Witch's Night Out

Witch's Night Out
1978 | PG | 28 Min | Family | Leach/Rankin Productions

Director: John Leach

Writers:

John Leach

Isobel Jean Rankin

Stars: 

Gilda Radner

Bob Church,

John Leach

A witch, disgruntled by the fact that no one takes Halloween seriously anymore, decides to stir things up and disrupt the social gathering in her old house as well as turn a couple of kids who love monsters into actual monsters.

Yes! Another one off the bucket list this year. I really wanted to dive into this last year as Witch's Night Out celebrated 40 years of entering us on Halloween. Witch's Night Out is an independent animated Halloween film that premiered on NBC on October 27, 1978. Produced by Leach/Rankin Productions,  whose only other work was the 1978 movie The World Beyond. Witch's Night Out was the sequel to 1974 special, The Gift of Winter (also on this year's bucket list). It featured the voices of Fiona Reid as Nicely, Catherine O'Hara as Malicious, and Gilda Radner as the washed-up witch.

With its unique art style that was very popular in the 70s' (Fritz the Cat, Heavey Metal) it found a new home on the very popular Disney Channel every year from 1989 to the late 1990s. I did find its way to VHS in 1986 and finally brought back to life via DVD 20 years later. Thanks to its DVD release fans have been going crazy about the nostalgia this Halloween special brings. And for a great reason 40 plus years later Witch' Night Out is still a fun Family special that brings joy to the witching season. 

The story takes place in ANYTOWN. The plot involves a depressed witch who is 'summoned' by a pair of children, named Small and Tender, who are upset at not being able to scare anyone on Halloween. The witch turns them into a werewolf and ghost based on their Halloween costumes they wore earlier in the day also their babysitter Bazooey gets the Frankenstein's monster treatment.

Meanwhile, the town is planning a Halloween party at the Witch's house due to them thinking it was abandoned. However, the citizens of the town get offended when the kids show up at the party. The town is not ready for real monsters so they quickly form a mob. During all the chaos the witch loses her magic wand, which gets attached to Malicious, and is unable to turn Bazooey and the kids back to humans. The group is then chased through the town and forest by the mob in true cartoon storytelling fashion, eventually losing them. 

Picture found on the official site. But I wanted to post as I ask the question Is she naked?

Malicious and her partner, Rotten, begin to misuse the wand's powers causeing damage to the town but they also summon the witch and the kids to their location. Regaining her wand, the witch uses its power to turn Malicious and Rotten into monsters, while turning the Frankenstein monster, ghost and werewolf back into Bazooey, Tender and Small. Eventually, the witch uses her powers to restore everything to normal, showing the town that she is not evil. The town quickly accepts the witch, and she starts turning people into what they want to be for Halloween!

The artwork is still amazing and the new HD transfer allows the colors and charters to really pop off the screen! Gilda Radner really gets into character and at times you forget she is the voice, and that is a wonderful treat. And before she did Sally from the Nightmare Before Christmas Catherine O'Hara brings us the voice of badass (And Naked?) Malicious. 

Witchs Night Out warmed this old man's heart and should warm yours as well. Do not let this one pass you by and watch it for free today on VUDU  or TubiTv. If you have Amazon Prime you can catch it there as well with no adds. 

And the song man that song Witch Magic is pure 70s gold! Here take a listen.

5 out of 5