It’s finally here!!!! Spookiz: The Movie is finally out after over a year!!!!! Yay!!!!
Okay! *slaps cheeks* LET’S DO THIS!!!!
The movie starts off a lot like the first episode of the show, with the janitor closing up and the Spookiz waking up from their hiding places. (THE ANIMATION IS GORGEOUS BTDUBS) Kong Kong and Cula’s hidey spots are slightly altered. Kong Kong now has an ornate red box in a room full of other boxes and Cula’s locker is on a much lower floor. Also if you look at the door of Cula’s locker, the photos from Say Cheese are there, confirming that this movie takes place at some point post-Season 2 and it’s definitely pre-season 4 because the werewolf puppy doesn’t show up.
Oh, one thing! Now that the Spookiz are on the big screen, they get to actually talk! Yay, now I get to have voices for them in my head! I really like the voices they picked for the English dub! The lipsyncing is nonexistent which I’m not really mad about I mean the movie looks better than Illumination Studios (not digging at them just saying) it would’ve been a pain to redo all that animation! I can barely operate Blender…
We’re introduced to the basics. These monster kids live in this school and hide during the day and come out at night, nothing most people reading this don’t already know.
Some character designs have been tweaked. Kong Kong has a bit more detail on his robe, Kebi’s hair is messy, and Reaper Sam has a cloud of smoke around the bottom of his robe.
The Spookiz head to class. The human who sits at Cula’s desk during the day likes to draw on it. Cula, neat freak that he is, does not like this one bit. After we’re properly introduced to the pals, Cula notices something vibrating in his desk. It’s a smartphone with a cute bunny case! But before he can do anything about it, it’s time for HIDING PRACTICE!!!!
Everyone fails except for Cula, who shows impressive resolve because Reaper Sam (here referred to as Mr. Reaper) drew on his desk to make it harder!
Mr. Reaper teaches the class about the smartphone. (in at least one PSA Cula has a smartphone but PSAs don’t usually have much to do with continuity, especially not in a gag show like Spookiz. I reiterate my point that if you expect a gag show to have more than the most basic continuity it’s like expecting a cat to bark.) Cula alerts Mr. Reaper to the phone in his desk. Mr. Reaper tells Cula not to touch it under any circumstances.
Mr. Reaper gives a (Lolli)Pop Quiz. Cula has the answer but Kebi says it louder so he gets the lollipop. Kebi’s a bit more of a jerk here, probably because Cula’s the focal character and Kebi’s his foil. Though they are foils, they’re actually a good bit friendlier to each other in the shorts. While Mr. Reaper continues to talk about how humans react to losing their phone, Cula shoots the lollipop out of Kebi’s hand with a spitball.
After class, shenanigans ensue as the pals scramble for the lollipop, during which the phone is knocked into Cula’s bag. Zizi ends up getting the lollipop with her mouth. She tries to offer it to Cula, but he obviously does not want it.
Cula goes back to his locker and wishes he could live by himself. In the morning, Cula’s awakened by the phone ringing. So now, Cula has to return this phone, in broad daylight.
As Cula sneaks around and gets bad sunburns, we’re introduced to the phone’s owner, Hanah, (Yes that’s how they spell it.) who you may recognize from the Season 3 episode “I want to fly in the sky”. She’s also the one who sits at Cula’s desk during the day and the one who draws on it.
Cula waits in a cubby until the end of school to return the phone. Cula gets caught up cleaning off the desk and ends up getting caught by Hanah. Despite the extreme style differences between humans and monsters, Cula seems to pass as human well enough that Hanah doesn’t notice he’s a vampire. She’s more concerned with the fact that he has her phone. Being confronted by a human freaks Cula out so bad that he passes out, breaking Hanah’s phone by falling on it. Cula has a dream about being burned at the stake. But when he wakes up, Hanah puts an adhesive strip on his arm (I really don’t think those are good for sunburns) and goes to get the principal.
When she gets back, Cula is gone. We’re introduced to a completely new character for the movie, the bafflingly named Principal Kong. He will be referred to simply as the Principal for the duration of this review. The Janitor tells of his experiences of hearing noises in empty classrooms and recommends an exorcist. The Principal doesn’t take him seriously. Hana finds that her phone is now broken.
Back in the principal’s office, the Janitor calls the exorcist, who is another new character. His name is later (kinda) revealed to be Hunter and um… His design, at least to me, is evocative of a certain subculture that I am not going to name for fear of being sealioned. He’s really creepy and I hate him.
Cula, panicked from the encounter, rushes back to his locker.
Back at her house, Hanah asks her dad (also seen in I want to fly in the sky) for a new phone. He tells her that she has to get all A’s this term in order to get one.
Back at school, Cula wonders why Hanah was so nice to him.
Later, Hanah draws a picture of Cula on her desk. But then she realizes she used an oil marker, so that ain’t coming off! Which means trouble for Cula!
As Cula enters class, Kebi accuses him of showing himself to a human. Kong Kong, darling angel boy that he is, defends Cula’s honor passionately. As Kebi lays on the pressure by pointing out Cula’s sunburn, (see I TOLD YOU ADHESIVE STRIPS WERENT GOOD FOR SUNBURNS) Kong Kong hops on Cula’s desk and completely demolishes Kebi’s accusation. (even though it’s mostly true) It’s absolutely adorable. What little screentime Kong Kong gets in this movie is absolutely magical and adorable and perfectly lives up to and expands upon what’s established in the shorts. (The other Spookiz are pretty out of focus because of the focus on Cula. But there’s definitely going to be more movies than this because Spookiz is a decently successful franchise, so I hope Kong Kong gets more focus in those hypothetical movies and also that said movies are also written by people who have more knowledge about Spookiz than what a glance at the promotional material would give you. Kong Kong definitely IS NOT straight let me tell you but that’s a dissertation for another day.) Kebi vows to keep his eye on Cula.
Cula gets the drawing off his desk, which Hanah notices the next day. (A flaw with this dubbing at least is that the VAs talk over scenes where the animation is doing just fine conveying things.) Hanah remembers Cula and how he cleaned her desk.
Hunter comes to the school, which the Principal does not like. He tells him to buzz off, but Hunter tells him to give him a call if he changes his mind.
Cula heads to class early to check if there are any drawings on his desk and finds none. He hears a strange sound coming from the closet. Out from the closet bursts Hanah, who fell asleep in there while hiding. Cula freaks out, understandably. Hanah interrogates Cula about paying for her phone. The situation is worsened by Kebi, Kong Kong, and Zizi walking in on them. Hanah becomes quite disturbed upon seeing them. Zizi starts crying fountains of nasty looking green tears. Kong Kong, adorably, hides in his hat. (Please do this gag in the shorts I love it so much💙💙💙) Hanah notices Cula’s fangs and freaks out. She runs into Frankie, which causes her to back up into Zizi. Zizi’s head pops off and lands in Hanah’s hands. Mutual screaming happens (of course it does) and Hanah passes out.
Kebi goes off on Cula, telling him that they’re going to have to move because of this. Kong Kong, observant and adorable little man that he is, sees Mr. Reaper coming. Cula throws Hanah back in the closet.
Hanah wakes up to witness the lesson. Mr. Reaper speaks of the danger of humans and how monsters should use any means necessary to ensure one’s own safety. (Which is a fair point considering how there are entirely legal and completely non-obfuscated services for capturing and killing monsters!)
Mr. Reaper leaves, leaving the kids to decide what to do with Hanah. Kebi suggests that they “get rid of her without a single trace”. Hanah points out that this would be a bad idea because she’d be a missing child case and they’d search the school first because that’s where she was last seen. Kebi concedes, allowing Hanah to leave.
Hanah returns to an empty house. She decides to do a little research on vampires. The following day, Hanah goes to school early with garlic powder, a crucifix, and a motorcycle helmet. Vampire or no vampire, Cula’s gonna pay her back for her phone.
Cula freaks out upon waking up. Hanah doesn’t give a singular crap and wants her phone money. Cula goes back into his locker and Hana pulls out a megaphone and begins yelling. There’s nobody here yet but Cula isn’t taking that risk. Cula gives her some coins, which isn’t nearly enough for a phone. Hanah loses her crap.
A little later, stuffs been ironed out a bit. Cula suggests that Hanah just gets all A’s. Hana explains that it isn’t all that simple. But if Cula can’t pay her back, Hanah’s just going to keep coming back. Cula offers to help Hanah get her grades up since he doesn’t have that kind of money. Hanah laughs him off. Cula insists that he can help her. Hanah asks if Cula even knows what subjects she’s studying. Cula responds by claiming that he’s 109 years old, (which is false according to his Naver/Facebook Bio and his Spookiz Japan bio which both state him to be 10 years old and a later scene in this very movie.) so this will be a piece of cake. Hanah agrees and tries to seal it with a pinky promise. Cula doesn’t know what a pinky promise is, leading to some mild ship tease. (Yeah Kebi x Zizi is probably gonna be endgame. I don’t even like it that much, I prefer Kebi x Kong Kong personally, but I’m probably right. I just hope that they don’t give Kong Kong a female love interest because if they do you will never hear the end of my rage.) Also the JoJo brainrot’s extremely deep at the time of writing because I desperately wish to declare this movie an m/f grade school Whamseph AU.
The Principal is very upset about the lack of new enrollments. But he takes comfort in his nice glass trophy. He loves that thing so much. He kisses it. Keep that trophy in the back of your mind.
Later that day, Cula heads off to tutor Hanah but does not understand how umbrellas work, leading to shenanigans. This week’s test is Spanish, (at least in this dubbing) but Cula is unprepared. Hanah doesn’t know the first thing about Spanish and Cula doesn’t either, because he insists on “tomato” being the right word instead of “tomate”. Hanah flosses when she gets the word “pizza” right. Then she gets hungry. Then she asks Cula a bunch of weird questions about human blood. Cula gets so ticked when Hanah falls asleep that he accidentally activates a previously unknown ability: Hypnosis!
Later that night, Kebi and Frankie have some shenanigans. Kebi is messing around with Frankie’s screws. Doing so accidentally activates some kind of berserker mode in Frankie.
Cula comes up the stairs, Kong Kong hopping alongside him like a good little pal. Kong Kong is weirdly excited to learn about Cula’s new hypnotism ability. Shenanigans unfold as Cula tries to curb Frankie’s rage. This inevitably results in the beloved trophy being smashed. The Spookiz kinda fix it, but not well enough.
As soon as the Principal touches the trophy, it shatters. Now he’s ticked and he’s not gonna rest until he finds out who broke it! This is gonna be major trouble for our pals soon enough!
Hanah is reading about bats. She asks Cula if he can transform into a bat. (for those of you keeping track, Cula hasn’t turned into a bat so far in the shorts.) Cula lies (but it may not be a lie forever) and says he can. Hanah asks him to do it. Cula comes up with excuses, and Hanah sniffs out his bull crap instantly.
Later that night, Cula is up on the roof with Kong Kong, trying to transform. Kong Kong is trying alongside him, but it just, and I quote, “makes him want to go number 2”. Kong Kong you’re a national freaking treasure and I adore you with every fiber of my being. Cula tries and tries until his arm turns into a bat wing! Yay! Cula keeps trying to, leading to various, hilariously Cronenbergian mishaps with wings where they absolutely should not be, which includes his tongue, an ear and a leg, and his… you know. Yes, they went there.
Kong Kong offers encouragement, and Cula finally succeeds.
Cula comes into the lesson the next afternoon as the CUTEST LIL BALL O’ BAT!!!!! (There is a plushie but I don’t think it’s available internationally yet!) Hanah reacts accordingly. She asks him if he can fly, Cula lies and asks if she wants to see. Hanah screams “yes” at the top of her lungs, alerting the Principal and Janitor. Shenanigans ensue as he tries to hide from them.
The Janitor tells the Principal that the new security camera system’s up and running. UH OH, BIG TIME!!!!!!!!!!!
A montage plays of Cula tutoring Hanah. Hanah actually manages to pass her test with an A! Yay!!!!! Hanah slathers Cula in sunscreen, puts a hat on him and covers him with a curtain. She drags him off to a local park, to an area covered by trees enough so that the sun doesn’t harm him. On the way there, Hunter sees this, offering some foreshadowing.
Cula and Hanah have some ship tease and talk about being an outsider.
In a very cool looking 2D animation segment, (that briefly shows a Black character [the only one in the franchise thus far] who is portrayed as discriminating against monsters which is a REAL BAD LOOK, BUDDY. REAL BAD. DONT PORTRAY THE SINGLE BLACK CHARACTER AS PERPETUATING YOUR FICTIONAL FORM OF DISCRIMINATION.) Cula explains the Spookiz’ backstory. Reaper Sam saved the kids from a team of monster hunters (which lowkey confirms my theory that the Spookiz are orphans) and took them all around the world to find a safe place for them until he found the school. Until the kids can live independently, the school is their home.
Flight training montage!!!!! Yay!!!!! This is followed by a really cute and pretty scene where Cula flies Hanah around town on a swing.
Uh oh!!!! UH OH!!!!!!! Cula, being a vampire, doesn’t show up on cameras. (Man these are some weird surveillance cameras if they have silver in them) Hunter shows up and the Principal finally accepts his offer. WUH OH!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hunter uses a tracker to detect the energy signals of the kids and Reaper Sam. He asks for payment upfront to get rid of the monsters. UH OH OH NO YIKES!!!!!!!!
Mr. Reaper announces that this semester of Night School has ended, and to celebrate, we’re having a dance party! Yay!!!!
And the dance party is had, consisting of several recycled animations. Hanah shows up, dressed as a vampire. The other kids freak out, but Hanah accidentally discovers their lollipop-based economy. And thus, the dance party continues, with the addition of Hanah.
But unbeknownst to them, Hunter is on his way! He hates the music, so he plays his own. (it’s stock music but otherwise, it’d probably be Skr///wdr//ver considering… you know.) He puts on a pair of strange eyepieces. (This is important)
Suddenly, Hunter bursts into the classroom and traps the kids except for Cula in a laser cage. He thinks Hana is the vampire at first due to her appearance. Hunter shows off a hairdryer that he modified into a weapon that affects beings with a low body temperature. The bars of the laser cage have the same effect, enabling him to taunt the kids. Hunter grows suspicious, and he manages to find Cula’s signature on his smartwatch. A tense scene unfolds as Hunter tries to locate Cula. Cula applies the techniques he used in hiding practice at the start of the movie. But the Principal spots him and points him out. Hunter fires at Cula, but before the weapon can hit him… Kong Kong leaps out of the cage and… takes the blow. Oh god. Not again. I can’t do this again. You can’t do this to me, Movie. You CAN’T!!!!!!
Oh no, oh no, I’m very upset now… 😰 If you want to know why I’m so upset and what exactly I can’t do again, you’ll have to wait until Episode #42 of the Stardust Crusaders Review.
I need a minute.
Okay, let’s continue.
Cula runs away, being tailed by Hunter. This sequence really shows off how good the animation is! Cula tries to use his hypnosis, but Hunter’s eyepieces block it. Hunter shoots, but Cula escapes out the window.
Cula locates Mr. Reaper and tells him about the current situation. He explains everything that’s happened so far. But then, Hunter arrives. He shoots, but Mr. Reaper deflects it with his scythe. Mr. Reaper tells Cula to go. But before Cula leaves, Mr. Reaper drops the most heartbreaking line.
“I’m sad I wasn’t kinder to you. I’m very sorry.”
💔💔💔💔 That line HURTS like heck, especially as someone who’s watched this entire show front to back.
Mr. Reaper and Hunter have a brief (albeit pretty cool) fight. As Cula runs away, a purple explosion bursts from the classroom, knocking Cula over and taking out his hearing for a bit. After processing what just happened, Cula runs as fast as his legs can carry him. He ends up tripping over a rock and being knocked out.
Back in Hunter’s Nasty Van, he’s collected Reaper Sam’s bones in a box and he sets them on top of a small cage, right in front of the captive kids and Hanah. Thankfully Kong Kong’s still alive, but he’s very very injured. (Hunter I WILL shove that stupid hairdryer down your throat I swear on your f**king grave!!!!!!) The Principal points out that Hana was also captured. When Hunter calls the monster kids savages, Hanah protests, declaring them her friends. Hunter laughs at this, calling Hanah “sweetie pie” in a way that makes me feel very uncomfortable. Hey, remember when this show was about slapstick shenanigans and there weren’t any *ahem* “Skr*wdr*ver enthusiasts” who are creepy to little girls??? Good times. Good Kars which JoJo lost their minor antagonist??? Was it Josuke? Giorno? Signore Giovanna did you lose your antagonist??? Be a dear and give him at least five consecutive pages of Muda Muda okay??? Okay!
Anyway, things look very very bad. Hunter locks up the back of the van and Zizi wonders what’s going to happen.
Cula wakes up in a white void. The first thing he sees is Zizi. Kebi makes a remark alluding to Cula wanting to live by himself. Kong Kong marks the absurdity of this statement and drops my favorite line in the whole movie.
“Remember, I’m your sidekick! Wherever you go, I’ll always be there!”
🥺🥺🥺 Kong Kooooooong!!!!!!! I love you so much, baby boy! You deserve the world!!!!!!💙💙💙💙💙💙💙
Frankie simply laughs. I’d also like to note that he doesn’t have a single line of dialogue in this entire movie. Cula remembers what happened to Mr. Reaper. He turns around and sees him. Cula runs up and hugs him, crying and apologizing. Mr. Reaper dissolves into dust, and so do the kids, returning Cula to reality. He cries and blames himself for everything that’s happened. Once again, remember when these kids were slapstick fighting over lollipops and the thought of them getting exterminated like bugs something you’d only conceive if you thought too hard about it?
Cula looks up and sees the bench he sat on with Hanah. He remembers the times they’ve shared together. Hanah’s voice begins speaking.
“They say the ultimate test of friendship is risking your life for a friend. That’s what friends do!”
This gives Cula the resolve he needs to save his friends before daybreak!
Hunter drives off but is stopped by Bat Cula smacking into his windshield, causing the van to spin and the kids to be released. (Poor little Kong Kong!!!! He can’t even keep his little eyes open!!!! Hunter, I hope you choke on your own f**king blood and die in agony you sick b*st*rd you deserve to suffer for what you’ve done!!!!!) The van catches fire. Cula steps forward, smiling. The kids and Hanah are overjoyed to see their friend again. The joy is short-lived, however, as Hunter grabs Cula by the ankle. The rest of the Spookiz run and hide. Hunter floats and asks Cula why he came back.
Kong Kong stares longingly, wishing he could help. Kebi’s starting to feel bad as well. Cula manages to break free from Hunter’s grasp and runs away as Hunter shoots at him. Hanah rushes to Cula’s aid. Just as Hunter has Cula down, Hanah steps in front of Cula and calls Hunter a coward to his face.
Kong Kong, ever loyal 🥺🥺🥺, goes to help, but Kebi stops him, citing his injuries. Kong Kong protests, not wanting to lie there and just watch.
Hunter looms over Hanah and basically threatens to kill her!!! Seriously!!! But before he can do anything, the rest of the Spookiz rush in to help. Highlights include Zizi firing her casted arm like a missile, Kong Kong piloting Frankie, and Kong Kong yanking on Hunter’s eyelids!
The Principal rushes in and grabs Hunter’s hairdryer laser. He fires it, but luckily Hanah pushes Cula out of the way. Since Hanah is warm, it doesn’t affect her more than a hairdryer would usually. This means Hanah can harmlessly serve as a meat shield! Hanah tells the Principal off, saying that these kids just want to learn and grow just like any other kid at this school. Cula kicks the gun out of the Principal’s hand.
Unfortunately, Hunter breaks from the Spookiz grasp and gets the gun. He manages to shoot all of the Spookiz with it, knocking them out. He puts his eyepieces in before charging for Cula, plowing right through Hanah in the process. He grabs Cula BY THE THROAT AND CHOKES HIM. (REMEMBER WHEN THE BIGGEST PROBLEM ON CULA’S RADAR WAS A MESSY DESK???? BECAUSE I’M SURE WE’RE ALL MISSING THAT!!!!!!) Cula tries to use hypnosis, but Hunter has his eyepieces in. Hunter lifts Cula up, exposing him to the rising sun. Cula goes limp and Hunter drops him. Hunter starts walking towards Hanah, but Cula clings on to his ankle. Hunter fires a huge blast at Cula.
Hunter, seemingly victorious, crouches over Hanah and says the grossest line in this film.
“How am I going to teach you to stop hanging out with those savages for good and be a good little human girl?” (🤢🤢🤢 SERIOUSLY JOTARO??? JOSUKE????? THIS GUY YOURS????? IF HE IS YOURS YOU NEED TO COME GET HIM BEFORE HE DOES SOMETHING EVEN NASTIER)
But somehow Cula withstood the blast! He tells Hunter not to touch his friend. Hanah tells Cula to run because Hunter’s crazy, which Hunter takes deep offense to. Whilst in Hunter’s grip, Hanah gets his eyepieces off. In response, Hunter tries to SMACK HER. (By Santana, you think the baby Halloween pals are the savages????) But Cula stops his hand. Hunter tries to strike Cula, but the Principal steps in! Hunter quickly shakes him off and shoots Cula with the hairdryer, but due to the sun warming Cula, it has no effect on him! Hunter shoots Cula several more times, but Cula isn’t affected. Cula beats the absolute snot out of Hunter before hitting him with the Hypno eyes! Which is weirdly explosive this time!!!
Now we go to the epilogue! Everyone is safe and unharmed. Hunter basically gets White Bear’d and thrown in the pokey for attempting to kidnap Hanah, which, to be fair, he probably was planning. Hanah’s Dad is grateful that his daughter is safe. Since the Principal stopped Hanah’s kidnapping, parents are flocking to enroll their kids!
Mr. Reaper is also not dead!!!! Yay! (This movie is like the second time he fake-dies in this franchise he’s probs going to do it like five times before the franchise stops making Keyring money) Also naked skeleton joke.
Unfortunately, Hanah had to have her memories of the Spookiz sealed away for safety, thereby restoring the status quo. But Cula knows that he’ll be able to be Hanah’s friend again someday. He’s grateful to Hanah for helping him appreciate his friends more.
The Spookiz walk to class like in the opening, but with Cula being more appreciative of his pals. (like actually giving Kong Kong that high five instead of whiffing it like a jerk in the opening) Except for Kebi, who he’s still scuffling with. Aww these kids💙💙
Cula cleans off his and Hana’s desk. But, he discovers Hana left her phone in there again. The other kids fight over who gets to take it back until Cula suggests they all go together. Zizi asks what would happen if they got caught by people. And Cula responds by saying that he’d just hypnotize them. The film ends with Cula doing just that. (And NOT WITH A BIG DUMB DANCE PARTY DANGIT!!!!! Aw well maybe next time….)
The credits are little excerpts of the Spookiz’ life before they found the school, juxtaposed by the film’s theme song, Monkey Majik’s “Bitten by You”.
So that was the Spookiz first foray into film! How was it?
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Five hearts here! I loved it! What a perfect movie for a great show!
The movie can be watched for free on the Spookiz YouTube channel!!! Really!!! Go watch it!!!
Oh and also, Spookiz Reviews Season 3 is coming shortly! Stay tuned, Hellgrammite Pals!!!!!
Hellgrammite Mansion 