The Curse of Bridge Hollow - A Very Light Horror Comedy Family Movie

Just like in the previous years, Netflix has a habit of releasing horror themed movies and series during the month of October. Yesterday this movie was first released and since I was in the mood for something light, I decided to watch it. Well let's get to it then.

Brief Story Line

14 year old Sydney (Priah Ferguson - Stranger Things TV series etc) was unhappy when she had to move with her father, science teacher Howard Gordon (Marlon Wayans - Scary Movie, G.I Joe: The Rise of Cobra etc) and mother Emily (Kelly Rowland - Freddy vs. Jason etc) to the small town of Bridge Hollow. She became more excited though as they moved during Halloween period where she could properly celebrate it, unlike when they were in Brooklyn.

But when she was exploring their new house, she somehow unleashed something that posed danger to the town's people. And now she had no choice but to work together with her father to save the town.

End of Brief Story Line

This movie was just like I expected. It was nothing fancy, just pure comedy with few touches of horror but not the scary kind. There were few jump scare scenes but not really put to maximum effect, which was fine with me since I was not really looking for it anyway (plenty of those scenes in a series that I am currently watching). 

The movie seemed to rely heavily on the characters of Sydney and her father Howard and their chemistry. You might know Priah Ferguson as Erica the younger sister of Lucas in Stranger Things and I think her character here was not that much different, although she toned down a bit on the loud comments. Marlon Wayans was actually the one that got me interested in watching the film. I have seen quite a lot of his previous movies which I could always laugh out loud. In here he still showed glimpses of his usual comedic style and facial expressions, plus that high toned scream.

Aside from those two and Kelly Rowland who was not memorable at all in here, there were some other support characters. The ones I was familiar with were John Michael Higgins (Pitch Perfect 3 etc) as principal Floyd, Rob Riggle (The Hangover etc) as the neighbor Sully and Lauren Lapkus (Orange is the New Black TV series etc) as mayor Tammy. They mostly provided some comical moments in the film.

The story itself was pretty standard, with no surprises at all. Even though it might not be full of scenes that could make me laugh, but it was not that bad either. This movie was directed by Jeff Wadlow (Kick-Ass 2, Truth or Dare? etc), though sadly this time his work is understandably not well received by critics. For me I think the missing part was the lack of strong comedy, probably if Marlon Wayans was the writer it would have been slightly more enjoyable.

Overall, this is the kind of movie where you could just spend the entire 1.5 hour without scratching your head or scared of your mind and simply enjoy a bit of comedy here and there. Btw, there was no mid or post end credit scene at all. So if you are looking for very light horror comedy family film, then you can give it a try. Just do not expect it to be the usually hilarious Wayans movies or the scary horror type.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars