BACKGROUND
It is very hard for me to pinpoint exactly when I first started watching Disney Channel, as they re-ran many of their series and movies years after the show or movie first premiered. But I would’ve been watching Disney Channel sometime around 2003 probably.
That means that I was not watching Disney Channel when Halloweentown and Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge first premiered, in 1998 and 2001, respectively, but that I was watching when the third movie in the series came out, with this being Halloweentown High in 2004. Did I watch it then, though? No, I did not.
I remember seeing the odd advert for it over the years, along with the fourth and final film in the franchise. I would’ve instantly seen the word “Halloween” and gone “No, thanks!”, despite the fact Halloweentown High was the first of the Halloweentown movies to feel like a Disney Channel Original Movie that I would’ve been used to. Something simple, normally set in school, and featuring just a bit of a twist on teenage life. Some people join bands, others play sport. In the Halloweentown movies, teenagers just so happen to fight dark magic.
It would seem that around 2003 or 2004, Disney Channel had figured out how to make great DCOMs more frequently, with some, like The Cheetah Girls (2003), The Even Stevens (2003), and, of course, Halloweentown High still being talked about and fondly remembered by those who watched them. Others, of course, are only fondly remembered by a select few, because, although Disney weren’t releasing as many Disney Channel Original Movies each year, there were still around six or seven at this time. And obviously by 2006, thanks to High School Musical, DCOMs became something else altogether.
But this is 2004 and the Piper family and Aggie Cromwell are back for a third Halloweentown story. This time, though, nobody goes to Halloweentown. Bit odd considering the series was built on this fictional town, especially as the chosen setting for Halloweentown High is, you guessed it, a high school, and a mortal one at that. Marnie has decided that Halloweentown’s teenage residents should be able to live in the mortal world if they wish, now that the portal between the two worlds is permanently open, thanks to Marnie and her family’s spell in Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge. Fantastical creatures mixing with moody human teenagers. Power-hungry Halloweentown Council members telling tales about scary knights. What could possibly go wrong?
PLOT
Halloweentown High begins with a further background to the divide between the mortal and magical worlds, through a poetic introduction. For a thousand years, the worlds were divided, with magical creatures being driven away by the human Knights of the Iron Dagger. Now the portal is once again open, there are concerns these knights may have returned…
In present day, Marnie has been summoned to the Halloweentown Council after opening the portal between Halloweentown and the mortal world for ever. The council wish to discuss Marnie’s plan about sending roughly a dozen Halloweentown teenagers to mortal high school, since, with the portal open permanently, Marnie thinks the two worlds should be able to co-exist. At this meeting, although she is thanked for saving Halloweentown, the council are not at all sure about her idea of bringing Halloweentown residents to live in the mortal world, with the council members warning Marnie of the Knights of the Iron Dagger. Marnie pleads her case, saying humans are more tolerant now, and without thinking, Marnie bets the Cromwell magic, her family’s magic, that her plan will work. Council member Edgar Dalloway gladly accepts this bet, saying Marnie has until midnight on Halloween to prove that her plan has worked. With that, the meeting is adjourned and Marnie is returned home.
Back home, Aggie is furious with Marnie for betting their magic, and Aggie begins to blame Gwen for this, due to Marnie’s late witch training. Marnie thinks maybe it would be best if they just cancelled it all now, but Aggie says it is too important to the future of both worlds, so they must continue. Marnie asks about the Knights of the Iron Dagger. Gwen brushes away her concern, saying those knights, meant to pursue magical creatures, are just a story that Halloweentown parents came up with, like the humans’ Bogeyman.
The next day, the Pipers are preparing their house to welcome these Halloweentown “exchange students”. Marnie attempts to increase the size of the house, by adding an additional set of rooms, however, her magic is not strong enough for the spell and she ends up shrinking the house, in full view of a couple running. Gwen comes in to cast the spell instead. Aggie then calls on her “witch’s glass”, and says she is loading up the students from Halloweentown and she’ll meet them at school. Gwen, Marnie, and brother Dylan then wonder if Aggie is silly enough to take the Halloweentown students to the mortal world on the Halloweentown flying bus… They rush to school!
Luckily, Aggie arrives with the others in a regular car, and wearing normal “mortal” clothes. Here, the Pipers are introduced to the exchange students they’ll be looking after, like witch Cassie, who is very excited to meet humans, troll Natalie, and warlock Ethan, son of council member Edgar Dalloway. Marnie tells the students to blend in, saying that their cover story is that they are all from Canada. Marnie begins to show them to their classes, however, on the way, she meets Cody, a new human student.
Meanwhile, Aggie has gone to meet with Principal Phil Flanagan, however, she struggles to hide her magic, especially since she has a magical bag that follows her around. Aggie is tasked with substitute teaching at the high school, so she can keep an eye on the new intake. She begins with teaching science, the same class as Marnie. Marnie arrives late and sits next to Cody. Aggie starts the lesson, but accidentally uses magic and makes a bird appear from a chemical reaction. Marnie goes over to her to try and get her to be careful. At the same time, Aggie passes a Marnie a locker combination, saying there’ll be a “meet up” there later. As Marnie returns to her seat, Cody curiously looks at the combination. At the locker, Marnie enters the combination and sees an empty locker. Suddenly, she is magically sucked in to it, where she finds a lounge area for the Halloweentown creatures, a place where they have shed their human disguises and can just be themselves. On returning home, Marnie is optimistic for their plan. Aggie gets a call from council member Dalloway who asks if they have sensed any danger to the students. Aggie says there hasn’t been any problems and that everything looks fine here, although the creatures are concerned about the knights. Marnie and her family try to put them at ease.
The next day at school, Marnie sees Cody and leaves the Halloweentown students to go about their day. However, her longed-for conversation with Cody is cut short as Aggie signals that her and Marnie need to talk urgently. Aggie shows Marnie a chalk drawing of an iron dagger that has been added to the pavement outside. She says it seems to be a call to other knights, which also concerns Marnie. Aggie starts to become suspicious of Cody, but Marnie says it can’t be him. Besides, they were told the knights weren’t even real. As Principal Flanagan enters the room, Aggie begins a rainstorm to wash away the dagger drawing. The principal has heard about issues in the science lessons, so he has reassigned Aggie to teach history instead. Once again, Marnie is in the same history class and as Aggie begins her lesson, Marnie gets a note from Cody, asking her out on a date that Saturday. Marnie gladly accepts. Her attention is then required in the lesson because Aggie is telling the students too much about her long life, so Marnie uses magic to end the class early!
At lunch, Marnie wonders where the Halloweentown creatures are. She eventually finds Cassie, who is studying the eating habits of teenage boys – gross. Marnie asks Cassie where the others are, and she says they are in the “special room”. Not liking how isolated the new students are becoming, Marnie encourages them to join some clubs that might interest them. Werewolf Pete decides to try out for the football team, whilst Ethan joins the drama department. Cassie has an idea for them all to do a booth at the school’s upcoming Halloween Carnival, liking the idea of a haunted house. They decide to go for it.
On Saturday, Marnie ushers everyone into Aggie’s car so they can all go to the mall; however, Cody shows up, expecting Marnie to be ready for their date. Marnie assumed their date would be that night, and asks Cody to come back then. He agrees to. At the mall, Marnie tries to explain the intricacies of human interactions there, but the others have already gone off exploring. Dylan and Natalie become competitive on an arcade game, most of the girls go shopping, and the boys play some mini golf. Marnie and Aggie then notice that both Cody and Principal Flanagan are at the mall too. They go off with their respective dates.
The Halloweentown beings later walk past a Halloween store. They see the costumes and items in there as exaggerated and highly offensive to them. Ethan then hears a group of guys walking past calling Halloween “a freak show”. He calls them out on it, starting a fight. The creatures defend Ethan but end up reverting to their normal selves, scaring the humans at the mall. Marnie hears a scream and rushes over, leaving Cody at the food court. She sees people running from a cloud of purple smoke. Aggie clears the smoke, and the two see all the Halloweentown students in their normal forms. Here, Dylan rejects Natalie for her troll looks, having not seen that side of her before. They are then alerted to a knight’s dagger, plunged into a pumpkin nearby. Everyone is told to get to the car.
They all get home safe, but the mall incident has spooked some of them. The news has also reached not only the mortal world but also the Halloweentown Council who once again summon Marnie to an urgent meeting. They are furious that these threats were not reported to them. The council members want the exchange programme ending immediately and the portal between the two worlds permanently closed. They agree to leave the Cromwell magic alone though. This would seem like a sensible time to cut your losses, but Marnie wants to see her plan through, believing she has time for this to work. The council members end the meeting, knowing her bet still stands, and not thinking she will succeed. Gwen attempts to cheer Marnie up that evening, as Aggie is annoyed at Marnie for continuing to put their magic at risk. Marnie asks if any of the students want to return to Halloweentown. Ethan thinks it would be best, but everyone else wants to stay, so they agree to stick together and get through this difficult time.
The next day, Aggie is still not talking to Marnie, and has been moved from history to teaching gym now. Meanwhile, Marnie has been called to a problem by Cassie. They both go to the locker, where Marnie sees it has been broken open. Marnie realises it must’ve been a Knight of the Iron Dagger. She tells Cassie to stay there, believing her to be safe inside the secret room in the locker, whilst Marnie goes to Aggie for help. Aggie is leading a basketball lesson – badly – when Marnie arrives. Marnie blames Aggie for her constant magic drawing the knights to them, but Aggie blames Marnie, thinking it is Cody who is the knight at this school. Cody demands Marnie explains what is going on, saying he knows about the locker, leading Marnie to think he could be a knight after all, although she isn’t certain. Marnie hears a scream. On returning to the locker, she sees Cassie has been taken.
At home, Marnie thinks everyone has to return to Halloweentown now, but Aggie and Gwen have investigated the locker situation. They say that the spell stopping humans from entering the locker remains unbroken, so only someone from Halloweentown has done this. Their first priority is to get help and save Cassie. As a witch’s glass is the only thing strong enough to hold a witch, this is the first thing to be inspected. Ethan is told to get his, but on looking into it, he sees Cassie inside, and hides it from Aggie. Aggie later watches Ethan as he runs down the street. The Pipers remain on high alert, with Gwen putting a spell on Cody who had arrived with flowers for Marnie. Gwen apologises, thinking he was a knight, and says he should regain consciousness soon. Marnie decides to take him home on her broom. Partway through the journey, he wakes up and Marnie tells him she is a witch. He thinks it’s all a dream. Later, Gwen, Aggie, and Marnie discuss their plan for dealing with these threats. Gwen goes inside Aggie’s witch’s glass to search for Cassie.
At school that night, Ethan has met up with his father, Edgar, and Principal Flanagan. Ethan demands to know if Edgar trapped Cassie in the witch’s glass and he confirms he did. Principal Flanagan is then revealed to be the last in a long line of Knights of the Iron Dagger, and is someone who hates magic, so he has been helping Edgar with his plan to make this experiment of Marnie’s fail. We learn that Ethan left the dagger at the mall, as ordered by his father. His father wants the portal closed forever and to gain the Cromwell powers.
The next day, the Halloweentown students start to put up their haunted house for the Halloween Carnival, with some magical assistance from Marnie. This is witnessed by Cody who came to talk to her about his “dream”. He realises it was all true. The principal is surprised to see them here, believing that all the students had returned home. Back in his office, Aggie’s magical bag goes to attack him, and discovers his knight ring. The bag keeps the ring and returns to Aggie, who opens up the bag and discovers it, proving that Principal Flanagan was the knight who was threatening them. Aggie then confronts Principal Flanagan with this ring. She turns the ring into a snake, scaring Principal Flanagan, and walks away. As Dylan tells everyone of his plan to make their haunted house super scary, the Halloweentown creatures decide to make it non-scary, to get the humans to like them.
As the carnival begins, the human students find Halloweentown’s haunted house to be incredibly boring, even though the creatures have tried to make it informative and realistic to their lives. However, Edgar Dalloway soon arrives through the portal to the mortal world to liven things up, by making the haunted house and the creatures scary and terrifying, horrifying the humans. Seeing all the terrible magic going on, Marnie and Aggie attempt to undo it, but their spells actually make it worse, making them look like the instigators of the attack. Cody begins to be suspicious of Marnie’s magic at this point, asking for confirmation that her magic is actually good. Aggie and Marnie see that Edgar is the one ruining everything, and Aggie makes him disappear, reversing all of his magic at the carnival. However, this does not erase what just happened in the minds of the human students. Principal Flanagan orders everyone to force the creatures out of this world, saying they were trying to destroy all humans, leading a mob to chase them into the haunted house. Marnie and Aggie’s protests of innocence fall on deaf ears.
On entering the haunted house, Marnie and Aggie confront Edgar, where they also discover that Ethan was helping him to mess up Marnie’s plans. Edgar says her plan has failed and now he is going to take their magic. Marnie and Aggie become weak after losing their powers, which makes Principal Flanagan regret what he has done by helping Edgar. Ethan also refuses to leave with his father, wanting to stay and fix what has happened. Edgar leaves through the portal and closes it behind him – forever.
The humans continue to harass the Halloweentown residents, but Cody sticks up for Marnie. The Halloweentown creatures then decide to show their true selves to the humans. Although surprising, the humans actually think they are quite cool and decide to accept them, showing that humans have changed, just like Marnie said. Suddenly, the portal is blasted open and Edgar returns, closely followed by Cassie and Gwen, having successfully found her. Marnie says that Gwen has shown the Halloweentown Council everything that happened this evening and they reclaim their magic from Edgar. The council say that Edgar deliberately misled them, and that the portal should remain open. Edgar is forced to resign from the council and is trapped in a witch’s glass as punishment for his crimes.
The Halloween Carnival continues, and more residents of Halloweentown come through the portal to enjoy it, side-by-side with humans. Dylan and Natalie have a heart-to-heart, where Dylan says he doesn’t care what she looks like. But as they lean in to kiss each other, they decide it is too gross and pull away, agreeing to just be friends! Aggie reconciles with Principal Flanagan, who wants Aggie to stay at the school. She wants to make a few magical changes to the curriculum first! To end the movie, we see that Marnie and Cody are on a romantic broom flight together, and they finally kiss.
CHARACTERS & CAST
Marnie Piper is now a much more confident witch than she was in the previous two movies. She has decided that she needs to get the mortal and magical worlds to live in harmony together again, since the portal between the two worlds is forever open. The problem is Marnie always has big plans and grand ambitions, but these are met with criticism by most. In this case, although mother Gwen and grandmother Aggie are on her side, wanting the inhabitants from both worlds to get along, even they are concerned when their magic is on the line, after a silly bet is made with the Halloweentown Council. However, they stick by Marnie, with Aggie choosing to teach at the high school to keep an eye on things. Gwen is also actually using her magic for a change, and seems to have undergone a bit of a change of heart since the first two movies where she hated magic. I guess her daughter’s love of it must’ve rubbed off on her. Without them, Marnie most certainly would’ve failed in her plan with the exchange students as she finds herself distracted by a new boy at school. Aggie also becomes taken by a new man in her life, and sadly for Aggie, her man turns out to be the bad one this time, not Marnie’s – although we can’t say Marnie is a great judge of character after what happened with Kal in Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge, so it’s quite fair of Aggie to assume it was Marnie’s boyfriend and not her own causing the problems!
Kimberly J. Brown returned to her role as Marnie Piper after the first two films in the series. After Halloweentown High, Brown appeared in the recurring role of Chloe Jennings in the soap opera General Hospital (1963-present) in 2021. She was recently cast as Luna in the Hallmark movie Haul Out the Halloween (2025). Debbie Reynolds also reprises her role as Aggie Cromwell. After her role in the first Halloweentown film, Reynolds went on to voice the character of Lulu Pickles in the Rugrats (1991-2004) and Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (2000). She also voiced the part of Nana Possible in the Disney Channel series Kim Possible (2002-07) and was cast in the recurring role of Bobbi Adler in Will & Grace (1998-2006). She starred alongside Michael Douglas as Frances Liberace in Behind the Candelabra (2013). Judith Hoag reprised her role as Gwen Piper. Emily Roeske as Marnie’s sister Sophie is also back for Halloweentown High, but she only appears for a short time.
With “exchange students” from Halloweentown coming to the mortal world, this allowed for many new characters to be added to the story. Because around nine of them arrive, being creatures ranging from ogres and werewolves to fairies, I’m only going to concentrate on the ones who had more of a role in the movie’s storyline. One of these was witch Cassie. Cassie is the first to meet the Pipers on that first day of school and she is very enthusiastic about the opportunity she has in learning alongside humans. Cassie also seems to trust the Pipers with her safety during her stay in the mortal realm, which comes back to haunt her, as she is kidnapped from the supposed safety of their magical locker lounge. Cassie is later saved by Gwen, having been taken as part of Edgar Dalloway’s plans to close the portal for good and take the Cromwell magic. Cassie was played by Eliana Reyes.
There is also Natalie the pink, fuzzy troll. She is incredibly intelligent and gets along with Dylan as they have their intellect in common. They are also equally competitive as they play on an arcade game at the mall, with Dylan pointing out that he has the high score. There is an initial attraction between them, however, when Natalie’s true troll form is revealed to him, Dylan rejects her, saying he doesn’t like how she looks. Eventually, Dylan comes round to the fact that he shouldn’t judge Natalie on her looks, but it doesn’t matter anyway, because they both decide to just stay friends. Olesya Rulin was cast as Natalie. Rulin will be familiar to Disney Channel fans for her role as Kelsi Nielsen in the High School Musical trilogy. She had also previously had minor roles in the 2001 DCOMs Hounded and The Poof Point. After her time with Disney Channel, Rulin went on to be cast in the recurring role of Abby in the ABC Family series Greek (2009-11) and starred as Calista Secor in the PlayStation Network series Powers (2015-16). Joey Zimmerman returned to his role as Dylan Piper from the previous two Halloweentown films.
Ethan Dalloway is a warlock, and son of Halloweentown Council member Edgar Dalloway. Ethan initially seems to be adapting fairly well to life at mortal high school, by joining the drama club for example and being interested in that. However, it later becomes clear that Ethan has been working with his father to make sure Marnie’s plan of humans accepting Halloweentown residents does not come to fruition. Ethan secretly leaves a dagger at the mall to make it look like the creatures are being threatened by knights and hides the fact he knows that Cassie has been trapped in his witch’s glass. Ethan is not a bad guy, this being proven by the fact he won’t help his father do any more damage towards the end of the film, but seems to have acted out of fear or a sense of duty to his father. Edgar is devious and intent on making sure the mortal and magical worlds stay separated forever, with the added bonus of gaining the Cromwell powers should he succeed in getting Marnie’s plan to fail. Luckily, Edgar is found out and banished from the council, along with being trapped in a witch’s glass for an undisclosed amount of time.
Lucas Grabeel was cast as Ethan, making this another familiar actor to the world of DCOMs, as Grabeel is well-known for his role as Ryan Evans in the High School Musical trilogy. Grabeel was also cast as Scooter in the Disney movie College Road Trip (2008), alongside Raven-Symoné and Brenda Song, and appeared as Danny Nicoletta in the Oscar-nominated movie Milk (2008), which starred Sean Penn as Harvey Milk. Edgar Dalloway was played by Michael Flynn. Flynn was cast as James Hart in the first two seasons of Everwood (2002-06). He went on to be reunited with his on-screen son Lucas Grabeel in the 2018 modern retelling of Little Women – not the 2019 Greta Gerwig film – with Grabeel playing Laurie and Flynn cast as Mr. Laurence, Laurie’s grandfather.
Finally, we have Marnie and Aggie’s love interests. We are kept guessing throughout the events of the film as to which is a Knight of the Iron Dagger. Initially, we suspect Cody, Marnie’s crush, because he seems very interested in both the new exchange students and the locker where Marnie meets up with them. But it turns out Cody was just curious and actually wanted to spend time with Marnie without her being distracted by these exchange students, who seem to take up a lot of her time. Cody is not the knight and is trusted enough by Marnie to be told that Marnie is a witch, taking the news very well. Cody was played by Finn Wittrock. Wittrock went on to be cast as Damon Miller in the soap opera All My Children (1970-2013) from 2009 to 2011, before starring as Dandy Mott in American Horror Story: Freak Show (2014-15). He has since returned to the anthology series to make further appearances in other stories. Wittrock was also cast as Edmund Tolleson in the Netflix series Ratched (2020). In movies, Wittrock appeared as Greg in La La Land (2016) and as Mickey Deans in Judy (2019). He is set to star as Milton S. Hershey in the biopic Hershey, following the history of The Hershey Company.
Then we have Aggie’s crush, Principal Flanagan. Although he seems a little bit suspicious of Aggie, Principal Flanagan seems to be mostly ignoring Aggie’s magic and not noticing much, even when being told about what is going on her classes. Instead of firing her, the principal simply moves Aggie to different subjects. This would make it seem that Principal Flanagan is just as interested in Aggie as she is in him, but we learn that actually Principal Flanagan is the knight. Aggie confronts him and tells him that the knights have and always will have vile views, which she cannot agree with. Principal Flanagan then leads a mob against Aggie and the others, but when he sees that Aggie has been weakened by her magic being taken, he changes his mind about magic and about Aggie, even asking her to stay on as a teacher at the school. Principal Flanagan was played by Clifton Davis. Davis had previously appeared in the ABC sitcom That’s My Mama (1974-75) as Clifton Curtis, and then in the NBC sitcom Amen (1986-91) as Reverend Reuben Gregory. More recently, Davis was cast as Ephraim Ware from Season 2 of Madam Secretary (2014-19) and stars as Vernon Dupree in the soap opera Beyond the Gates (2025-present).
MUSIC
Mark Mothersbaugh had composed the scores for both Halloweentown and Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge, with his Halloweentown theme being particularly memorable amongst those who have seen the films.
The much-loved Halloweentown theme is not heard at all in Halloweentown High and that is because Mothersbaugh did not return to work on the music for Halloweentown High. Instead, Kenneth Burgomaster was chosen to be the composer. Burgomaster went on to compose the music for a variety of Disney Channel series and movies. His musical credits include composing the music for Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie (2009), as well as its 2013 TV special The Wizards Return: Alex Vs. Alex; Season 2 of the series Phil of the Future (2004-06); and the Disney Channel movie The Swap (2016).
There are only two songs feature within Halloweentown High and only one is credited. This credited song is “Strange World”, which was written by Andy Dodd and Adam Watts, and was performed by singer Jessie Payo. It is used for the opening shots of the school’s Halloween Carnival, and features again in the End Credits.
The other song is “Let’s Get Together”, originally written by legendary Disney composers Robert and Richard Sherman for Disney’s live-action movie The Parent Trap (1961). It was first performed by Hayley Mills; however, I am uncertain who performs this song for Halloweentown High as it was not included in the End Credits. The band The Go-Go’s performed a rock version of “Let’s Get Together” for the album Disneymania 5, released in 2007, but the two songs sound quite different, so unless they slowed down the song significantly for Halloweentown High, I don’t think The Go-Go’s performed it here. The Sherman Brothers had previously written various pieces of music for Disney movies and Disney theme parks, including songs for The Jungle Book (1967); Mary Poppins (1961); and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977), as well as the popular tunes “It’s a Small World (After All)” from the Disney attraction of the same name and “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” from the Carousel of Progress.
No official soundtrack was released for Halloweentown High, containing either the score or the songs within the movie.
PRODUCTION
Now that Disney Channel Original Movies were becoming real events in the calendars of kids and tweens, it is quite clear to see just how much more effort – and budget – was going in to these movies as confidence in them grew.
Halloweentown High did actually see a major change to its writing team, as Jon Cooksey and Ali Matheson, who co-wrote both the first film, with Paul Bernbaum, and the second movie, did not return for the third. In place of them, screenwriter Dan Berendsen was hired. Prior to Halloweentown High, Berendsen had written some episodes of Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996-2003), as well as two of its movies, Sabrina Goes to Rome (1998) and Sabrina Down Under (1999), so if any elements of Halloweentown High – like the witch with the mortal boyfriend – sound like something from Sabrina the Teenage Witch, this is perhaps why! It did mean that Berendsen had some experience writing stories about magic though. He went on to write further DCOMs including Twitches (2005), Twitches Too (2007), and Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie (2009), just to name a few. Apparently, Kimberly J. Brown was asked for some input into the writing of Halloweentown High, in order to help with continuity between the movies.
The director also changed, although both of the first two Halloweentown movies were directed by different people. Halloweentown High was directed by Mark A. Z. Dippé, who is both a director and visual effect supervisor. His directorial debut came with the superhero film Spawn (1997). For Disney Channel, Dippé also directed Pixel Perfect (2004), which premiered in January 2004. He went on to co-direct the animated movie The Boxcar Children (2014), which was based on the children’s book series by Gertrude Chandler Warner, and its 2018 sequel, as well as the Netflix movie Marmaduke (2022).
Adding to these changes, Halloweentown High was not filmed in either Oregon, where the first movie was filmed, or Vancouver, Canada, where the second one was filmed. Filming moved to Utah for this movie, which isn’t uncommon for Disney Channel, as many other DCOMs were also filmed in Utah, such as Cloud 9 (2014), Go Figure (2005), Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas (2011), Minutemen (2008), and the High School Musical movies.
In fact, one of the specific filming locations, Juan Diego High School, used for the school scenes here, had also been used for a DCOM before, this being The Luck of the Irish (2001). Juan Diego Catholic High School was established in 1999 in Draper, a suburb of Salt Lake City, and is a private school affiliated with the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City[1]. Cottonwood Mall in Holladay, Utah, around 30 minutes from Salt Lake City, was the mall location that Marnie, Aggie, Dylan, and the Halloweentown students visited[2]. Cottonwood Mall has since been demolished, with the land being redeveloped.
There were also a variety of new characters introduced in Halloweentown High, all with different magical backgrounds. Two of the more complicated characters to create from a hair and makeup perspective were Pete the werewolf and Natalie the troll. Pete the werewolf was played by Todd Michael Schwartzman who had to have hair glued to his face and wear prosthetic fangs for the scenes where Pete is in his normal form. Olesya Rulin, who played Natalie, had to endure being painted pink for her role as a troll, needing a huge, fuzzy wig, as well as prosthetic ears attached too. The process took around two hours to complete[3].
There is also an interesting link between the costuming of Halloweentown High and High School Musical (2006). Lucas Grabeel commented at the FanExpo San Francisco in 2024 that the same wardrobe designer, Tom McKinley, worked on both Halloweentown High and High School Musical. McKinley has also worked on other DCOMs like Den Brother (2010) and Read It and Weep (2006). This meant that Grabeel first met McKinley on the set of Halloweentown High. McKinley said that Grabeel looked good in hats so kept putting them on him for this movie, such as a red beret, a red fedora, and a black Stetson to match Ethan’s cowboy outfit for the carnival. This love of hats was then carried over into High School Musical, where we see Ryan wears even more hats than Ethan, in practically every scene, showing that Ryan’s whole hat thing actually began with Halloweentown High[4].
Kimberly J. Brown stated that filming on Halloweentown High was very enjoyable, as she not only got to be reunited with the actors who played the other Pipers, who were feeling like a real family by this point, but that new cast members were added to the mix. Brown said Debbie Reynolds thought Finn Wittrock was going to go far after Halloweentown High – and she was right – and Reynolds and the other returning cast were very welcoming to the new cast members, who might’ve felt a little intimidated coming into such a well-bonded cast. One cast member who did not return was Luke the goblin, who had helped Marnie in both Halloweentown and Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge. Brown was unsure why Luke was not included in this movie, other than Luke didn’t show any desire to live in the mortal world in either of the two previous movies so it probably didn’t make sense for his character to decide to study at mortal high school[5].
RECEPTION
After another three-year gap between movies, Halloweentown High premiered on Disney Channel in the US on 8th October 2004, in perfect time for the “spooky season”. The previous two movies had been released at a similar time of year.
Just as Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge was not the first official DCOM sequel, thanks to the release of Zenon: The Zequel just a few months before, Halloweentown High could also not be named the first official DCOM “threequel”, because Zenon: Z3 came to Disney Channel in June 2004, a mere three months before Halloweentown High.
But Halloweentown High reportedly had the highest viewing figures of any DCOM released in 2004. In a year where the likes of Going to the Mat, Stuck in the Suburbs, and Pixel Perfect premiered on the channel, Halloweentown High brought in around 6.1 million viewers, basically the same figure as its predecessor[6]. The other DCOMs released in 2004 had on average around 4 million viewers, so this once again showed the lasting effect that Halloweentown had had on Disney Channel viewers over those six years. It would appear that the most-watched DCOM premiere up to that point was 2002’s Cadet Kelly, followed by 2003’s The Cheetah Girls, with 7.8 million and 6.5 million respectively.
In terms of reviews, Halloweentown High had a mixture of comments. Some say that Halloweentown High is the best in the Halloweentown series. This might have something to do with the fact that two main members of the High School Musical cast are in this movie – Lucas Grabeel and Olesya Rulin. It was also felt to be more fun and lighter in tone than the second film, and seemed to conclude this trilogy, with the portal to both worlds open and humans and magical beings able to co-exist in harmony.
However, others disliked the fact Halloweentown High didn’t feature Halloweentown at all, this being the only movie in the franchise that does not. This was disappointing for some. It was also pointed out that this film seemed to show Disney Channel clearly moving away from their horror-like DCOMs of the 1990s and early 2000s, such as Don’t Look Under the Bed (1999) and The Scream Team (2002), as Halloweentown High was not as scary as the second movie, with the first sequel being praised by some viewers for this very reason. Halloweentown High was said to lack the charm of the previous movies and doesn’t feel part of the same series as the first two films.
Plot holes have been discussed throughout the Halloweentown franchise, with some elements not making sense, or lacking continuity between the films. In this case, some viewers commented on the fact Sophie’s role was reduced to just a couple of scenes, despite the fact she had an innate ability to sense danger and bad things happening, which came in very useful in the original movie and the sequel. In Halloweentown High, Sophie wasn’t given much to do at all. Also, Dylan’s powers are ignored in this film. Sure, he was never a big fan of magic, but he was shown to have magic in the final scenes of both Halloweentown and Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge. It’s probably just that Dylan has no desire to use his powers whilst in the mortal world, although he surely could’ve gotten himself down from the ceiling when Marnie stuck him to it for making a joke about her. Seemingly where Dylan’s magic was missing, it was decided that Gwen’s magic should replace it, because Gwen is using magic all over the place in Halloweentown High, even though she had a definite dislike, almost a hatred, of magic in the previous two movies. It’s like Gwen had a complete change of personality, using magic for simple tasks like pouring hot chocolate and we aren’t told why she had this change of heart[7].
Plot holes don’t really affect my enjoyment of movies and I tend to just dismiss them if I notice them at all, so most of these specific points on the Pipers’ magic didn’t bother me much, although it was quite strange to see Gwen be a completely different person in Halloweentown High. But all that magic being used around her by Aggie and Marnie probably made her think something like: “If you can’t beat them, join them”. I did also like the overall story of Halloweentown High, however, it felt to me like the story could’ve been used with any characters, not necessarily the ones from the Halloweentown franchise, as the storyline of accepting those who are different to you without judgement does fit the generic Disney Channel Original Movie storyline. And though I don’t like scary movies, I did like them leaning into that aspect in the second movie. It did not continue in the third and it was just a typical DCOM set in a school with the typical sort of messaging being put across to viewers of inclusion and acceptance. I’m not even a fan of Halloweentown as a franchise but Halloweentown High did feel very different, and I still don’t really know how I feel about it, only knowing that I enjoyed the first two movies more than this one.
LEGACY
Despite Halloweentown High doing a pretty good job in wrapping up the story of Marnie Piper and her family’s magical ways, Disney Channel felt that they needed to further the story with just one more movie. This movie turned out to be Return to Halloweentown (2006), but if audiences were expecting a delightful reunion with the Pipers and a return to the Halloweentown that they loved and grew up with, that is not at all what they got.
For a start, Return to Halloweentown didn’t see the return of Emily Roeske as Sophie Piper, due to the fact Roeske retired from acting after appearing in Halloweentown High. Although Debbie Reynolds did return as Aggie Cromwell, her role was seriously reduced in this fourth film. The worst of all was that Kimberly J. Brown was actually recast in this fourth film, making Halloweentown High her last outing in the Halloweentown franchise. At least for now; we all know how much Disney love reboots and remakes!
Because of this, Halloweentown High has a special place in the history of the Halloweentown franchise. Looking back on it now, viewers have come to say that they like Halloweentown High the most, partly because it was the last time the whole original cast would be together, even if the story perhaps wasn’t what was expected from this third film.
Halloweentown High remains part of a beloved Disney Channel and Halloween movie franchise, so it is rewatched by dedicated fans every year for the Halloween season.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Halloweentown High went some way in exploring the worlds of Halloweentown and the mortal world and their interactions with each other, this being brought about as a direct action of Marnie, Aggie, and her siblings opening up the portal between the two worlds permanently during the events of Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge.
However, Halloweentown High has its fair share of critics and fans. It would seem that this new story and new feel to the Halloweentown series did not go down well with everyone, who disliked the lack of Halloweentown and its lesser story, although some have said it is the best in the series for them.
Either way, everyone can admit that Halloweentown High was the end of an era, something the viewers weren’t to know until the fourth film arrived with some major changes.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Utah Film Commission, ‘On Location: Utah Schools’, Film.Utah.gov, 13th August 2025.
[2] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Vault of Walt 9: Halloween Edition (2020), ‘The Halloweentown Saga (1998-2006)’, pp. 85-101.
[3] Credit: Disney Channel, ‘Disney Channel Original Movie Extra: Halloweentown High ‘Special Effects Makeup’ Promo (2004)’, 88Rarities YouTube Channel, 19th March 2023.
[4] Credit: Marisa Williams, ‘Ever Wondered Why Lucas Grabeel Wore So Many Hats Between ‘High School Musical’ and ‘Halloweentown High’?’, Collider.com, 2nd December 2024.
[5] Credit: Stacey Grant, ‘Kimberly J. Brown Reflects on the Magic of Halloweentown High, 15 Years Later’, Seventeen.com, 8th October 2019.
[6] Credit: Denise Martin, ‘Disney bewitches young aud’, Variety.com, 23rd October 2006.
[7] Credit: Lindsay Press, ’10 Things That Make No Sense About The Halloweentown Franchise’, ScreenRant.com, 10th October 2022.
The Disney Purist 