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.	„
	~ Tippi during the film's opening narration

Ghoul Fools: A Halloween Adventure (also known simply as Ghoul Fools) is a 2024 animated gothic comedy horror film directed by Brandon Greene from a screenplay written by Greene and Zak Bagans, and executive produced by Tim Burton (who also serves as the co-producer) and John Landis. The film stars the voices of Grant Feely, Chloë Grace Moretz, Recker Eans, Olivia Olson, Michael Keaton, Margot Robbie, Willem Dafoe, Eric Befumo, Rylea Nevaeh Whittet, Ziggy Baitinger, Julian Edwards, Kenzi Richardson, Keegan-Michael Key, Liam Neeson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Danny Trejo, Joe Thomas, Wyatt Parker, Catherine O'Hara, and Bagans. The plot revolves around Max Blackthorn (Feely), while trick-or-treating with his little sister, Hannah (Whittet) and his friends, Alex Kessler (Eans), Chad Hitchcock (Befumo), Troy Winston (Baitinger), Darren Lockwood (Edwards), and Kat Crowley (Richardson) encountering an eccentric shapeshifting ghost girl named Tippi (Moretz), her sister, Happi (Olson), the Grim Reaper (Keaton), a witch named Agatha (Robbie), Martin the Boogeyman (Dafoe), 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, Max Blackthorn, dressed as a pirate, is about to go trick-or-treating with her little sister, Hannah, dressed as a fairy witch, and their older cousin, Holly, dressed as a zombie school girl. They are joined by Max's friends: Alex Kessler, dressed as a skeleton, Chad Hitchcock, dressed as a superhero, Kat Crowley, dressed as a black cat, Darren Lockwood, in a candy piece costume, and Troy Winston, pretending to be a baseball player driving inside a powerful SUV that can shoot atomic lasers, and Holly's friends: Carrie, Troy's sister, dressed as a bee, and Amy dressed as a clown. Max and his friends are soon met by their school bully Johnny Stoker, dressed as a devil, Holly's friends Carrie, dressed as a bee, and Amy, Alex's sister, dressed as a clown.

Max and his friends are huge fans of Classic Monster movies, and they formed their own club. The kids gather together to see real ghosts and monsters while trick-or-treating, much to Holly's annoyance. She thinks Max weird because he believes monsters actually exist as she dismisses that and felt like she doesn't want people to think she's weird too because of that. Hannah, however, supports her brother's belief in monsters, since she's afraid of monsters herself and desperately wants to join the club. Johnny conceives Holly and her friends to play a prank. While near a museum in a graveyard, Alex concocts a story about the "Boogeyman", a monster who eats children on Halloween. He evens tells his friends a story about a girl who use to work at the museum (the "Haunted Museum") but she along with her sister were killed in a car accident. Ever since then, every Halloween night, residents at the 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. The museum curator Mr. Vincent states that he hears rumors about how someone once heard strange noises in the museum but no one is even seen at all and Max assumed it might be ghosts in there and that the worker's ghost haunts the museum. The kids mysteriously obtain a map of "Fright Town" from Mr. Vincent, which hasn't been used for 35 years. Max sends Hannah to go in the house and leave some candy. Thinking might Hannah will get lost, Max and Alex decide to go in as well. A frightened Hannah walks in the front door while Johnny locks her inside.

Inside, Max and Alex get lost and starts to get scared. While trying to find Hannah and way out, a little ghost suddenly appears in front of the boys and they freak out. The ghost introduces herself as Tippi. She takes Max and Alex to her world called the Spookverse in a town of Fright Town, a place where monsters live. Max and Alex realize that Chad had followed them to the portal to the Spook Verse in a city called Fright Town. Later, Kat, Troy, and Dylan follow suit after waiting too long for the trio to return with Hannah. Max, Tippi, Alex, and Chad run into Hannah and Tippi's older sister, Happi, and their scary godmother witch Agatha and she and Tippi want to show them that monsters are not all bad. Tippi takes Max around at the town and teaches him a trick "Scary equals Fun". Troy, Darren, and Kat soon meet up with the four and they meet the ruler of Fright Town the Grim Reaper as well as other monsters: Ivo, a short one-eyed monster, Dez, a tween zombie girl, Eva, a futakuchi-onna, Ward, a poker game ghost, the Universal Monsters (Count Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Invisible Man, and the Phantom of the Opera), Mr. Skully Funnybone, a skeleton, Gary, a mutated alligator, a fuzzy blue monster that works scaring kids named Hector, a vampire family of parents Count Vlad and Countess Ruby, and son Austin, and the Monsters' offsprings (the girls from Ghoul School). Grim, Agatha 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, the kids eventually warm up to them. Antics include going into haunted houses, going to a scary carnival, practicing spells, saving Chad from a gang of Goblin thugs, bringing the dead back to life like Michael Jackson, and Max and Tippi crashing Grim and Agatha's party.

While the kids were hanging around Fright Town, Max and Tippi enter a dark house that belongs to the Boogeyman known as Martin, who scares and actually eats children. Martin reveals that he use to scare Tippi every Halloween when she was alive. Tippi reveals that she was into monster movies like Max and his friends when she was human. One night, Happi was driving Tippi around the neighborhood while trick-or-treating, but a terrible storm came in and the two sisters were killed in a car accident, coming back as ghosts. After Max tells Martin about Tippi's deception, he decides to put Max and Tippi on a thriller ride to scare them. Meanwhile, the ride frightens Max and Tippi and they ran to the party. Martin discovers about Max's cousin and her friends and plans to capture them and Johnny.

Outside of the haunted museum, Johnny, Holly, and her friends have waited for hours for Max and his friends to get Hannah out. The typical trick-or-treating time has passed, and Amy angrily calls out Holly after the latter makes fun of her for believing in monsters the way Max does. Max 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 and decides to also apologize to Max. As time went by, Holly, Carrie and Amy all become worried about Alex's legends and theories about monsters being true and that him, Max, Hannah and the other kids' lives are in danger. They demand to go in and get them, but Johnny, out of nowhere, insists there's no monsters and tells them they all wait for them 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, the kids learn that Holly and others are still waiting for them to return from the Haunted Museum's newly deceased night-shift security guard Mr. Bluffer. Max tells the monsters about him and his friends' love for monster movies and Hannah's fear of monsters which no one believes him. Every Friday Tippi and Happi come to the museum every night for free candy and Dez would come out of her grave and join in which explains the strange, unexpected noises. Amy's name rings a bell to Hector, who comes to her house to scare Amy; It is revealed that despite being afraid of monsters, the kids idolize them ever since watching a lot of monster movies and it makes him spread rumors that monsters eat kids. Max, Tippi, Grim, Agatha, and their friends decide to play a prank on Johnny, Holly, Carrie, and Amy, which ends with Max and his friends pretending to scare away the monsters with flashlights. It seems to work until Martin shows up and captures Johnny, Holly, Carrie, Amy, Hannah, and Max's friends and locks them up. Max and Tippi show up to confront Martin, but he attempts to eat Hannah and Holly. Tippi fights Martin, while Max saves them. Alex, Chad, and Hannah free the others. With his flashlight out of power, Max uses a match and turns on all the lights in the museum, exposing Martin to the lights, burning and killing him. Tippi activates a garbage truck's compactor, which crushes Martin's dead body. Tippi gives the kids one last scare, and she tells them that she and the rest of the monsters will come back to haunt them if they ever return. Johnny, Holly and her friends take the monsters as real and bolt out of the museum. After Max says goodbye to Tippi and leaves along with the others, Mr. Vincent gives him a skeleton key to go back to Fright Town anytime.

Voice cast[]

Grant Feely as Max Blackthorn, a 12-year-old boy and the main protagonist of the film who is the leader of the group and a huge fan of monster movies, to the point where he believes ghosts and monsters are actually real. He dresses as a pirate.
Chloë Grace Moretz as Tippi, a cute, quirky, mischievous, and adorable shapeshifting 46-year-old tween ghost girl with a taste for scares and mayhem who was originally a 12-year-old human girl who died in a car accident on Halloween night. She befriends Max who shows him that monsters aren't all bad. She is the deuteragonist of the film.
Recker Eans as Alex Kessler, Max's sarcastic and quick-witted best friend and second-in-command of the group who suspiciously knows about the theory of the existence of the supernatural which is why he supports Max's belief about monsters being real. He dresses as a skeleton.
Olivia Olson as Happi, Tippi's 51-year-older sister and one of Grim's best workers who was originally a 17-year-old human girl who use to work at the Haunted Museum until she died in a car accident along with her little sister.
Michael Keaton as the Grim Reaper, the ruler of Fright Town who collects people's souls whenever they die.
Margot Robbie as Agatha, a witch who is Tippi and Happi's scary godmother who she and Grim host a Halloween party every year.
Willem Dafoe as Martin, the evil shapeshifting Boogeyman and Tippi's archenemy who terrifies children and kidnaps and eats them. He is the main antagonist of the film.
Eric Befumo as Chad Hitchcock, the clumsy and gluttonous member of the group and habitual fabulist. He dresses as a superhero.
Rylea Nevaeh Whittet as Hannah Blackthorn, Max's supportive little sister who is the most afraid of monsters but then later realizes monsters don't eat kids. She dresses as a fairy witch.
Ziggy Baitinger as Troy Winston, the most imaginative and sensitive of the group. He dresses as a baseball player wearing a cardboard SUV around his body.
Julian Edwards as Darren Lockwood, the most sweet, straightforward, and naïve of the group. He dresses as a piece of candy. He has a crush on Kat.
Kenzi Richardson as Katherine "Kat" Crowley, the most empathic and level-headed of the group. She dresses as a black cat. She is also Max and Darren's love interest.
Keegan-Michael Key as Ivo, a short one-eyed monster with four arms and Grim's helper.
Liam Neeson as Count Dracula, one of Grim and Agatha's broommates.
Benedict Cumberbatch as Frankenstein, one of Grim and Agatha's broommates.
Danny Trejo as Lawrence "Larry" Talbot / The Wolf Man, one of Grim and Agatha's broommates.
Joe Thomas as Imhotep / The Mummy, one of Grim and Agatha's broommates.
Wyatt Parker as Jonathan "Johnny" Stoker, Max and Alex's rival and bully who makes fun of him for believing in monsters and Hannah for being afraid of monsters. He dresses as a devil.
Catherine O'Hara as Jill Blackthorn, Max and Hannah's mother and Holly's aunt.
Zak Bagans as Mr. Vincent, the owner and curator of the Haunted Museum.
Alyson Stoner as Holly Blackthorn, Max and Hannah older cousin who is often embarrassed by Max's belief in monsters. She dresses as a zombie school girl.
Haley Tju as Dez, a tween zombie girl who is one of Tippi's friends.
Rosalie Chiang as Eva, A Japanese human-monster girl known as a futakuchi-onna and one of Tippi's friends.
Finn Wolfhard as Ward, a ghost and one of Tippi's friends who enjoys poker games.
Matt Oberg as The Gill-man / Creature from The Black Lagoon, one of Grim and Agatha's broommates.
Alan Tudyk as Dr. Jack Griffin / The Invisible Man, Tippi's science teacher.
- Tudyk also voices the Goblins who are allies of Martin.
Danny Elfman as Erik the Phantom of the Opera, Fright town's residential musician.
- Elfman also voices Bonejingle, a vivacious, one-eyed, lounge singing skeleton.
Scott McNeil as Skully Funnybone, a skeleton that hides in people's closets to keep their secrets safe and one of Grim and Agatha's broommates.
- McNeil also voices Count Vlad, a tall, thin and bald vampire dressed in black.
Garry Chalk as Hector, a huge blue monster with horns who's job is to scare kids.
- Chalk also voices Gary, A talkative mutated alligator who has a huge apatite.
Tabitha St. Germain as Ruby, Count Vlad's vampire wife.
Rain Janjua as Austin, Vlad and Ruby's son.
Liliana Mumy as Amy Kessler, One of Holly's silly and imaginative best friends and Alex's older sister who reveals to believe in ghosts and monsters. She dresses as a clown.
Tinashe as Carrie Winston, one of Holly's most straight-laced and sensible best friends and Troy's older sister. She dresses as a bee.
Barry Levinson as Brian Blackthorn, Max and Hannah's father, Jill's husband, and Holly's uncle.
Jordan Peele as Morty, a hunch-backed zombie butler of the Grim Reaper. He is a parody Hungarian-born actor Peter Lorre.
Paul Whitehouse as Mr. Bluffer, the smoking new night-shift security guard at the Haunted Museum who died after suffering injuries during a fall down the stairs.
Susan Blu as Sibella, Count Dracula's daughter.
Pat Musick 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.
Jane Horrocks as Ms. Price, a zombie chef working at Fright Town.
Eric Bana as Arrow Terrorweb, a monster hunter on TV.
Nika Futterman as Ghost Angel Lead Singer
Michael Jackson as himself
Rob Riggle as Skeleton Husband
Brandon Greene as Skeleton Pizza delivery guy, puppet ghost, Old Man Soul, Goblin Thug #1
Kevin Michael Richardson as Goblin Thug Leader, Ghost Cook, Skeleton Vendor
Seth Green as Monster Novelty Merchant
Kamali Minter as Trick-or-Treater
Scott MacDonald as Ghost disguise
Daran Norris as Dragon in closet
Brad Garrett as Goblin Thug #2
David Herman as Sheriff

Production[]

In March 2023, after finishing The Christmas Movie, director Brandon Greene announced that they would create an animated Halloween Netflix original film alongside producers Tim Burton and Paranormal investigator Zak Bagans. Jonathan Arevalo is announced to write the screenplay alongside Greene with Burton and John Landis as executive producers. Animation services were provided by Mercury Filmworks, Tim Burton Productions, and Scaryhouse Films. Greene and Burton wanted the film to emphasize the comedic aspect of the human kids in the film. Greene compared Ghoul Fools to other films he grew up watching, The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), The Goonies (1985) and The Monster Squad (1987). The comedy elements were also inspired by Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) and remarked that his goal was to make "the ultimate comedy monster mash". Danny Elfman composes the film's score. On September 14, 2024, Rob Zombie performed an original song "Fright Town Freakshow" on The Kelly Clarkson Show following an announcement that it would be featured in the film. The Michael Jackson's "Thriller" was used for the film's trailer and in the final film, to the point where Jackson made an animated appearance as a zombie.

Music[]

Songs[]

Kenzi Richardson (who voiced Kat Crowley in the film), Adam Irigoyen, Kenton Duty performed a cover of "Monster Mash" for the end credits of the film.

"Fright Town Freakshow"..............................................Rob Zombie
"Thriller"..............................................Michael Jackson
"Monster Mash"..............................................Bobby "Boris" Pickett
"You Got Tricked"..............................................Nika Futterman
"Spooky, Scary Skeletons"..............................................Andrew Gold
"Bad Moon Rising"..............................................Creedence Clearwater Revival
"Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)"..............................................Harry Belafonte
"Welcome to My Nightmare"..............................................Alice Cooper
"Dragula"..............................................Rob Zombie
"I Put a Spell on You".............................................."Screamin' Jay" Hawkins
"Monster Mash".............................................. Kenzi Richardson, Adam Irigoyen, and Kenton Duty

Release[]

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

Reception[]

The film received generally positive reviews from critics calling it "The Nightmare Before Christmas meets The Goonies". Based on 223 reviews, it holds an approval rating of 65% 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 comedic, 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 Jonathan Arevalo, who wrote the story for the first installment. The film was released on Netflix on September 29, 2026.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

The quote at the very beginning of the scene is a reference to the Looney Tunes Halloween special Bugs Bunny's Howl-oween Special.
Iain Armitage was originally going to voice Max before being replaced by child actor Grant Feely.
Netflix was given permission to use the Universal Monster characters and designs from Universal Studios.
They were also given permission to use Grimwood Girl characters from Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School.
The Boogeyman's name Martin is named after a wrestler Martin Wright 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 owner and curator of the Haunted Museum, Mr. Vincent is named after horror actor Vincent Price.
The kids getting on the bad side of several monster merchants and locals, who chase after them until they run into Martin is a reference to the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode "Beyond the Known Universe" where the Turtles, April O'Neil, and Casey Jones get on the bad side of several alien merchants and locals, who chase after them until they run into the dreaded Lord Dregg.
The monsters in the film were not only based on the ones from Universal but were also designed after them. Count Dracula was modeled after Bela Lugosi and Frankenstein's Monster was modeled after Boris Karloff.
Liam Neeson who voiced Dracula in the film was originally going to play him in the 1987 film The Monster Squad. Neeson even matched Lugosi's style while also making it his own.
Johnny Stoker is named after both the character Jonathan Harker and the author of the novel Dracula Bram Stoker.
The sound effects for Larry Talbot's transformation into the Wolf Man was taken directly from John Landis's 1981 film An American Werewolf in London. The signature sounds of bones cracking, muscles stretching, and flesh tearing were reused for Talbot's transformation scene.
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 scary visuals and surroundings while Tippi (while invisible) is saying "No such thing as monsters?! You don't believe in monsters?!" are even similar to another SpongeBob episode "Ghost Host".
Tippi and the rest of the ghosts and monsters scaring Johnny, Holly, Carrie, and Amy while a Ghost Angel Lead Singer starts singing "You Got Tricked," is a clear reference to The Loud House Halloween episode "Tricked".
Martin's death scene is a reference to both the 1984 film Gremlins and the 1990 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, where he is exposed to bright light similar to Stripe in Gremlins and Tippi crushes Martin's remains to death in a garbage truck like how Shredder was defeated by Splinter and subsequently crushed to death in a garbage truck by Casey Jones in the 1990 Ninja Turtles film.
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 Max an idea is a reference to the The Amazing World of Gumball episode The Movie.
The film ends with Tippi showing off glowing yellow wolf eyes and Price's maniacal laugh, an homage to the closing scene of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" music video.