The Curse Of Bridge Hollow follows Sydney and her dad Howard as they set out to save the town of Bridge Hollow from an evil spirit called Stingy Jack who brings the town’s decorations to life on Halloween night.
Featuring Marlon Wayans, known for his roles in Scary Movie and Little Man, as a Halloween-hating science teacher, and Priah Ferguson, known for her role as Erica Sinclair in Stranger Things, as the Halloween-loving teenager Syd, The Curse of Bridge Hollow is an American comedy horror film, directed by Jeff Wadlow.
The Curse Of Bridge Hollow Story Summary
Sydney (Priah Ferguson) is not happy about moving out to the small town of Bridge Hollow, which has been named the “safest small town in the US”. However, Syd does get excited when she sees the entire town preparing for Halloween.
Before even entering the new house, Syd requests her parents to decorate the house for the occasion. But Syd’s father Howard does not show any excitement at the prospect, and her mother (Kelly Rowland) joins him in agreement.
The next day, the family goes out to explore the new town they have just moved into. At the Bridge Hollow cemetery, Syd comes across Jamie, Ramona, and Mario – the members of the Bridge Hollow High Paranormal Society. The trio informs Syd that the house she moved into is believed to be haunted by the spirit of Madam Hawthorne.
The same night, Syd decides to call Madam Hawthorne using an Ouija board app, and to her surprise, a spirit signals its presence to Syd. Following the signal, Syd finds a pumpkin hidden in an old trunk in the house. Syd goes on to share the news of the haunted house with her family, but Howard rubbishes the claim by employing science for his defense.
On the next day, Howard joins the local school as the Science professor and gets the scare of his life when the principal attempts to spook him with a skeleton. Meanwhile, Syd gets invited by her new friends to the ‘Hall of Horror’ party, and knowing that her father will be against the idea, Sydney goes on to purchase a Halloween costume.
When Howard comes home, he finds the old pumpkin that Syd discovered the other day on the kitchen counter. He finds Syd all suited up in her witch dress to go to the party. An argument follows between Howard and Syd. Between the exchange of words, Syd ends up lighting the wick inside the pumpkin. Angry at Syd, Howard grounds her and tries to extinguish the wick, only to realize that the wick is lighting up again on its own.
When Howard throws the pumpkin into the bin, it turns into a bat and flies out of the house, eventually bringing all the spooky decorations to life. Syd gets permission from her mother to go out and investigate the strange happenings. Howard agrees on the condition that he will be accompanying Syd all the time.
Howard’s neighbor Sully (Rob Riggle) becomes the first target of the spooky decorations as the zombies set up by Sully come to life and attack him. Syd comes to Sully’s rescue, and the duo takes down the horde of zombies together.
Sydney suggests that they should summon Madam Hawthorne to find out more about the mystery. However, Sully comes up with the idea of talking to Victoria, Madam Hawthorne’s granddaughter. The father-daughter duo visits a retirement home to talk to Victoria.
Victoria reveals that mystics from across the world gathered at her grandma’s house to hold a séance and put an end to the curse of Stingy Jack, who returns to Bridge Hollow every Halloween to torment the residents of the town. Stingy Jack used the lantern found by Syd to travel to the human world from the spirit world.
Unsatisfied with only the one day that Stingy Jack got to haunt the people of Bridge Hollow, he wanted more, and to do so, he decided to send another soul instead of himself to the ever after. But Madam Hawthorne spoiled his plans by capturing him inside his own lantern. Stingy Jack came back to the human world when Syd lit the lantern.
Suddenly, the retirement home gets attacked by spiders. Thanks to Syd and Howard’s scientific aptitude, they both survive the waves of spiders that come toward them. Despite everything, Howard refuses to believe that all the events are a result of some supernatural phenomenon. He remains adamant about finding a scientific explanation. To find a way to re-trap Stingy Jack in his lantern, Syd takes Howard to the Halloween party where they meet Jamie, Romano, and Mario.
Mario looks up on the internet and finds out that Madam Hawthorne’s spell book was bought by an antique dealer named Sheldon Skinner, who tells the group that he sold the book to an occultist living at 666 Elm Street. On being chased by a group of murderous clowns, the group escapes on bikes to find the mysterious buyer who bought the spell book.
The Curse Of Bridge Hollow Ending Explained
The buyer turns out to be Principal Floyd who buys eccentric stuff for his collection. Floyd informs the group about a binding spell that could help bind Stingy Jack with the lantern once again. However, the chanter of the spell must believe in the power of the spell strongly for it to work. The discussion gets interrupted when a group of rugby-playing skeletons attacks Floyd’s house, evoking Howard’s worst nightmare as he is very scared of skeletons.
Thanks to Syd, Howard gathers his courage and chainsaws his way through the attacking skeletons. While Howard manages to get rid of the skeletons, the book’s pages containing the spell get destroyed during the attack. Knowing that Stingy Jack cannot be re-trapped without the spell, Syd suggests that they summon Madam Hawthorne to get the spell.
With his somewhat amateurish Latin, Floyd summons the spirit of Madame Hawthorn into Howard’s body. Madam Hawthorne recites the spell through Howard, and Romano records it on her cell phone. However, while the group has been preparing to take down Stingy Jack, Stingy Jack gathers his army of Halloween decorations at the Stingy Jack Festival, where most of the townsfolk have gathered including Syd’s mother.
Syd and Howard, along with the rest of the group, head to the festival. The father-daughter duo discovers that the big pumpkin man decoration – the central attraction of the Stingy Jack Festival – is gone. They also realize that Stingy Jack cannot replace his soul without his lantern, which is at the Hawthorne house where Syd’s mother is headed.
Do Howard And Syd Stop Stingy Jack?
Storming through a horde of Halloween decorations, Howard and Syd reach their house to find that Stingy Jack has arrived in the form of the pumpkin man. With the midnight hour nearing, Stingy Jack takes away Syd’s mother to sacrifice her life and replace her soul with his own.
To keep his daughter safe, Howard assumes the responsibility of trapping Stingy Jack. However, despite a couple of tries, Howard is not able to make the spell work. Syd tells Howard that he has to believe in the spell for it to really work.
Focusing his energy for one last time, Howard chants the spell, and it successfully binds Stingy Jack to the lantern. Although Stingy Jack makes one last attempt to relight the lantern, Syd extinguishes the flame with a fire extinguisher.
Having triumphed over the evil Stingy Jack, Howard and Syd discuss the fate of Stingy Jack’s lantern. Syd warns against destroying it as it could release the evil spirit once again. Hence, Howard dumps Ammonium Phosphate – a flame retardant – on the lantern and locks it inside the same trunk it was found in. Importantly, he hands the key to Syd for safekeeping as he finally acknowledges that she is old enough to take on bigger responsibilities.
But Howard and Syd realize soon enough that it is not the end of their cursed adventures when they find a whole bunch of old trunks hidden behind a wall in the Hawthorne house.
The Curse Of Bridge Hollow is now streaming on Netflix.
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