''Spooky House'' is a 2002 American

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

film directed, co-produced and co-written by

William Sachs William Sachs is an American film director/producer and writer. Besides his work as a writer and director, since working on '' Joe'', Sachs has been particularly noted for successfully doctoring others' films prior to release in order to confor ...

, and starring

Ben Kingsley Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning five decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Grammy Award, and two ...

and Mercedes Ruehl. It was entered into the

Chicago International Children's Film Festival In 1983, Facets Multi-Media founded the Chicago International Children's Film Festival (CICFF), the first competitive festival of films for children in the U.S. The impetus for the Festival came from a need to introduce new, culturally diverse fil ...

, winning two awards, "Best Of Fest" and the "Children's Jury Award".

Synopsis

The Great Zamboni is a famous illusionist who works with his wife and assistant, Dawn Starr. During a recording session of one of his shows, something goes wrong during the act, and Dawn Starr disappears. Eleven and a half years later, Zamboni lives alone, save for his pet jaguar Shadow. He uses his character to scare off visitors and builds a reputation for himself as "the Spooky Man" in the "Spooky House". Also living in this town is a recently orphaned Max, as well as his friends Yuri, Beans, Prescott, and Zoe. These five are trying to enjoy themselves as much as they can before Max is sent to an orphanage after Halloween. The five kids run afoul with three kleptomaniac teens, Mora, Mike the Mouth, and Dumb Dave. These three work for Madame Boss, who is training them to be real thieves. The teens steal Zoe's pet goat Princess, stashing her in a graveyard near the Spooky House, forcing the kids to go after her. Zamboni, seeing the children, uses various tricks and traps in his home to scare everyone away. However, Max is not afraid, and becomes intrigued by Zamboni. He begins repeatedly visiting the reluctant illusionist, who begins begrudgingly interacting with him. One day, the teens steal back Princess, leading Max to suggest talking to Zamboni and asking for help. When he doesn't answer, Max peeks through the window to see Shadow with her tail stuck in one of Zamboni's traps then he goes to rescue it. In the end it is revealed that Shadow was actually Dawn Starr all along, whose transformation into a jaguar for the last few years goes completely unexplained. She transforms back into Dawn Starr during a magic trick, and the two adopt Max as his new adoptive parents.

Cast

as The Great Zamboni * Mercedes Ruehl as Boss *

Katharine Isabelle Katharine Isobel Murray (born November 2, 1981), known professionally as Katharine Isabelle, is a Canadian actress. She has been described as a scream queen due to her roles in various horror films. She started her acting career in 1989, playing ...

as Mora * Matt Weinberg as Max *

Jason Fuchs Jason Isaac Fuchs (born March 5, 1986) is an American actor and screenwriter, best known for writing ''Ice Age: Continental Drift'' (2012), ''Pan (2015 film), Pan'' (2015) and ''Wonder Woman (2017 film), Wonder Woman'' (2017). He is also known f ...

as Yuri * Ronald Joshua Scott as Beans * Simon R. Baker as Prescott * Chaz Monet as Zoe

Production

William Sachs co-wrote the screenplay together with his wife Margaret Sachs. The film was shot in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, and was released in 35 American theaters in 2002, becoming the top-grossing film during that time in some of them. The Great Zamboni was originally to be played by

Christopher Lloyd Christopher Allen Lloyd (born October 22, 1938) is an American actor. He has appeared in many theater productions, films, and on television since the 1960s. He is known for portraying Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown in the ''Back to the Future'' tril ...

who signed on in 1998.

Reception

According to Nicole Dreiske, founder and executive director of the Chicago International Children's Film Festival, it was the first time in the festival's 17-year history that the children's jury unanimously picked a winner when ''Spooky House'' won.

Quotes

References

External links

* * 2002 films American independent films American fantasy comedy films 2000s English-language films Films directed by William Sachs 2000s American films {{indie-film-stub