The Curse of Bridge Hollow: Frightening Family Friendly Fun

The Curse of Bridge Hollow is just like a lot of other family friendly scary films with the same ole tropes that are used over and over again, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t fun and entertaining.  Fourteen-year-old Sydney Gordon (Priah Ferguson) is forced to move from Brooklyn to a small New England town called Bridge Hollow when her dad, Howard (Marlon Wayans) gets a position as the new science teacher at the local high school.  When she accidentally releases the trapped spirit of Stingy Jack, the town’s Halloween decorations begin to come to life and start terrorizing the hamlet’s population.  It is up to Sydney and Howard, along with some new found friends, to find the ancient spell and re-trap the evil spirit that is causing so much chaos.

Although the basic plot has been done excessively, the idea of Halloween decorations coming to life was a novel twist, it also gave the leads something to fight without any blood or gore and without endangering any of the townsfolks lives, keeping this inline as a good movie to watch with children.  There is one swearword used, but in today’s climate I am not sure anyone really cares about swearing in front of children anymore.  The script is clichéd, but I don’t think anyone is tuning in to this movie to hear deep meaningful conversations or unlock the secrets of the universe, and I feel like the cast and crew knew this and even poke fun at just how basic the story is.  The production value is what I would expect from a film geared towards families and the special effects are better than a lot of films in this category.

The performances are well delivered, with Marlon Wayans doing the type of humor Marlon Wayans does best.  There is a clown like goofiness to him especially when startled that creates a lot of the film’s subtle humor.  Priah Ferguson does a good job as his young daughter and heroine of the movie.  The supporting cast all do a good job as the eccentric residents of the town.  This isn’t an uproariously hilarious film, and the humor is more subdued.  I chuckled throughout most of the film but only laughed out loud a couple times. I never really felt that any of the cast members were in any real danger keeping the tension level pretty low. Although there are some scary images, like axe wielding clowns and giant spiders, and a few jump scares, for the most part this would be safe to watch with most children 10 and up depending on the maturity level of the child.  The television movie is rated TV-14, but this would have been nothing for me to watch when I was 10 or even younger, but I grew up watching creature features every Saturday night since I was five.  Parents should gear this to their own child’s ability to handle monster movies.