Ghoul Fools: A Halloween Adventure

Ghoul Fools: A Halloween Adventure is a 2024 animated Halloween horror comedy film written and directed by Brandon Greene and co-produced by Tim Burton. The film stars the voices of Iain Armitage, Chloë Grace Moretz, Brady Noon, Michael Keaton, Margot Robbie, Blue Chapman, Presley Smith, Willem Dafoe, Keegan-Michael Key, Olivia Olson, Chris Sarandon, John Goodman, Paul Walter Hauser, Joe Thomas, Owen Vaccaro, Alyson Stoner, and Rachel McAdams. The plot revolves around Max Blackthorn, while trick-or-treating with his little sister Hannah, his older cousin Holly, and his friends Alex and Chet, encountering an eccentric ghost girl named Tippi, the , a witch named Ericka, Martin 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, 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 police officer. They are joined by Max's friends: Alex Grimm, dressed as the , Chet Hitchcock, dressed as a superhero, 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 the school bully Johnny, dressed as a skeleton, Holly's friends Carrie, dressed as a bee, and Amy dressed as a clown. Max gathers his sister and friends to go monster hunting while trick-or-treating much to Holly's annoyance 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, Alex concocts a myth about the "," a monster who eats children 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. 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 in the town of Fright Town, a place where monsters live. Max and Alex realize that Chet had followed them to the portal to Fright Town. They run into Hannah and Tippi's witch teacher Ericka 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". They meet the ruler of Fright Town the Grim Reaper as well as other monsters: Ivo, a short one-eyed monster, Happi, Tippi's older sister, Dez, a zombie, Eva, a futakuchi-onna, Ward, a poker game ghost, 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 : , , , , , and as well as their offsprings (the girls from ). Grim, Ericka 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, Max, Alex, Chet 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 Max and Tippi crashing Grim and Ericka's party.
Later, 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. After Max tells Martin about Tippi's deception, he decides to put Max and Tippi on a thriller ride to scare them. The ride frightens the two and they ran to the party. Martin discovers about Max'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 Max, Alex and Chet 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. As time went by, Holly, Carrie, Amy, Troy, Dylan, and Kat all become worried about Alex's legends about monsters being true and that him, Max, Chet 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 Max, Alex 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, Max tells the monsters about their adventure and about his obsession with monster hunting and fear of monsters which no one believes him. Amy's name rings a bell to Tippi, who comes to Amy's house every other Friday for free candy and Happi comes to scare Amy; It is revealed that Max, Alex and Chet watch a lot of monster movies and it makes him spread rumors that monsters eat kids. Max, Tippi, Grim, Ericka, 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 Max, Alex, Chet and Hannah pretending to scare away the monsters. It seem to work until Martin shows up and captures Alex, Chet, Hannah, Holly, her friends, and the rest of his friends and locked them up. Which leads to Max and Tippi to confront Martin. Using the flashlight, a monster hunting phone, and the ooze TNT dynamite, Max creates a makeshift bomb, destroying Martin and freeing Max's friends. The kids take the monsters as real and bolt out of the house. Before Max leaves with Hannah, Tippi gives him a skeleton 4 keys to go back to Fright Town anytime.
== Voice cast ==
* Iain Armitage as Max Blackthorn, a 12-year old boy and the main protagonist of the film who has a fascination with monsters and aspires to be a monster hunter, despite his fear of them until he befriends them. He dresses as a pirate.
* Chloë Grace Moretz as Tippi, a cute, quirky and adorable shapeshifting tween ghost girl who befriends Max who shows him how monsters aren't all that bad. She is the deuteragonist of the film.
* Brady Noon as Alex Grimm, Max's best friend who suspiciously knows about the theories about the supernatural which is why he supports Max's belief about monsters being real. He dresses as the Grim Reaper.
* Michael Keaton as , the ruler of Fright Town who collects people's souls whenever they die.
* Margot Robbie as Ericka, a witch who is Tippi's teacher and Hannah's scary godmother who she and Grim host a Halloween party every year.
* Blue Chapman as Chet Hitchcock, Max's overweight friend. He dresses as a superhero.
* Presley Smith 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.
* Willem Dafoe as Martin, the evil who terrifies children and stealing and eating their souls. He is the main antagonist of the film.
* Keegan-Michael Key as Ivo, a short one-eyed monster with four arms and Grim's helper.
* Olivia Olson as Happi, Tippi's older sister and the Grim Reaper's employee.
* Chris Sarandon as , one of Grim and Ericka's broommates.
* John Goodman as , one of Grim and Ericka's broommates.
* Paul Walter Hauser as , one of Grim and Ericka's broommates.
* Joe Thomas as , one of Grim and Ericka's broommates.
* Owen Vaccaro as Johnny, 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 skeleton.
* Alyson Stoner as Holly Marie, Max and Hannah older cousin. She dresses as a cop.
* Rachel McAdams as Jill Blakthorn, Max and Hannah's mother and Holly's aunt.
* 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.
* Alan Tudyk as , Tippi's science teacher.
* Danny Elfman as the , Fright town's residential musician.
* Scott McNeil as Skully Funnybone, a skeleton that hides in people's closets to keep their secrets safe and one of Grim and Ericka's broommates.
** McNeil also voices Count Vlad, a tall, thin and bald vampire dressed in black.
* Tabitha St. Germain as Ruby, Count Vlad's vampire wife.
* 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.
* Finn Lee-Epp as Austin, Vlad and Ruby's son.
* Tom Kenny as Morty, a zombie butler of the Grim Reaper. He is a caricature of the actor .
* Seth Carr as Troy, the most imaginative of Max'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 Max's friends. Dresses as a piece of candy. He has a crush on Kat.
* Kate Moyer as Kat, the most empathic of Max'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.
*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 producer Tim Burton and paranormal investigator as the film's co-producer and Ellen DeGeneres as one of the executive producers. Animation services were provided by Bron Studios and . Danny Elfman composes the film's score. On September 14, 2024, Bruno Mars performed a cover of 's "" on following an announcement that it would be featured in the film.
== 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 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 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 .
*Jacob Tremblay was originally going to voice Max before being replaced by Iain Armitage.
* 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 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.
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