Filmmakers Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb have long had a knack for finding meaning in nostalgia. From The Rock-afire Explosion to Butterfly in the Sky, their documentaries explore how communities and passions take root in unexpected places. With their latest film, The Spirit of Halloweentown, they turned their focus to St. Helens, Oregon, the real-life town where the 1998 Disney Channel Original Movie Halloweentown was filmed and that now transforms into a Halloween destination each year.
When I sat down with Thomason and Whitcomb, it was clear how much care they put into understanding the people they film. “We wanted to make a doc about Halloween in some form or fashion,” Thomason explained. “We didn’t know what that looked like, but when we found this town, St. Helens, and how it transformed itself around this movie, we just let ourselves be taken this way and that and followed story threads as we found them.”
That curiosity shaped the heart of The Spirit of Halloweentown. Whitcomb added that the process begins with genuine interest and transparency. “There’s no agenda. We’re not trying to do anything except we’re so interested in what they’re doing,” he said. “Maybe that just comes across as genuine to them, and it allows us to, you know, be let in.”
Their minimalist filmmaking style also helped create intimacy. “For a lot of it, it’s just me and Brad,” Whitcomb noted. “It’s a camera and audio, and we don’t even try to light stuff if we don’t have to. If there’s a window, that’s enough.”
This approach carries over even as the film ventures into supernatural territory. “There is a supernatural element,” Thomason said. “There are ghost hunts and things in this film, but we were always most interested in how that was resonating with the people who were experiencing it. We’re not coming in with judgment. We’re right there with them.”
Whitcomb added that while the tone shifts toward something spookier, their methods didn’t. “Everything was truly observational,” he said. “We just went along with them and filmed it. The only thing we did different was having fun with the sound and music. We wanted people to put this on during Halloween.”
Reflecting on their time in St. Helens, Thomason said he’s often struck by how deep people’s passions go once you spend time with them. “We think we’re going to meet passionate, quirky, funny people, but there’s always a couple who strike us by how deeply they feel for this thing that maybe feels a little silly to others,” he said. Whitcomb agreed, adding that their time with the locals left a lasting impression. “Everyone’s going through something quietly,” he said. “It just strengthened that idea that we’re listening with our cameras.”
I had a great time speaking with Bradford and Brett. They have an easy, collaborative energy that mirrors their filmmaking style. While The Spirit of Halloweentown didn’t connect with me as much as I’d hoped and I found the ghost-hunting segments less compelling, it’s clear that their passion for authentic storytelling drives everything they do.
Even when the subject matter drifts into the supernatural, Thomason and Whitcomb remain grounded in what they do best: finding humanity in the unexpected. Their curiosity and empathy continue to make them filmmakers worth following, and I’m genuinely curious to see what world they explore next.
Jessie Hobson