BACKGROUND
Halloween is big business, especially within the movie industry. Whether that is family-friendly entertainment, like Casper (1995) and Coco (2017), or scared-out-of-your wits horror movies like It (2017) or The Shining (1985), Halloween movies are nothing new. These have been coming out year-in, year-out for decades.
I’m not one for scary movies, because I scare very easily and I know I’ll get nightmares from watching stuff like that, so it’s taken me a while to appreciate that there are a number of not-so-scary Halloween movies out there for people like me. Although I still can’t get used to Hocus Pocus (1993). Sacrificing young children for eternal youth is horrifying.
For a while, I wouldn’t go near any of the Disney Channel Halloween movies, steering clear of anything that had a monster or a ghost in it, despite knowing that The Walt Disney Company don’t make a habit out of terrifying children. These movies would be “safe” for me, but I didn’t even watch the Halloweentown series until I was in my late-20s.
The Halloweentown trilogy, and I only say “trilogy” because I know many people don’t like the fourth one, continue to be watched every Halloween season and are fondly remembered by children of the 90s and 00s. This is one of Disney Channel’s most popular movie franchises. Twitches (2005) came along as the Halloweentown series was wrapping up and delighted a new set of children and tweens, but since then, Halloween-specific Disney Channel movies have not been released regularly.
Girl vs. Monster was released five years after Twitches Too (2007) and six years after Return to Halloweentown (2006). In that gap, Disney had seemingly turned away from spooky movies and were diving in to the world of musicals, thanks to the enormously successful High School Musical (2006). Girl vs. Monster was Disney Channel’s first Halloween movie for half a decade.
I hadn’t seen Girl vs. Monster before this week and I didn’t know what to expect. To be perfectly honest, I was a bit nervous about watching it because of the word “monster” in the title. I didn’t know if they’d look horrific or there would be lots of jump scares. Rest assured, I was fine watching Girl vs. Monster and I felt ridiculous for expecting anything terrifying! I was surprised at the amount of music in the movie though, but given Disney Channel’s history with musical movies, I probably shouldn’t have been.
Girl vs. Monster reminded me of lots of other Halloween movies and it clearly borrowed and adapted some aspects of those. It’s not a particularly original storyline but Girl vs. Monster wasn’t bad. Not exactly a glowing review, but like I said, I struggle with Halloween movies; I’m very fussy with them. There were still plenty of things about Girl vs. Monster I did like and can appreciate though.
PLOT
The story begins in an old mansion, where a group of teenagers are setting up a Halloween party. One of these is a girl called Skylar, who has a crush on the guy whose party this is, Ryan. Ryan has a band that will be performing at the party. Skylar is a pretty good singer, but Myra, Ryan’s on-off girlfriend, as well as lead singer of this band, won’t let Skylar take her spot – in either capacity. Skylar doesn’t feel threatened by her anyway, and she heads home with her friend, Sadie, walking through the cemetery in the grounds of the mansion. Sadie finds this cemetery creepy, but Skylar isn’t bothered by it.
She probably should be though, since some monster was watching her walk through there. Two people arrive and capture this monster, saying that it was “out too soon”, whatever that means. This doesn’t feel like a normal Halloween, apparently. What makes a Halloween “normal” anyway?
The next day, before school, Skylar has an argument with her parents. They are going away for a work event – they study mould for a living – leaving Skylar alone in the house. She wants to go to Ryan’s Halloween party that evening and begs her overprotective parents to let her go, but they refuse. She isn’t allowed to go to parties until she is sixteen.
At school, everyone is getting excited for Halloween, but not Skylar; she’s still annoyed. Myra, trying to keep Ryan’s attentions on her, tries to fix a school banner in the way that Skylar did when they were preparing for the Halloween party; by jumping up really high. But Skylar has had years of gymnastics training and Myra hasn’t, so naturally, she falls and hits the ground hard, injuring her neck. Great, now Ryan’s band needs a new singer…
In the middle of town, a new monster appears, this time disguised as a dog. It scares off a group of trick-or-treaters, before being captured by the same two people from the cemetery. It turns out these monster hunters are Skylar’s parents. OMG, so they don’t just work with mould!
Skylar watches as Ryan’s band practise with Ryan singing, however, he’s not happy with his vocal talents and tries to convince Skylar to sing with them at the party that evening. Skylar can’t bring herself to admit that she’s not allowed to go, and sees the desperation in his face, so she agrees to sing. But that doesn’t change the fact she’s not allowed to go.
Back home, Skylar’s parents are still trying to work out why there are so many monsters around for this time of year – duh, because it’s Halloween! There’s no time to ponder this though as they have to get out there and keep capturing them. Skylar is left locked inside the house, via their fancy security system, with Skylar’s dad’s assistant, Cobb. He is happy to be her babysitter for the evening, or be the “teen social companion” as he likes to call it – because that doesn’t sound creepy at all… Skylar knows the only way she’ll be able to leave the house now is if she cuts the power, so she heads to the basement and does just that, before Cobb can realise what she’s doing. The only problem is Skylar doesn’t know about all the monsters locked up in storage containers. With the power off, these monsters have escaped. Way to go, Skylar – you couldn’t have missed one party and just stayed inside, playing Jenga?
At least Skylar’s out of the house now, as her and Cobb run from these monsters. Skylar’s friends, Sadie and Henry, come to see what’s going on. A trio of monsters faces them: a woman in a red dress, a witch, and a scarecrow. They vow to come back to get them later and vanish. Cobb has some explaining to do. Skylar learns that the woman in red is an ancient, immortal monster called Deimata. Deimata is Skylar’s monster, who was captured when Skylar was just a baby by her parents. Skylar’s mother is a fourth-generation monster hunter, using her grandfather’s weapons and modernising them so monsters can be captured and stored. This allowed Skylar to go through life without fear, but now that Deimata is free, a lifetime of fear has hit Skylar all at once, and she’s terrified. And in denial, not believing any of this is real. Cobb assures her it is very real.
Skylar’s parents call Cobb and confirm to Skylar that they are monster hunters. But before they can say much else, the line goes dead. Skylar’s parents continue to pursue these monsters that are now all over town. They are later tricked into believing that Deimata has Skylar. As they rush to save her, they are captured themselves, ending up tied to chairs in an attic. Deimata says she plans to scare them to death and she’ll use Skylar to do it.
Cobb believes that Skylar and her friends will be safe going to Ryan’s Halloween party at the old McQuarry Mansion. He arms them with monster-hunting equipment just in case, and sends them all on their way, telling them to remain calm if they see any monsters as they feed on fear. He’ll try to fix the containment unit back at the lab.
In the woods, Skylar learns from Sadie and Henry that they have seen these monsters before. Sadie’s monster is the witch, called Theodosia, and Henry’s monster is Bob the Scarecrow. Trees start to come alive and chase the friends through the woods. None of them can keep calm enough to pacify the ghosts and Henry ends up literally frozen with fear – yes, he’s been petrified, just like in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). Cobb has been watching them all from the lab and realises something is wrong. Cobb meets them in the woods and gets the girls to their party. He then takes Henry back to the lab in a wheelbarrow to try and un-petrify him.
At the party, Ryan is annoyed that Skylar isn’t there to sing with the band, but just as they are about to start playing, she arrives. He calls her on stage, and despite her fear, she gives it a go. However, she soon spots Myra in the crowd and is too scared to continue singing for some reason. Myra then goes up on stage to show Skylar what a real lead singer looks like, performing the song with Ryan’s band instead. Everyone is surprised to see Myra here after getting injured at school. That’s because Myra isn’t really Myra; she was possessed by Deimata at her house so that Deimata could get into the party and scare Skylar, to make herself more powerful.
Skylar doesn’t think she can cope with this evening, but then, her and Sadie come face-to-face with a monster. Sadie convinces Skylar to use their monster-hunting equipment to capture it. Eventually, they succeed and call Cobb to ask for more storage containers as they’ve got many more monsters to capture. Skylar then sees a photograph of her mother in this mansion, realising that this must have been her grandfather’s house. And now it’s a rental venue for parties. How did that happen?
At the lab, Cobb has successfully unpetrified Henry. Henry is too freaked out by all this and wants to quit, but he knows he has to help Skylar and Sadie, so heads to the party. Once again, though, he is confronted by his monster, the Scarecrow. The Scarecrow torments and taunts Henry, who weakens in front of him. He then remembers what Cobb told them about facing their fears, and stands up to the Scarecrow, not allowing himself to feel scared. The scarecrow shrinks in front of him. Ah, so that’s how you defeat a monster.
Henry runs inside to tell Skylar this, however, the party is in a shambles, as Deimata, now free of Myra’s body, has unleashed a frenzy of monsters on all the party guests who are fleeing the mansion in terror. Deimata and the Witch taunt Sadie and Skylar, who are not able to confront them in the way Henry did. But Skylar has another idea. She goes over to Ryan and tells him to follow her outside with his guitar, whilst Henry finds the other band members. As Ryan is about to do this, he is possessed by Deimata.
Outside, Skylar stands in the centre of the cemetery and begins to sing to all the scared teenagers about not showing fear, knowing if they can do that, the monsters will vanish. But Ryan interrupts Skylar, telling her she’s a terrible singer. Skylar knows that isn’t Ryan talking, but is actually Deimata, and continues to sing, regardless. Sadie also confronts her own personal monster, the Witch, and she shrinks to nothing. Skylar then encourages Ryan to do something he’s scared of, to get Deimata to leave his body, so he asks her out; Skylar says “yes”. The monsters start to flee.
But not Deimata. Singing isn’t enough to stop an immortal monster. She goes up to the attic where Skylar now knows her parents are. She follows, but finds her parents aren’t there. Out on the roof, Deimata threatens to drop Skylar’s parents to the ground below. After some attempts to capture her, Skylar, Sadie, and Henry realise Deimata is too strong, as she is feeding on not only their fear, but Skylar’s parents’ fear as they worry about her safety and her monster-hunting ability. She tells them to trust her. Which is easy to say when you’re not the one hanging off roof tiles by your fingertips!
Skylar then says she’ll sacrifice herself to save them. With this trick, and her parents’ trust, Deimata is sufficiently weakened. Skylar, Sadie, and Henry then fire at Deimata and she is finally captured, hopefully forever. Skylar then pulls her parents to safety.
After the events of that night, Skylar sings with Ryan’s band the next day, alongside Myra, who has come to be friends with Skylar. Sadie and Henry also continue their lives, not allowing themselves to be controlled by their fears. A final shot shows the containment unit starting to crack, showing that monsters will never be gone completely. Spooky.
CHARACTERS & CAST
Skylar has managed to live the whole fifteen years of her life without fear, blissfully unaware of the struggles that many others face with their own anxieties. Lucky her… Well, that all changes when Deimata is released, her own personal monster, unleashing all those years of fear on Skylar all at once. That bubbly, confident exterior starts to crumble and she has to cope with that, along with the whole finding-out-your-parents-are-monster-hunters thing, which comes as a total shock. It does explain her parents’ overprotectiveness though; her mother even tries to feed her garlic on toast for breakfast to keep the monsters away. Gross. Eventually, Skylar has to learn that facing your fears, not running from them, is the only way to move through life, as fear never goes away completely.
Olivia Holt was cast in the role of Skylar. She began her career with Disney by starring in the series Kickin’ It (2011-15) as Kim Crawford. She went on to appear in a different Disney Channel series, I Didn’t Do It (2014-15) as Lindy Watson. She also voiced the character of Morgan in Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast (2014). More recently, Holt was cast as Tandy Bowen / Dagger in the Marvel series Cloak & Dagger (2018-19) and as Kate in Season 1 of Freeform’s Cruel Summer (2021-23). Between April and June 2023, Holt made her Broadway debut, playing Roxie in the musical Chicago. Holt is set to star as Sophie in the 2025 Netflix Christmas movie Jingle Bell Heist.
Skylar’s friends, Sadie and Henry, have clearly found school life more difficult than Skylar, as Sadie stresses about school presentations and tests, and Henry finds himself being picked on by bullies. Because of this, they are the ones who manage to calm Skylar down on multiple occasions as she struggles with the whole idea of fear, particularly stage fright, and just how awful it makes you feel. Sadie and Henry also both help with the actual monster hunting like good friends would; Skylar wouldn’t have managed on her own.
Sadie was played by Kerris Dorsey. Dorsey had previously been cast as Paige Whedon in the ABC series Brothers & Sisters (2006-11). After Girl vs. Monster, Dorsey went on to appear as Emily Cooper in Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (2014) for Disney, alongside Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner. She was also cast as Bridget Donovan in the series Ray Donovan (2013-20) and its 2022 movie. Henry was played by Brendan Meyer, who went on to appear in the web series Tagged (2016-18) as Eric/Dunbar Rakes and The OA (2016-19) as Jesse Mills, after Girl vs. Monster.
For Skylar’s love interest, Ryan, his main focus is his party and his band during the events of the film, as he is not involved in the monster hunting. But it’s quite clear that he likes Skylar, and thinks she’s a great girl. I have to admit, they do end up being a cute couple. On the other hand, Myra, Ryan’s ex-girlfriend, isn’t so impressed by Skylar, feeling jealous of her for taking Ryan’s focus. Myra does come to like Skylar, and I think that’s because she helps her pick herself up off the floor after Deimata decides to stop possessing her at the party. Or the possessing messed with her brain chemistry…Who knows! Either way, all three of them find they are able to get along by the end of the movie, and find there is room in the band for more than one singer.
Ryan was played by Luke Benward, who had already starred in the films How to Eat Fried Worms (2006) as Billy Forrester; the DCOM Minutemen (2008) as Charlie; and Dear John (2010) as Alan Wheddon prior to his casting in Girl vs. Monster. After that, he went on to appear as Beau, Teddy’s boyfriend, in the final season of Good Luck Charlie (2010-14) and in the DCOM Cloud 9 (2014) as Will, with Dove Cameron. He also appeared as Dillon Sanders in the short-lived Pretty Little Liars spin-off series Ravenswood (2013-14). In more recent years, Benward was cast as Bo Larson in the Netflix film Dumplin’ (2018).
Myra was played by Katherine McNamara. After Girl vs. Monster, McNamara went on to appear as Sonya in the last two instalments of the Maze Runner film series. She was later cast as Clary Fairchild in the series Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments (2016-19), winning a People’s Choice Award and a Teen Choice Award for her performance. McNamara also starred as Abby Walker in the series Walker: Independence (2022-23).
An element of comic relief in amongst all the threats from monsters comes from Cobb, Skylar’s parents’ assistant. He seems to be quite capable with the technology involved in his work but Cobb is not the best at keeping calm in a stressful situation, as we see during multiple moments in the movie, like when Deimata is first set free; he hardly comes across as a strong protector! That might be a bit unfair; Cobb certainly did help Skylar and her friends deal with this big, life-changing event. Cobb was played by Adam Chambers. For Disney Channel, Chambers had guest roles in Andi Mack (2017-19) and Good Luck Charlie (2010-14). Prior to his casting in Girl vs. Monster, Chambers had been cast in the web series’ My Alibi (2008-09) as Cy Woods, and I ❤ Vampires (2009-10) as Wyatt. More recently, Chambers appeared as Paul in Season 1 of the sitcom B Positive (2020-22), and as Adam in the movie For When You Get Lost (2023), which won various film festival awards. Chambers has also moved into directing work in recent years.
Now, to the monsters. Deimata is the leader of the primary trio of monsters that threatens Skylar and her friends. Deimata is a more powerful monster than the others, because she is an immortal. This means she is not easily captured or easily weakened. She is absolutely determined to ultimately possess Skylar’s soul forever. Nice…Deimata does have her more comedic moments too though, because this is a Disney Channel movie and she can’t only be menacing. For example, Deimata tries to get Skylar’s parents to play charades with her, in order to get them to guess how she plans to destroy them. Oh, what fun! She also has her fair share of sarcastic, witty lines: her opening line is “Hello, world. Mommy’s home!”, for example.
Tracy Dawson was cast as Deimata. At the time, Dawson was performing as Meghan Fitzpatrick in the sitcom Call Me Fitz (2010-13), for which she won a Gemini Award and a Canadian Screen Award for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. This was her final acting credit, as Dawson then decided to focus on writing instead, having written some episodes of Call Me Fitz. In 2022, she published her first book Let Me Be Frank.
For Deimata’s two “sidekicks”, we have Theodosia the Witch and Bob the Scarecrow These two aren’t particularly threatening and end up being easily defeated, just by having Sadie and Henry stand up to their taunts. The Scarecrow is quite funny as he begs Henry to be scared of him – he sounds so sad – so that’s another element of comedic relief in the movie. I did like all three of them discussing how the world of horror had changed just after Deimata escapes the containment unit, as she wants to know what’s happened in the world in the fifteen years she’s “been away”. The little quip about Twilight (2008) was amusing.
Theodosia and Bob were played by Anna Galvin and Stefano Guilianetti respectively. Some of Galvin’s credits include Gina in Smallville (2006-11); Rachel Young in Mr. Young (2011-13), which also starred Brendan Meyer, Henry in Girl vs. Monster; and Jane Wilkes in Loudermilk (2017-20). Guilianetti voiced the character Bogie in the animated series The Bots Master (1993-94), and he has also made guest appearances on series such as Supernatural (2005-20) and Once Upon a Time (2011-18) in recent years.
Obviously, this being a Disney Channel movie, there is only so much they can do with scary, horror elements in their Halloween-inspired films. I think they got the balance right here, in a similar way to the Halloweentown series, which included monsters and moments of suspense and peril, but dealt with them in a way that is non-threatening and non-traumatising for any small children that may have come across the programming!
MUSIC
Another way the scariness of the plot was toned down was by way of the music, with three original songs being written for the movie. This was a surprise to me as I was not aware that Girl vs. Monster had any original music prior to me watching it.
The song “Fearless” was performed by Olivia Holt as Skylar as she is trying to convince everyone at the party to not show fear so that the monsters will disappear. It was very “Disney” to have the lead character sing away the monsters. Not very realistic – I don’t think that’s a plot point in films like A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) or Halloween (1978) – but I quite liked this song actually. A typical pop song, but it was good, and Olivia Holt has a great voice. “Fearless” was written by Jeannie Lurie, Aris Archontis and Chen Neeman.
“Had Me @ Hello” is first performed in the movie by Luke Benward as Ryan, when he’s practising with his band prior to the Halloween party, trying to work out if his singing is good enough. This song is then reprised by Holt, Benward, and Katherine McNamara as Myra at the end of the movie. “Had Me @ Hello” is another song here that I liked. I can see why it won the Best Crush Song at the 2013 Radio Disney Music Awards; it’s cute[1]. The song was written by Dan Book, Alexei Misoul, and Shelly Peiken.
“Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now” is the other original song written for Girl vs. Monster. It is performed at three different times within the movie. The first is by Skylar when she is helping set up the Halloween party with Ryan and her friends. The second is at the Halloween party, but just as she thinks she’s overcome her stage fright, Myra, possessed by Deimata, shows up to make her stop. Myra then performs the song herself. It’s a song all about moving forward, but I didn’t love either version of it, though Skylar’s more earnest performance was preferable to Myra’s rock version for me. “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now” was written by Mitch Allan, Kevin Kadish, Sean Douglas, and Nikki Leonti.
Another song heard within Girl vs. Monster is “I Got My Scream On”, performed by China Anne McClain. “I Got My Scream On” is being played at the party just before Deimata unleashes all the monsters, causing the party guests to flee. This is not technically an original song; however, China Anne McClain was well-known on Disney Channel at the time for her starring role as Chyna Parks in A.N.T. Farm (2011-14), and was recording music for the company at the time.
There are some less obvious songs here too. One is the End Credits song, which is “Rich & Famous” performed by Joy Enriquez. Another song is playing at the Halloween party before Skylar and Sadie arrive, and that song is Miss Amani’s “Turn the Party Up”. A song called “Superstar” seems to be playing on Myra’s TV as she sits in her room eating popcorn on Halloween night, just before being rudely possessed by Deimata. This is performed by Clooney.
The composer of Girl vs. Monster’s score is Robert Duncan. He previously composed the score for another DCOM, Avalon High (2010), but has also composed music for television series such as Castle (2009-16) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003).
PRODUCTION
Girl vs. Monster’s cast was first announced in March 2012, and the premiere date was set to be during the second annual month-long “Monstober” event on Disney Channel[2].
Disney Channel’s Monstober is quite simply their build-up to Halloween, where Halloween DCOMs and Halloween episodes of Disney Channel’s most popular series are shown. The event has changed names throughout its time, but it does still exist in one form or another to get kids excited for Halloween.
Girl vs. Monster was created by a team that had a history of working on Disney Channel series and movies, with many of the crew having direct experience with Disney Channel’s spookier content. The story was written by Annie DeYoung, who had worked on Princess Protection Program (2009) and Return to Halloweentown (2006), with the teleplay being written by DeYoung and Ron McGee. McGee had previously worked on The Nine Lives of Chloe King (2011), an ABC Family production.
Stuart Gillard came on as the director for Girl vs. Monster. Gillard had previously directed three other Halloween DCOMs: The Scream Team (2002), Twitches (2005), and Twitches Too (2007). Executive producers Sheri Singer and Tracey Jeffrey had also worked on Disney Channel movies prior to Girl vs. Monster. Jeffrey had been a producer on The Suite Life Movie (2011); and Singer on Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas (2011)[3].
Singer’s production company had also produced all four of the Halloweentown movies. Singer wanted to work on Girl vs. Monster as it was continuing in the tradition of making Halloween TV movies, and felt Girl vs. Monster was similar to Halloweentown in some ways. One is the fact the main character learns about a big family secret. Singer did say Girl vs. Monster was more expensive, more ambitious, and bigger than Halloweentown[4].
Girl vs. Monster features quite a lot of special effects for a Disney Channel Original Movie. There are obviously the CGI monsters themselves, but there were other effects used. For example, when Skylar cuts the power to her parents’ house, some elements of the basement lab explode. The final battle on the roof of the mansion also required some stunt coordination. A set of the roof was built with a green screen behind it and the actors are on wires. This proves Singer’s point about this movie being more ambitious and bigger[5].
Girl vs. Monster was filmed in Vancouver, with some of the movie’s scenes being shot in the same woods that feature in New Moon (2009), the second movie in The Twilight Saga. Some of the cast members also believed their mansion location, which they thought used to be a convent, was haunted[6].
RECEPTION
A promo of Girl vs. Monster was first aired on 17th August 2012, during “Shake It Up: Made in Japan”, a movie-length episode of Shake It Up (2010-13).
Girl vs. Monster then premiered on Disney Channel on 12th October 2012. 4.9 million viewers on average watched the film during its premiere. It was also the No. 1 scripted cable TV telecast of the night. The premiere of Girl vs. Monster was followed by the premiere of a new Disney Channel series, Dog with a Blog (2012-15).
With this being a family-friendly Halloween movie, the reviews were always going to be mixed, as some think Halloween movies should only be all-out scary. Girl vs. Monster sits very much within the realms of family-friendly entertainment and will never suit those looking for horror movies. I can only hope nobody looking for a slasher film accidentally stumbled upon Girl vs. Monster, expecting something scary.
On the more positive side, viewers felt the movie was fun and an enjoyable movie to come from Disney for the Halloween season. The message about facing and overcoming fear was also considered to be appropriate for the target audience of tweens and teens. The soundtrack was also judged to be pretty good.
However, there were also negative comments, including that it was seen to be simply a way of showcasing Disney actors, although the performances of Luke Benward and Olivia Holt were considered a highlight. Some did not like the special effects for the monsters, finding them to be bad and low-budget. This is a television movie so the special effects wouldn’t have been as good as a Hollywood blockbuster. I thought they were fine.
The biggest criticism came from Girl vs. Monster’s plot being unoriginal. I can agree with this, as the movie’s story felt like a mix of multiple other movies, both Disney and non-Disney, for example, Hocus Pocus (1993), Casper (1995), Ghostbusters (1984), and Halloweentown (1998). With Skylar’s discovery that her parents have quite a cool and dangerous job, it also reminded me a bit of Spy Kids (2001). This didn’t bother me though and I don’t feel the need to criticise the movie for using similar ideas from other places.
Girl vs. Monster received a nomination at the Directors Guild of America Awards for Outstanding Directing – Children’s Program, however, Stuart Gillard lost out to Paul Hoen’s directing of the musical DCOM Let It Shine (2012). The movie did win at the Writers Guild of America Awards, awarding the win to Annie DeYoung and Ron McGee in the Children’s – Long Form or Special category.
LEGACY
Girl vs. Monster perhaps could have had a further movie. After all, the movie does end with Deimata seemingly cracking the containment unit, showing that her escape is possible.
But I don’t think Disney Channel could’ve produced a whole series of films based on Girl vs. Monster, like they did with Halloweentown, as I think the concept might’ve felt quite samey after a while. However, a sequel would’ve been interesting, to allow us to see Skylar have the opportunity to finally go monster hunting with her parents.
A sequel was not commissioned, however, Girl vs. Monster still continues to be included in the Halloween Collection on Disney+, although some other DCOMs and franchises, like ZOMBIES and Descendants, also make that list, despite not really being Halloween-y in nature. Disney Channel have continued to make Halloween movies, though not particularly frequently. Under Wraps 2, released in 2022, is their most recent one.
With the current trend of unexpected Disney sequels being announced or at least discussed, such as a sequel to Freaky Friday (2003) and The Princess Diaries 3, the possibility still remains for Girl vs. Monster 2 to become a reality, if a good story can be written and the cast are interested in returning for another outing.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I’m not a big fan of Halloween. I keep saying this and that’s because I know that I am not and was never the target audience for Girl vs. Monster. Clearly, I’m not the right age for it now, but even when I was, I still wouldn’t have watched this movie.
I’ve never been interested in Halloween DCOMs because I don’t like spooky movies. Girl vs. Monster wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be, which was good for me, and the music was quite nice. I also thought it was quite funny in places so overall, though I can say Girl vs. Monster didn’t suit me personally, I can’t tell anyone it is a bad movie, DCOM or otherwise.
What I feel I can say is: if you’re looking for a properly scary movie this Halloween, Girl vs. Monster is not the one. If you want toned-down spookiness, it most definitely is.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Vault of Walt Vol. 9: Halloween Edition (2020), ‘Girl vs. Monster (2012)’, pp. 237-238.
[2] Credit: Nellie Andreeva, ‘Disney Channel Sets Cast of ‘Girl Vs. Monster’’, Deadline.com, 28th March 2012.
[3] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Vault of Walt Vol. 9: Halloween Edition (2020), ‘Girl vs. Monster (2012)’, pp. 237-238.
[4] Credit: Emily Rome, ‘‘Girl Vs. Monster’: Bigger than ‘Halloweentown’ says producer’, EW.com, 12th October 2012.
[5] Credit: Disney Channel, ‘Girl vs Monster – Behind the Scenes – Special Effects’, Disney Channel UK YouTube Channel, 5th November 2012.
[6] Credit: Patricia McNamara, ‘Behind-the-scenes scoop: Girl Vs. Monster has a Twilight connection – and more!’, GirlsLife.com, 1st February 2016.
The Disney Purist 