I had nearly forgotten about this, a half-hour TV special from '91, one of Hanna-Barbera's few live-action productions. The story involves a brother and sister pair of trick r' treaters, a candy factory closing and putting everyone in town out of the job, visiting aliens looking for fuel, and an old woman studying bugs in order to become immortal.That's a lot of ground to cover in twenty-some minutes and some of those plot lines don't get much development. The old woman, played by Rhea Perlman in a fright wig, is mostly a plot device to endanger our protagonists. She hangs out in a creepy Victorian mansion on a hill, has a laboratory full of bubbling chemicals, and a bumbling, monosyllabic henchman. (Who somehow isn't a hunchback.) These are all nice horror-lite elements, even if they don't add much.The main attraction is the aliens. Considering this is a television production from a faltering studio in 1991, the special effects are extremely good. The Martians are brought to life with CGI and, while it's primitive, it's impressive for the time. The fact that the aliens are blatantly cartoons helps a lot. There's not much to them and they're even color-coded. The blue one is the captain, the red one is the science experts, there's the gold, hopping, child-like one that contributes nothing to the team, and finally a rainbow colored Mogwai looking guy (voiced by Paul Williams, who I guess didn't have anything better to do that day) spends most of the movie digging the spaceship out of the ground. With the help of a dog who is conveniently named Digger, for those not paying attention.The fuel the aliens are looking for turns out to be, ah, candy. So brother and sister take them trick r' treating. This leads to the scene you're probably expecting, of the aliens hiding in plain sight, pretending to be kids in costumes. The really arbitrary plot detail about the mean old woman needing special bugs leads to the two plot threads awkwardly fusing together. That plot line is resolved very quickly. I'm not sure if it was needed at all.There's some sap. The kids have a dead mom and discussions about that take up too much time. There's a literal magical conclusion. Luckily, there's almost no lame kid-friendly humor or no bad slapstick. "The Last Halloween" is super obscure. I only remember it airing once when it was new. It was heavily advertised at the time, including a promotional comic in Disney Adventure Magazine. I only vaguely remembered something about CGI aliens sucking up candy, and then something about a guy in a barn with a vat of green liquid? It was nice to finally find this and confirm I'm not crazy. It's not half bad, as far as these things go.

I have always been a huge fan of this movie! By all means it is not perfect, but it is timeless. As technology progresses I can't help but go back to this family favorite. Way back when it was airing on TV I taped it on VHS. I have watched it every year during October since I can remember. I recently went off to college and as October came around all I could do was think about watching The Last Halloween. Well my wishes were answered when I decided to dig up the VHS and turn it into a DVD. It even has the old time commercials in it, and the quality isn't half bad. If anyone is looking a copy I might be able to make that happen. Email me at [email protected] DVD Copy Machine has been in repair for sometime now. I will be getting it back around Christmas time. I'm sorry that I cannot have a copy to all of you by Halloween, but keep in contact with me and I will do my best to get you a copy for next Halloween.

I first watched this video with my son when he was about two years old. I found the video to be a lot of fun for both parents and children. Kids will enjoy the cartoon characters that are very well done (Hannah/Barbara), and the story line is somewhat predictable, but still entertaining. Parents will enjoy the story too, as it will bring back many old memories of trick or treating as a kid, running away from spooks, staying out and having a blast. It also features some old TV actors from the late 80's and 90's. Rea Perlman from Cheers plays the villain and the guy who played Bull from Night Court is her henchman like servant. You will enjoy this video, especially if you grew up in a small town where people had to pull together to get things done, etc. I highly recommend the video and hope that it will come out on DVD or be shown on TV once again.

This movie is great for "getting in the spirit" of Halloween & trick-or-treating! I highly recommend it - especially for families with young children. I would love to own a copy of it or would love to see it on TV again this year! Bring it back, please!! The cast & characters were just right, the story is about hope, dreams & never giving up wishing for something you really want to happen. The costumes, the decorations, the entire spirit in the movie is just plain fun. Rhea Pearlman is a terrific "bad lady" & Richard Moll is just perfect for the part of Hans, the evil henchman! And it has a happy ending, with lots of Halloween goodies thrown in - what could be better than that?