A Nightmare on Troll Street

ERNEST SCARED STUPID

Director: John Cherry

Writer: Charles Gale, Coke Sams

Starring: Jim Varney, Eatha Kitt, Austin Nagler

1991 | United States | PG | 91 mins

★★★★★

Halloween is as much a spooky holiday for kids as it is for adults. The time to go out from house to house and trick-or-treat dressed up in various costumes is counted down on any child's calendar once October hits. Coming home with a pillowcase full of goodies to rot your teeth is the ultimate childhood rush. To celebrate this spooky time of year the horror film selection for the whole family is a little slim, with the likes of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and possibly Poltergeist among a few others, but one movie dares to please the entire family with thrills, chills, and fun, and therefore Halloween is never complete without a screening of our favourite goofball up against an evil troll!

Long ago in Briarville, Missouri a terrible troll terrorized the townsfolk's children. Finally captured and buried beneath a tree, the curse would remain unbroken until a decedent of the Worrell family would accidentally set him free. A couple of school kids enlist town garbage man and all-around goofball Ernest P. Worrell (Jim Varney) to help them build a tree fort to ward off some local school bullies. But upon completion of building the tree fort Ernest accidentally summons Trantor from his imprisoned slumber, and now the evil troll must capture five of the town's children before midnight on Halloween to resurrect his evil troll race. Now it's up to the dimwitted Ernest and his sidekick dog Rimshot, under the guidance of Old Lady Hackmore (Eartha Kitt), to stop Trantor before it's too late and all of the town's children are turned into wooden figurines!

Ernest Scared Stupid is a great mix of wholesome family fun and Halloween scares. Charles Gale and Coke Sams script puts Ernest up against a very gooey group of trolls in the best of all the Ernest movies. Featuring some great writing and the always hilarious Jim Varney hamming it up, Ernest Scared Stupid never fails to consistently entertain. Whether you're laughing at Ernest's ineptness or being grossed out by the slimy and booger-encrusted Trantor, Ernest Scared Stupid succeeds at being a great horror film for the whole family. The troll effects are fantastically disgusting and gooey, created by none other than the Chiodo Brothers whom were responsible for the cult classic Killer Klowns from Outer Space.

For a family film Ernest Scared Stupid has a great blend of horror and comedy and has just the right amount of scares and laughs to initiate the young and entertain the old. Oozing with Halloween spirit, Ernest Scared Stupid will take you back to that feeling of childhood fun digging into your pillowcase for your favourite treat. So take off that mask, curl up in front of the TV, and get glued to the perfect Halloween film where you know you're in for a treat, not a trick, when classics like The Brain from Planet Arous and The Hideous Sun Demon appear during the opening credits. Ernest Scared Stupid is silly Halloween fun full of chills and thrills for the whole family.

All contents copyright 2010 Tyler Baptist