Born of a union between a vampire and a witch, teen 'hybrids' Blaz (Mojean Aria) and Velana (Leanne Agmon) long to escape the cobwebbed confines of their parents' dusty old castle and pursue their dreams in the 'normal' world. Blaz longs to make movies and takes an interest in a zombie movie being developed by Maria (Lauren Lakis), a Florida-based film student. Persuading Valena to come along, the siblings relocate to the sunshine state. While Blaz woos Maria, Valena takes a waitressing job at a nightclub. There her secret singing talent goes down a storm. However, Todor the vampire (Phillip Willingham) and Valantina the witch (Anne Leighton) are determined to bring their kids home before vengeful, disfigured monster hunter Professor Prater (Charles Noland) and his bumbling assistants (Chris De Christopher and Chuck Ardezzone) get a hold of them.
While sporadically charming, Spooky Kids (originally titled: The Hybrid Family) is a regrettably inconsistent family-friendly horror comedy that makes little mileage out of a promising plot. It is a rare family film for horror veteran Tony Randel. Not to be confused with actor Tony Randall, the genre specialist was a name to watch back in the late Eighties-to-early-Nineties - e.g. Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988), Children of the Night (1991), Ticks (1993) and the live action adaptation of Fist of the North Star (1995) - but never graduated to the big leagues. Working from a script co-written by producer Tony Schweikle, here Randel reuses the idea of kindly, misunderstood monsters versus nasty, bigoted monster hunters familiar from various versions of The Little Vampire in 1986, 2000 and 2017, the 'funny' episode of The Monster Club (1980) and, of course, Munster, Go Home! (1966). Not to mention a great many Tim Burton films.
Speaking of Tim Burton, aspects of Spooky Kids play like Tim Burton-lite. Corey Wallace does his best imitation Danny Elfman score while Phillip Willingham (channeling Raoul Julia by way of Brad Dourif) and lovely Anne Leighton (who brightens up many an indie outing) re-enact the same tired kids' Halloween show schtick that failed for Johnny Depp and Eva Green in Dark Shadows (2012). Filmed in Ave Maria, Florida, the film has a distracting cheap look comparable with one of the weaker Nickelodeon-type tween TV movies. However, Randel's experience in low-budget genre filmmaking results in some creative visuals. Spooky Kids spins a lightweight but sweet story about two nice kids trying to break cultural barriers and follow their dreams and finding romance through a mutual love of horror films. Judging from the depiction of the film studies professor who sneers at Maria's devotion to horror and science fiction as art Randel evidently empathizes with the young wannabe genre filmmakers. As a result the film imbues Blaz's Graveyard Shift (1986)-like romance with Maria and Valena's tearful stage performance with unexpected affecting sincerity.
Spooky Kids has the benefit of spirited performances from engaging young leads: British-born actress Leanne Agmon and Sal Mineo look-alike Mojean Aria. Alas, lethargic plotting wastes their commitment. Each time the story seems like it is heading somewhere things judder to a halt for more strained sitcom banter between Todor and Valantina or eye-rolling antics from Professor Prater and his goons. Strangely these vampires do not seem to crave blood nor recoil from the blazing light of the sunshine state. To its credit the film avoids the predictable fight-to-death between monsters and hunters (possibly because they don't have the budget) and instead has the villain make an amusing, life-changing decision of his own. Special guest star Paul Sorvino pops up (in a role intended for Burt Reynolds (?!) who fell ill) as the white-suited Count who sings opera, prepares pasta sauce and, when a crystal ball fails, locates his grandchildren with search engine.
