With Halloween fast approaching people are looking for seasonal entertainment and Nova Scotia is not disappointing in helping people quench their thirst for the scarier side of Halloween.
While not filmed in Nova Scotia, Spirit Halloween:The Movie, stars Yarmouth, Nova Scotia's very own Donovan Colan as Jake.
Jake is the protagonist and wishes for one more year of trick-or-treating, but his friends, Bo, played by Jaiden J. Smith, and Carson, played by Dylan Martin Frankel, feel they are too old to go trick-or-treating. Instead the three friends choose to spend Halloween night locked in a deserted Spirit Halloween store.
The storyline as per Spirit Halloween's IMDB page is, "When a new Spirit Halloween store appears in a deserted strip mall, three middle school friends who think they've outgrown trick or treating make a dare to spend the night locked inside the store Halloween night. But they soon find out that the store is haunted by an angry evil spirit who has possessed the creepy animatronic characters. The kids embark on a thrilling and spooky adventure in order to survive the night and avoid becoming possessed themselves."
This supernatural horror film was written by Billie Bates and directed by David Poag, in his feature film directorial debut! It was produced in partnership with the Spirit Halloween retailer and shot in Nashville, Tennessee and Rome, Georgia. An actual Spirit Halloween store in Rome was used in the filming. Spirit Halloween was released in theatres on September 30, 2022 and then on October 11, 2022 became available on video-on-demand platforms. The film also stars Marissa Reyes as Kate, Rachael Leigh Cook as Sue (Jake's mother), and Christopher Lloyd as Alex Windsor.
Donovan Colan made his feature film debut in Zoe, with Ewan McGregor and Léa Seydoux. He has also been cast several times in Neptune Theatre playing Billy Elliot in "Billy Elliot"(although this was cut short by the pandemic), Tommy Mara in "Miracle on 34th Street" and Pete Bailey in "It's a Wonderful Life". His latest work was in Theater Camp, which is currently in post-production. He had a recurring role in Pure and has also appeared in the following productions, all of which were/continue to be filmed in Nova Scotia: These Woods Are Haunted, Chapelwaite, Moonshine, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, and Rick Mercer: 'Take Action Figures'.