Ever walk down your street on a crisp October day and just wish your neighbors committed to the Halloween decorations bit? Just a little jack-o’-lantern here, a hanging skeleton there — you know, the basics. Well, The Curse of Bridge Hollow is here to heed your call, as the Halloween decorations of Bridge Hollow don’t just light up the neighborhood — they actually come to life.  In case you don’t believe us, check out the film’s new trailer above. 

The spooky film follows a family as they move from Brooklyn to the small town of Bridge Hollow. But the plot thickens when the father (Marlon Wayans) and his teenage daughter (Priah Ferguson), who don’t necessarily see eye to eye, are unexpectedly forced to team up and save their town. Why? Well, Stingy Jack, an ancient and mischievous spirit, causes all Halloween decorations to come to life and wreak havoc, of course.

Bridge Hollow director and executive producer Jeff Wadlow tells Tudum that he was a “huge Halloween fan” as a kid. According to Wadlow, this film was his “chance to do some world-building and create this whole canvas of this town that is obsessed with Halloween.” 

So when it came to designing the film’s imagery, Wadlow channeled his inner Halloween kid to create art that is chock-full of “little clues and hints.”

In the poster, featuring the full Bridge Hollow cast, Wadlow was eager to include football skeletons, witches, and clowns that come to life in the film itself. “I got to design killer clowns and design skeletons attacking, in a sort of Ray Harryhausen tribute,” he tells Tudum. Other elements from the film you might catch in the iconography? Bats, a spider, and some particularly eerie jack-o’-lanterns placed front and center. 

But that’s not all to look out for when arriving in Bridge Hollow this fall. Viewers who devoured Season 4 of Stranger Things this summer will see even more of Priah Ferguson, who plays the precocious and star Dungeons & Dragons player Erica Sinclair in the fantasy series, than ever before. “I think she got more screen time in our movie than every season of Stranger Things, combined. So, if you’re a Priah fan, you’re going to love our movie,” Wadlow teases. 

He was especially pleased to see the emotional complexity she could deliver after her chemistry read with Wayans. “I was absolutely over the moon. But there was certainly a moment of, ‘Let’s make sure that this is the right fit,’ because it’s not exactly the same part that she played in Stranger Things.” Wadlow also praised Wayans’ ability to connect with an audience instantly, after watching him grow up on-screen “from a young punk to now becoming a father.” 

“I think he played a father on TV, but this might be his first film where he is playing a father,” he says. “And I love that he’s just embracing that and that his audience travels with him through each phase of his life.”

The chemistry Wayans shares with Ferguson also extends to his relationship with his on-screen wife, played by Kelly Rowland. “It was a real pleasure to tell a story about a wife and a husband who love each other, who aren’t in conflict,” adds Wadlow. “And you can just feel the affection. I mean, I think there was actually a little more conflict on the page, but Kelly and Marlon just brought so much chemistry and love that even though there’s some conflict written for the dialogue, you just feel this underlying foundation of love in their relationship.”

Wadlow hopes that audiences walk away from Bridge Hollow with a sense of wonder. “I loved the movies of Steven Spielberg and Chris Columbus and Richard Donner growing up, that nostalgic feeling of seeing something special and different and magical. And that’s really what we tried to do with this film. We really wanted that ’80s Amblin [Entertainment] tone, but with a modern sensibility, and I hope that that’s what people experience when they watch the movie.”

Get your costumes ready for when The Curse of Bridge Hollow premieres on Netflix Oct. 14.