Ghoul Fools: The Revenge of Johnny

When Johnny plots to cancel Halloween after what happened last year, Max and Tippi must save the Spookverse from fading out of existence. The film was released on Netflix on September 29, 2026. It recieved mixed reviews from critics who praised its humor, animation, characters, and score by Danny Elfman, but criticized the film's pacing and how it moved away from the more grittier, darker atmosphere of the first film towards a lighter, more family-friendly and slapstick-heavy tone.

Plot[]

Many Halloweens ago, Johnny Stoker, loved dressing up like a monster until last Halloween when he discovered that ghosts and monsters are real and fears they will get him again this year; he plans to end Halloween to protect himself, while Max and his friends Alex, Chad, Darren, Troy, and Kat, decide to go trick-or-treating with Max's little sister Hannah, while distancing themselves from Johnny due to his monster paranoia. Though even if Holly has had nightmares about the monsters after what happened last Halloween, she was able to calm her nerves, knowing her cousins would be here to protect her. Since she realized that Max was right about monsters being real, Holly now supports him and his beliefs. Despite her fear of monsters, she wants to go trick-or-treating with her two cousins.

At Fright Town, Tippi and her assortment of friends (her sister, Happi, the Grim Reaper, Agatha, Dez, Eva, Ward, Count Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Invisible Man, Ivo, Gary, Mr. Skully Funnybone, Hector, the vampire family of Vlad, Ruby, and Austin) are planning another annual Halloween party; however, Fright Town and the entire Spookverse is being affected by Johnny's actions to end the holiday, such as smashing pumpkins in the pumpkin patch, sneaking into stores to contaminate candy and make costumes flammable, and vandalizing the haunted museum Max met Tippi last time with toilet paper, and as this is happening he is slowly resembling a devil such as growing pointed ears, a unibrow, a scrunched-up nose, a wide grin and sharp teeth. Max and Tippi successfully get around these hurdles by making the smashed pumpkin holes serve as mouth, making new treats not involving candy, and imagining the toilet paper on the house as a set of ghost, putting the Fright Town universe back together and stable. Max takes his family and friends to the museum, introducing them to the friendly monsters and having them be taken to the party at Fright Town.

Johnny has one more plan to spoil the holiday, by stealing the party's Best Costume prize. He is initially successful, stealing the prize while all the guests are dancing. However, Johnny bursts out loud the pumpkin consists of candy, which is noticed by a food-addicted Henry; a fight between the mutant alligator and Johnny ensues, before Hector arrives and scares Johnny, while Johnny also makes Hector scream. After Johnny's fright, Hector explains that he looked really scary, so Grim announces that Johnny has won the contest. Johnny is back to his old self again, and the party continues where Max, Alex, Chad, and Troy perform Blue Öyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" with Tippi on cowbell.

Voice cast[]

Grant Feely as Max Blackthorn, a 13-year-old boy and leader of the group who believes in monsters.
Chloë Grace Moretz as Tippi, a 47-year-old tween ghost girl and Max's friend.
Recker Eans as Alex Kessler, Max's best friend and second-in-command of the group.
Wyatt Parker as Jonathan "Johnny" Stoker, Max and Alex's former rival/bully who plans to ruin Halloween.
Olivia Olson as Happi, Tippi's older sister and one of Grim's best workers.
Michael Keaton as The Grim Reaper, the ruler of Fright Town.
Margot Robbie as Agatha, Tippi's scary godmother and Grim's broommate.
Eric Befumo as Chad Hitchcock, Max's overweight friend.
Rylea Nevaeh Whittet as Hannah Blackthorn, Max's little sister.
Ziggy Baitinger as Troy Winston, one of Max and Alex's friends.
Julian Edwards as Darren Lockwood, one of Max and Alex's friends.
Kenzi Richardson as Katherine "Kat" Crowley, one of Max and Alex's friends.
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.
Sam Richardson as Terrell, the new night-shift security guard at the Haunted Museum who meets the monsters.
George Lopez as Mr. Edgerton, Max's teacher.
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.
Barry Levinson as Brian Blackthorn, Max and Hannah's father, Jill's husband, and Holly's uncle.
Alyson Stoner as Holly Blackthorn, Max and Hannah's older cousin who now believes in monsters and tries to calm her nerves.
Haley Tju as Dez, a tween zombie girl who is one of Tippi's friends.
Rosalie Chiang as Eva, 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 "The Invisible Man" Griffin, Tippi's science teacher.
Danny Elfman as the 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 and one of Grim and Agatha's broommates.
- McNeil also voices Count Vlad, a vampire dressed in black.
Tabitha St. Germain as Ruby, Count Vlad's wife.
Garry Chalk as Hector, a furry blue monster with horns.
- Chalk also voices Gary, a mutated alligator and one of Grim and Agatha's broommates.
Rain Janjua as Austin, Vlad and Ruby's son.
Liliana Mumy as Amy Kessler, one of Holly's two best friends and Alex's older sister.
Tinashe as Carrie Winston, one of Holly's two best friends and Troy's older sister.
Willem Dafoe as Martin, the deceased Boogeyman who tried to eat the kids in the first film and now is seen in Johnny's nightmares and hallucinations.
Jordan Peele as Morty, the zombie butler of the Grim Reaper.
Martin Olson as Bruno, Tippi and Happi's father.
Erica Luttrell as Magnolia, Tippi and Happi's mother.
Tara Strong as Kimpy, Tippi's chubby cool ghost friend.
Eric Bauza as Boort, Happi's boyfriend.
- Bauza also voices the farmer from the pumpkin patch.
Megan Mullally as Mrs. Kessler, Alex and Amy's mother.
Nick Offerman as Mr. Kessler, Alex and Amy's father.
Andrew Befumo as Mr. Hitchcock, Chad's father.
Angela Bassett as The Bride of Frankenstein, Frankenstein's wife.
Edie McClurg as Johnny's mother
Brian Doyle-Murray as Johnny's father
Violet McGraw as Melissa Edgerton, Mr. Edgerton's daughter and Max's classmate.
Brandon Greene as Igor, Store owner, Skeleton news reporter.

Production[]

Development[]

On May 14, 2026, a sequel titled Ghoul Fools 2 was announced to have begun post-production. Original director Brandon Greene, who wrote the screenplay and story for the sequel, dropped out and was replaced by Jonathan Arevalo, who co-wrote the screenplay the first film. Tim Burton and Zak Bagans would both return as producers.

Casting[]

Chloë Grace Moretz, Grant Feely, Recker Eans, Olivia Olson, Eric Befumo, Rylea Nevaeh Whittet, Michael Keaton, Margot Robbie, Wyatt Parker and Catherine O'Hara were all confirmed to reprise their roles, while Sam Richardson, George Lopez, and Angela Bassett joined the cast for the sequel.

Release[]

The film was streamed on Netflix on September 29, 2026.

Reception[]

Critical response[]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 58% based on 59 reviews, with an average rating of 5.6/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "While it departed from the much darker tone of the first film, The Revenge of Johnny serves up a sweet second helping of spooky cheer that makes the most of its marvelously matched leads." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews."

Possible sequel[]

Greene confirmed in an interview that he wanted to make another Ghoul Fools film with Burton as the director and that Feely and Moretz would reprise their roles as Max and Tippi.

Trivia[]

The film has some similar elements to Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! in which both characters try to stop a holiday from coming.
Originally Martin was going to return as a shadowy ghost and possess Johnny to destroy Halloween, but it was scrapped, and he was instead seen in Johnny and Holly's nightmares.
Brandon Greene wanted to direct the film, but was to busy working on Disney's Zippy: The Movie and couldn't find the time. Though he did co-wrote the film's screenplay and story.
There was a deleted scene where Max, Alex, Chad, and Troy perform Blue Öyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" with Tippi on cowbell and the Grim Reaper tells her "More cowbell". It became an animated short film on YouTube which is a reference to the Saturday Night Live sketch "More Cowbell".
Mouse was, in fact, a tarantula. Max is so terrified by the arachnid that he shrieks loudly and destroys the poster, making Hannah cry. Bruno and the rest of his family are infuriated by this, and he suggests to Max that it would be for the best if he just left an idea is a reference to the The Amazing World of Gumball episode The Date.
Tippi traps Strays Dog in pipes that resemble a giant Habitrail.
The scene Tippi angry is a reference to the 2015 film Hotel Transylvania 2.
The scene Max and Chad surprised face is a reference to the 2004 film The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.