Ghoul Fools: A Halloween Adventure

"When the moon is full, and the banshees wail, And the ghosts are about, and your skin grows pale, As the feeling of fear permeates the air, It's Halloween. So beware... beware. Muahahahahaha!"

- Film's opening narration

Ghoul Fools: A Halloween Adventure is a 2024 animated Halloween comedy film written and directed by Brandon Greene. The film stars the voices of Zac Efron, Ashly Burch, Britt McKillip, Christian Slater, Tabitha St. Germain, Chris Elliott, Dane DeHaan, Alyson Stoner, Olivia Olson, Haley Tju, and Jane Lynch. The plot revolves around Mikey, while trick-or-treating with his little sister Hannah, his older cousin Holly, and his friends, encountering a ghost girl named Tippi, the, a witch named Hazel, the , and many other monsters in Fright Town.

The film premiered on Netflix on October 1, 2024, and received positive reviews from critics. A sequel, titled Ghoul Fools: The Revenge of Johnny, was released on September 29, 2026, with much of the original cast returning.

Plot
On Halloween night, Mikey Marie, dressed as a pirate, is about to go trick-or-treating with her little sister, Hannah, dressed a witch, and their older cousin, Holly, dressed as a police officer. They are joined by Holly's friends Carrie, dressed as a bee, and Amy dressed as a clown, Mikey's friends: Kat, dressed as a black cat, Dylan, in a candy piece costume, and Troy, pretending to be a baseball player driving inside a powerful SUV that can shoot atomic lasers, and their bully Johnny, dressed as the. Mikey gathers his sister and friends to go monster hunting while trick-or-treating much to Holly thinking he's weird because she thinks monsters don't exist. Johnny conceives Holly and her friends to plan a prank. While near a museum in a graveyard, Mikey concocts a myth about the "," a monster who steals children's souls on Halloween. He tells that every Halloween night, residents at the museum (the "haunted museum") not feeding candy to the monsters surrounding its exterior and being killed or eaten as a result; ever since, candy has to be in the basement every year to prevent the monsters from killing other children in the world. Mikey sends Hannah to go in the house and leave some candy. Thinking might Hannah will get lost, Mikey decides to go in as well. A frightened Hannah walks in the front door while Johnny locks her inside.

Inside, Mikey gets lost and starts to get scared. While trying to find his sister and way out, a friendly ghost suddenly appears in front of him and he freaks out. The ghost introduces herself as Tippi. She takes Mikey to her world in the town of Fright Town, a place where monsters live. They run into Hannah and Tippi's witch teacher Hazel and she and Tippi want to show them that monsters are not all bad. Tippi wants to take Mikey around at the town and teaches him a trick "Scary equals fun". They meet the ruler of Fright Town the Grim Reaper as well as other monsters: Happi, Tippi's older sister, Dez, a zombie, Eva, a futakuchi-onna, Mr. Skully Funnybone the skeleton, Henry, a mutated alligator, a fuzzy monster that works scaring kids named Peek-A-Boo, a vampire family of parents Count Vlad and Countess Ruby, and son Austin, and the :, , , and as well as their offsprings (the girls from ). Grim, Hazel and Happi are having another annual Halloween party, described by Tippi as the most "spooky phantom fest in the whole realm." Although at first frightened of the monsters, Mikey and Hannah eventually warm up to them. Antics include going into haunted houses, going to a scary carnival, teaching little vampires to fly, practicing spells, Bringing the dead back to life like Michael Jackson, and Mikey and Tippi crashing Grim and Hazel's party.

Later, Mikey and Tippi enter a dark house that belongs to the Boogeyman known as Martin, who scares and actually eats children. Martin reveals that he scares Jack every Halloween. After Jack tells Martin about Tippi's deception, he decides to put Jack and Tippi on a thriller ride to scare them. The ride frightens the two and they ran to the party. Martin discovers about Mikey's cousin and friends and plans to capture them.

Outside of the haunted museum, Holly, her friends, Johnny, Kat, Troy, and Dylan have waited for hours for Mikey to get Hannah out. The typical trick-or-treating time has passed, and Amy calls out Holly after the latter makes fun of her for believing in monsters the way Mikey does. Mikey and Hannah's mom tells Holly that she doesn't have to agree with her friends, but she shouldn’t stomp on their beliefs and Holly later apologizes to Amy that she has a right to believe what she wants and she respects that. As time went by, Holly, Carrie, Amy, Troy, Dylan, and Kat all become worried about Mikey's legends about monsters being true and that him and Hannah's lives are in danger. They demand to go in and get the two, but Johnny, out of nowhere, insists there's no monsters and tells them they all wait for Mikey and Hannah longer. However, Johnny's attitude quickly changes, and all four kids enter the house to look for the two.

Near the end of the adventure, Mikey tells the monsters about their adventure and about his obsession of monster hunting and fear of monsters which no one believes him. Amy's name rings a bell to Tippi, who scares Amy every other Friday; It is revealed that Mikey watches monster movies and it makes him spread rumors that monsters eat kids. Mikey, Tippi, Grim, Hazel, and their friends decide to play a prank on Johnny, Holly, Carrie, and Amy in response with Mikey's friends (who also met the monsters) pretending to be scared of them, which ends with Mikey pretending to scare away the monsters. It seem to work until Martin shows up and captures Hannah, Holly, her friends, and Johnny and Mikey's friends and locked up their souls. Which leads to Mikey and Tippi to confront Martin. Using the flashlight, a monster hunting phone, and the ooze TNT dynamite, Mikey creates a makeshift bomb, destroying Martin and releasing the souls of Mikey's friends. The kids take the monsters as real and bolt out of the house. Before Mikey leaves with Hannah, Tippi gives him a skeleton key for him and Hannah to go back to Fright Town anytime.

Voice cast

 * Zac Efron as Michael "Mikey" Marie, a 12-year old boy and the main protagonist of the film who has a fear and fascination with monsters and hunting them until he befriends them. He dresses as a pirate.
 * Ashly Burch as Tippi, a cute and adorable tween ghost girl who befriends Mikey who shows him how monsters aren't all that bad. She is the deuteragonist of the film.
 * Britt McKillip as Hannah Marie, Mikey's supportive younger sister who is the most afraid of monsters but then later realizes monsters don't eat kids. She dresses as a witch.
 * Christian Slater as the, the ruler of Fright Town who collects people's souls whenever they die.
 * Tabitha St. Germain as Hazel, Tippi's teacher and Hannah's scary godmother who she and Grim host a Halloween party every year.
 * Germain also voices Ruby, Count Vlad's vampire fire.
 * Chris Elliott as Martin, the evil who terrifies children and stealing and eating their souls. He is the main antagonist of the film.
 * Dane DeHaan as Johnny, Mikey's rival and bully who makes fun of him for believing in monsters and Hannah for being afraid of monsters. He dresses as the Grim Reaper.
 * Alyson Stoner as Holly Marie, Mikey and Hannah's older cousin. She dresses as a cop.
 * Olivia Olson as Happi, Tippi's older sister and the Grim Reaper's employee.
 * Haley Tju as Dez, a tween zombie girl who is one of Tippi's friends.
 * Jane Lynch as Jill Marie, Mikey and Hannah's mother and Holly's aunt.
 * Greg Eagles as, one of Grim and Hazel's broommates.
 * Brad Garrett as, one of Grim and Hazel's broommates.
 * Alan Tudyk as, one of Grim and Hazel's broommates.
 * Tudyk also voices the, one of Grim and Hazel's broommates.
 * Oded Fehr as, one of Grim and Hazel's broommates.
 * Scott McNeil as Skully Funnybone, a skeleton that hides in people's closets to keep their secrets safe and one of Grim and Hazel's broommates.
 * McNeil also voices Count Vlad, a tall, thin and bald vampire dressed in black.
 * Garry Chalk as Chalk also voices Peek-A-Boo, a huge purple monster who's job is to scare kids.
 * Chalk also voices Henry, A talkative mutated alligator who has a huge apatite.
 * Finn Wolfhard as Austin, Vlad and Ruby's son.
 * Rosalie Chiang as Eva, A Japanese human-monster girl known as a futakuchi-onna and one of Tippi's friends.
 * Seth Carr as Troy, the most imaginative of Mikey's friends. He dresses as a baseball player wearing a cardboard SUV around his body.
 * Harry McDermott as Dylan, the most sweet and naïve of Mikey's friends. Dresses as a piece of candy. He has a crush on Kat.
 * as Kat, the most empathic of Mikey's friends. She has a crush on Dylan. She dresses as a black cat.
 * Liliana Mumy as Amy, One of Holly's best friends who reveals to believe in ghosts and monsters. She dresses as a clown.
 * as Carrie, one of Holly's best friends. She dresses as a bee.
 * Susan Blu as Sibella, Count Dracula's daughter.
 * as Elsa Frankenteen, Frankenstein's daughter.
 * Natalie Palamides as Winnie, the Wolfman's daughter.
 * Kaitlyn Robrock as Phantasma, the Phantom's daughter.
 * Kristen Li as Tanis, the Mummy's daughter.
 * Eric Bana as Arrow Terrorweb, a monster hunter on TV and Mikey's idol.
 * Michael Jackson as himself
 * Nika Futterman as Female skeleton lead singer
 * Rob Riggle as Skeleton Husband
 * Brandon Greene as Skeleton Pizza delivery guy, puppet ghost, old man soul
 * Kamali Minter as Trick-or-Treater
 * Scott MacDonald as Ghost disguise
 * Daran Norris as Dragon in closet
 * Bumper Robinson as Vampire counselor, Cowboy
 * Roger Craig Smith as parent, souls
 * David Herman as Skeleton sheriff

Production
In March 2023, after finishing The Christmas Movie, director Brandon Greene announced that they would produce an animated Halloween Netflix original film alongside paranormal investigator as the film's producer and Ellen DeGeneres as one of the executive producers. Animation services were provided by Bron Studios and. Danny Elfman composed the film's score.

Release
The film was released on October 1, 2024 by Netflix.

Reception
The film received generally positive reviews from critics. Based on 223 reviews, it holds an approval rating of 67% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 7.5/10; the website's critical consensus reads: "Ghoul Fools is an energetic animated horror movie spoof with lovingly crafted visuals and a heartfelt, oddball story." On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, it has a score of 74, based on 38 reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Sequel
Main article: Ghoul Fools: The Revenge of Johnny

A sequel titled Ghoul Fools: The Revenge of Johnny was announced. Original director Brandon Greene dropped out and was replaced by Zak Bagans, who produced the first installment. The film was released on Netflix on September 29, 2026.

Trivia

 * The quote at the very beginning of the scene is a reference to the Looney Tunes Halloween special .
 * Elijah Wood was originally going to voice Mikey before being replaced by Zac Efron.
 * Originally, there was going to be another boy with Mikey, Tippi, and Hannah, but he was removed in order to simplify the story.
 * Netflix was given permission to use the characters and designs from Universal Studios.
 * They were also given permission to use characters from .
 * The 's name Martin is named after a wrestler who goes by his ring name "The Boogeyman".
 * It was originally going to be steamed on HBO Max, but due to a merger with Warner Bros. and Discovery it was moved to Netflix.
 * The scene where Johnny, Holly and her friends try and fail to escape the Haunted Museum is a reference to the SpongeBob SquarePants episode Pranks a Lot.
 * The scene Michael kiss Sibella is a reference to the Hotel Transylvania.
 * The scene Tippi for cheering her up, and gives him a hug is a reference to the Star vs. the Forces of Evil episode Cheer Up Star.
 * The scene Tippi and act as Johnny, flirting with her. Tippi slaps an unconscious Johnny with a book. After Tippi is gone, Johnny falls out of a window giving Michael an idea is a reference to the The Amazing World of Gumball episode The Move.