I remember liking this book as a kid, especially the cover, but don’t remember much about the story or this tv adaption, so I’m basically going in blind.
Protagonist Drew [Who played Kim in ‘Piano Lessons can be Murder’ and voiced Keesha in ‘The Magic School Bus’] and her best friend Walker are walking down the street at night, talking about how excited they are for Halloween tomorrow. Walker isn’t so sure his parents will let him go trick or treating tomorrow because of a string of kidnappings in a nearby town, much to Drew’s annoyance [The girl really froths over Halloween!].
Drew will be dressing as a superhero and as they discuss a costume for Walker, they’re completely unaware of someone watching them from beneath a nearby tree. As the besties continue down the road, Drew’s other friends, twins Shane [Who played Corey in ‘Phantom of the Auditorium’] and Shana [How do we feel about twins being given similar names? I vote no], suddenly step out in front of them [I don’t think they were who was saw watching before, though].
The twins moved away a few years ago so Drew’s delightfully surprised to see them, and they reveal they’re just here ‘”to visit the old neighbourhood”‘, but they’ll only be around for a few days. Drew invites them to come trick or treating tomorrow, and soon the group is ambushed by two people in wolf costumes [I think they’re wolves, right?].
It’s just Tabitha and Lee, who gloat that Drew ‘”falls for it every time”‘ and call her a sucker. Drew, Walker and the twins clearly don’t like these two [So neither do we] and once they leave, conversation turns to how they’re always picking on Drew. Last year, they even snuck into Drew’s Halloween party pretending to be burglars [Why do they bully her?!? She seems great]. Shane and Shana have an idea to get back at them and instruct Drew to invite Tabitha and Lee to go trick or treating with them while the twins will take care of the rest.
We cut to Drew inviting Tabitha over the phone, who reluctantly agrees after Drew inflates her ego a little. After the call, Drew’s ecstatic that Tabitha and Lee don’t suspect a thing but immediately after, we see Tabitha telling Lee that ‘”Those two are up to something.”‘ [Yeah I’d probably be suspicious too if the girl I’ve bullied for years asked me to trick or treat with her].
We then jump to the next night [With a weird, dream-like transition] where Drew, Walker [Dressed as a ghost!], Tabitha and Lee [Dressed as space warriors] are getting to the end of their trick or treating. They haven’t seen Shane and Shana all night, which Tabitha and Lee aren’t bothered about as they insist on going to one more house.
Drew doesn’t like the look of the house they choose and after knocking on the door, a sweet old lady invites them in to show her husband their wonderful costumes. Apparently he’s ‘”sick and can’t get up”‘ but would be super pleased by their outfits [Stranger danger, guys!]. She brings them inside before suspiciously peeking out the front door to make sure no-one noticed [Uh oh!]. The woman ushers the kids upstairs and into a room where it’s revealed a group of trick-or-treaters, including Shane and Shana, are being held prisoner. The husband is also in there to break the news that because he loves the newcomers’ costumes sooOo00o0Oo0Ooo00o much, they’re ‘”going to stay right here…forever!”‘ [Ooky spooky!].
And then Drew wakes up, revealing it was just a nightmare [Boring, because that was horrific. Also that explains the dreamy transition lol]. The next night, Halloween’s finally here and Drew is impatiently waiting at home for Walker to arrive. Drew’s mother is worried about the four people who went missing over the last few days and is concerned about allowing Drew out on her own. Drew starts whining but luckily Dad’s on her side, insisting the people who went missing were adults and that Drew knows how to handle bad situations. This scene is spliced together with another where giant crab-clawed hands are holding a newspaper about the disappearances before leaving it on the ground [Litterbug!].
Drew promises that her group will stay together and soon Walker rocks up. He’s in all black, dressed up as ‘”a dark and stormy night”‘ and shoots Drew’s dad in the face with a water pistol when he questions ‘”where’s the stormy?”‘ [It’s a pretty lame gag and costume, tbh].
Meanwhile, Tabitha and Lee are waiting for the others at their designated meeting spot where Tabitha’s sure Drew’s up to something, telling Lee they need to scare them first. When Drew and Walker arrive, the bullies mention the disappearances, suggesting ‘”Maybe whatever’s getting those people is watching us right now”‘, trying to freak Drew out. Little do they know, they are being watched [By Shane and Shana, I assume?]!
The gang trick or treats for a bit and when there’s still no sign of the twins, Drew wonders if her dream was a premonition – maybe something bad really happened to them! As they stop to check out all the candy they’ve scored so far, two people jump out dressed in black cloaks with jack-o’-lantern heads and crab-clawed hands [I don’t really understand the claws but it’s pretty funny].
The pumpkin heads have hoarse, scratchy voices [And there’s some kind of effect over them too, it’s kind of creepy] and although Tabitha and Lee are positive it’s Shane and Shana, Drew’s not so sure [Why? Who else would it be, right? You know they had something planned] and thinks they’re not human [That’s a big leap to make]. The pumpkins insist they know a better neighbourhood to trick or treat in and since Tabitha thinks it’s all a joke the others are playing, she accepts their offer on everyone’s behalf.
The pumpkin heads lead the gang through the woods, repeating ‘”A better place”‘ over and over again in their weird voices. Soon the gang arrives in a heavily decorated neighbourhood where they’re given giant chocolate bars and shitloads of other candy by adults who seem to be in some kind of trance. As the group leaves each house, we see the owners morph into more of the pumpkin headed creatures [So they’re not costumes then?].
Drew points out how weird it is that they’re the only kids here and checking her watch, Tabitha realises how late it’s getting. She decides they should go back, but they’re interrupted by the two main pumpkin heads who insist ‘”More houses!”‘ and that the kids ‘”must trick or treat…forever!”‘ [Ooky spooky!]. Sick of Shane and Shana’s little joke, Tabitha plucks one of their pumpkin heads off, horrified to find nothing beneath [!!!!]. The pumpkin in her hands continues to demand they visit more houses and as the foursome watches in horror, yellow lightning shoots out of one of its claws and makes an old jack-o’-lantern in the street disappear [Very random powers].
Scared for their lives, the kids obey and continue trick or treating. Soon, their bags are getting too heavy and unable to carry any more, Tabitha begs their captors to let them go. Instead, one of the pumpkin heads just tips out all her candy so she can continue [Hahahaha]. Tabitha realises the pumpkin heads [Which can now shoot flames from their mouths? Hahaha] are the ones who “kidnapped the four missing people”‘ and the kids run off.
The pumpkin heads chase them into the woods and manage to corner them, deciding to ‘”make them one of us!” They take off their pumpkin heads and try to put them on Tabitha and Lee, sending them running off in terror. Drew and Walker stay put and watch in shock as the pumpkin heads morph into Shane and Shana [!!!].
Walker demands to know how they did that, and Shane casually explains ‘”There are advantages to being an alien.”‘ [You’re kidding hahaha]. Drew already knows their aliens on account of being best friends years ago, and thanks the twins for helping them get back at the bullies. Shane and Shana then take off their human faces, revealing thin green alien heads beneath [At least they’re not bad CGI heads].
As the twins are about to board their spaceship, Drew offers them some candy to take with them. The aliens explain candy’s not part of their diets ‘”But if you know where some nice plump adults are, we’ll eat those.”‘ They’re full anyway though, having finished a four course meal earlier tonight, and a horrified Drew realises her friends ate the four missing people. The aliens warn Drew and Walker not to eat all that candy because it might fatten them up, and they’ll be back next year ‘”to feed again”‘ [Would you really eat your old best friend, guys?], and the episode ends with Shane and Shana leaving in their spaceship.
Final thoughts
This was a super fun one! The pumpkin heads were pretty creepy with scary voices as well, and I liked the little twist at the end when they revealed they eat humans. Pretty dark! Drew was a great protagonist and I’m glad she got her revenge on Tabitha and Lee, although I kinda wish Shane and Shana had eaten them too.
Drew’s nightmare was also a super scary situation that would have made a great standalone episode! I don’t remember if that scene is from the book, but it feels like kind of a wasted opportunity here as a three-minute sequence.
This is definitely one of the best episodes so far, and I recommend watching just to hear how creepy the pumpkin heads’ voices are because it’s great hahaha.
76 halloween costumes with jack-o’-lantern heads and crab claws out of 84!
