While it is no substitute for Monstober, I hope this will help your October feel a bit more spookified.

SUPERNATURAL:

Supernatural has been airing for the past fifteen years, and was originally set to end in May of 2020, but the Covid-19 Pandemic halted filming until a few months ago. Now the last seven episodes will be coming out Thursdays at 8pm, starting on October 8th. While the first several seasons of the show surrounded the two main characters, Sam and Dean Winchester, hunting paranormal creatures while on the hunt for their missing father, many of the more recent seasons have become more biblical in nature. Ever since the introduction of angels in the fifth season, Supernatural has run with the existence of demons, archangels, and even God guiding their plots. While longtime fans of the show are anxiously awaiting the final part of season fifteen, many are skeptical that Supernatural will come to an awkward and uncharacteristic halt. I have chosen to write this portion of my piece before seeing the newest episodes in order to establish my concerns prior to seeing it or accidentally allowing others’ opinions to sway my own. Seeing as I have seen all prior seasons of the show, my main concern is that it will end with the newer, more biblical plot instead of the (debatably) better, paranormal plotline of the first seasons. My hope is that aspects from previous plots will come up in order to help resolve the current issues of the beginning of this season.

I am writing this portion after watching the last premiere of Supernatural, and am giving warning of potential spoilers, although I cannot guarantee that they will be included in this article. Alright, so the episode that aired was technically the fourteenth episode of the season titled “Last Holiday”. If I’m being honest, it was one of the only episodes in recent history that I genuinely enjoyed. It had several quick one-liners within the first fifteen minutes and showed the main characters celebrating several holidays that they have previously missed out on in the show. And while all of this was enjoyable to watch, especially as a longtime fan, I have to say it didn’t flow with the rest of the season. It has yet to acknowledge any of what happened prior to Covid, and the plot is inconsistent with what they were aiming to achieve earlier in the season. Having said that, I’m writing it off as the writers trying to give the viewers something fun for a change, instead of continually bombarding us with dark and serious plots. Especially given the current state of the world, it was a fitting change of pace for the show. While it has not yet checked the boxes I outlined earlier, I enjoyed it immensely and am glad that the cast and crew took a step back and gave audiences the chance to laugh before concluding the series altogether.

THE TWILIGHT ZONE:

Alright, let me start by saying the original Twilight Zone holds a special place in my heart. I was never super into watching scary shows or movies, but when my parents showed my The Twilight Zone for the first time, it immediately made me feel so nostalgic for a time I wasn’t even a part of. Ever since then I’ve tried to watch a few episodes around Halloween time and throughout the year (most notably, I entered the year of 2020 while watching the “Talking Tina” episode of the original series; and spoiler alert, she does kill the stepfather). Because of this past with the show, I was already very skeptical about the remake that Jordan Peele produced and narrated beginning in 2019. Having said that, I tried my hardest to not view this show from a biased prospective. My first issue with this series is that it is a CBS All Access exclusive; I didn’t understand this when I began writing this piece. I thought for sure I could find the episodes on Netflix, Amazon, or even bootlegged on Youtube, but alas, no such luck. I ended up finding it available for $1.99 per episode on Amazon Video ($2.99 for HD), so I only purchased the first episode. My second, and more important, criticism is that the first episode didn’t feel like I was watching The Twilight Zone; it felt like a really horrible show that would never end. The biggest aspect of this issue was that many of the characters swore throughout the episode. Don’t get me wrong, I have no issue watching shows or movies that curse or include slightly crude content, but that’s not what the original Twilight Zone was like at all. The original was innocent enough, slightly mind-twisting, and maybe a little cheesy. The 2019 version had none of this. The plot was easy to guess before the episode was half over, and therefore did not twist my mind, it was crude, with none of the nostalgia that I was hoping for in this reboot. Overall I’d say if you were never a fan of the original, or maybe even if you haven’t seen the original, give it a shot, but personally I intend on never watching this again. My best recommendation is to forget the reboot ever happened and stick to watching the original, which is much easier to access by the way; I found it almost immediately on Netflix. My final comment is that this didn’t feel like a continuation of the original Twilight Zone, or even a sequel, but a complete reimagination of it that wasn’t necessary or requested.

HUBIE HALLOWEEN:

My thoughts regarding this movie are conflicted at best; going into it knowing that Adam Sandler directed, produced, and starred in it set some expectations for me that were met in a sense (and not particularly in a good way). To begin with, the cast of Hubie Halloween is a very odd mashup of Saturday Night Live stars such as Kenan Thompson, Melissa Villasenor, and Mikey Day, Modern Family star Julie Bowen, Stranger Things’ Noah Schnapp, and Steve Buscemi to name a few. Aside from the odd cast choices, the movie plot could have gone in many directions that would have been better than the end result. Hubie Halloween focuses on Hubie Dubois, a man who lives with his mother in Salem, Massachusetts, and is declared the town knucklehead by everyone besides his love interest, Violet Valentine, who believes in his kindness to others. He tasks himself every year with keeping the residents of Salem safe on Halloween, but this year is different because some of his worst tormentors go missing. In an effort to not spoil the movie, I will withhold writing about the ending. What I will say is that this movie was very drawn out and predictable. Clocking in at almost two hours, the plot does not justify that length. Everything also gets tied up in too nice of a little bow at the end (SPOILER ALERT: he gets the girl, the town realizes their errors, he becomes the mayor and hero of the story, and they all live happily ever after). Overall I’d say this movie is extremely slow moving for the first half of it, but picks up steam towards the end. While I’m not the biggest Adam Sandler fan, for what it’s worth this movie is exactly what you’d expect an Adam Sandler Halloween movie to be. It’s not the worst movie ever, but it’s by no means the best either. I’d say it’s worth a watch if only for the somewhat touching ending that, while unrealistic and neat, is the definition of a heart-warming ending. 

While Halloween this year will most likely be very different from years past, with the possibility of no trick-or-treating, no parties, and social-distanced get-togethers, watching Halloween movies and shows might just be the perfect way to celebrate. Even if it doesn’t replace whatever traditions you usually take part in, these shows and movies hold the spirit of Halloween and will help you celebrate this spooky time of year a little better, in spit of Covid. There are definitely many other movies and shows that give off Halloween vibes, and for the most part I will recommend them, but watching some that I haven’t seen before or was sceptical about might just be a new tradition for future Halloweens.