Disney’s Halloweentown is a fantasy fiction series. The series proposes that fantasy and magical beings such as witches, warlocks, goblins, and werewolves among others, are living in an alternate universe in a place called Halloweentown. The series follows the adventures of Aggie Cromwell and Marnie Piper, witches who must travel between the mortal world (Earth) and Halloweentown to stop evil.
Halloweentown is a series of four fantasy films released by Disney Channel Original Movies; Halloweentown (1998), Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge (2001), Halloweentown High (2004), and Return to Halloweentown (2006). Let’s see which is the ideal order to watch Halloween Town and what each movie’s storyline is like.
Best order to watch Halloweentown Movies
The Halloweentown films are listed in chronological sequence of release. Let’s say you wish to view the Halloweentown movies in chronological or timeline sequence. In that scenario, you must follow the release sequence, since the Halloweentown films are released in chronological order.
Halloweentown movies in order of release:
- Halloweentown – (1998)
- Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge – (2001)
- Halloweentown High – (2004)
- Return to Halloweentown – (2006)
Halloweentown movies in order
1. Halloweentown – (1998)
Marnie argues with her mother, Gwen, over why she and her siblings (Dylan and Sophie) can never go out for Halloween. Their grandmother, Aggie, however, is more encouraging towards this. Aggie and Gwen are actually witches but Gwen prefers to live a normal life as a mortal, whereas Aggie has the intention of training Marnie as a witch. Aggie reads the children a fantasy bedtime story called “Halloweentown”, about a place where mystical creatures live together. Sophie points out that Marnie resembles a witch in the book.
As Aggie leaves, the children follow Aggie onto a magical bus to Halloweentown. Instead of taking them back home, Aggie decides that she will start Marnie’s witch training. However, Aggie explains that she has to defeat an evil creature that has the appearance of a hooded demon. Aggie takes the children to town to shop for the ingredients needed to activate a talisman to defeat the creature.
Gwen arrives at Halloweentown to retrieve the children. However, she is unable to find a bus back to the mortal world and decides to approach the mayor and her ex-boyfriend, Kalabar, for help. Sensing Aggie might be in trouble, Gwen and the children follow Aggie to an abandoned theater, where they discover that the missing Halloweentown citizens have been frozen in time. The demon freezes Gwen and Aggie and the children are able to escape.
Later, the children are able to collect the ingredients needed to activate the talisman. They discover that they must install the talisman in the large jack-o-lantern in town to defeat the demon. The demon appears halting their progress and reveals himself to be Kalabar. He preaches to the townspeople, trying to persuade them to join him on his quest to take over the mortal world. Kalabar freezes Marnie as she attempts to activate the talisman. As she is about to be frozen, she is able to drop the talisman into the lantern which then unfreezes her and the frozen Halloweentown citizens in the theater.
Kalabar obtains the talisman where he announced that he will use it to rule both the mortal and magical world. Gwen, Aggie, and the children, who are shown to have magic powers, confront Kalabar and defeats him. In the end, the family leaves off to the mortal world, where Gwen and Aggie agree to train Marnie as a witch.
2. Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge – (2001)
During a Halloween party, Marnie is attracted by Kal and proceeds to show him Aggie’s magical room. Marnie is unaware that Kal is in fact, Kalabar’s son, who takes the opportunity to steal Aggie’s spellbook. Soon Aggie notices worrying magical symptoms. Together with Marnie, they travel to Halloweentown and discover that the town has been turned into a black and white world, where the citizens have turned into monotonous humans, including Luke the goblin. Aggie describes this as the “Grey Spell”.
Soon they learned that Kal has stolen Aggie’s book to prevent her from stopping him from completing his father’s revenge on Halloweentown and the mortal world. Marnie unintentionally reverts Luke back to his goblin form. As they are unable to explain the spell’s undoing, the group believes that it is temporary. The trio travel to Gort’s lair, a location where junk from the universe is collected in one spot.
Aggie starts to fall to the Grey Spell, prompting Marnie to time travel back to Gort’s house before the Grey Spell happened. They discover that fifty years ago, Gort had sold a spare spellbook to Kalabar. Marnie learns that the Grey Spell can be undone by saying “Trapa” (the word “Apart” spelled backward).
It is shown that Kal is now attempting to cursing the mortal world into a movie caricature of Halloweentown. In a Halloween high school party, Kal curses the party guests including Gwen, into monsters. Marnie frees Aggie from the Grey Spell but the duo realizes that they are trapped in Halloweentown.
Contacting her siblings, they are able to create a new spell allowing Marnie and Aggie to travel to the mortal world. Kal confronts Marnie who attacks her with dark magic, which ultimately fails when Marnie takes both spell books away from him. By his own desire, Kal is sent away with his magic, warning that he will return with vengeance. The family is able to undo the spells on both worlds.
3. Halloweentown High – (2004)
Marnie is making preparations to begin a new school year. She proposes for the Halloweentown Council to allow Halloweentown students to visit her mortal high school. Concerned about the legend of the Knights of the Iron Dagger (where an order of knights set out to destroy all magical things), they gave in to her request only after she bets all of Cromwell’s magic that her plan will work. Little did they know that she meant it as a joke. If things go sideways by midnight on Halloween, her entire family loses their magic.
Halloweentown students are given magic disguises as they visit Marnie’s school. Aggie disguises as a substitute teacher and creates a remote magical locker for the Halloweentown students, in case of need. Cody, a new student, develops romantic feelings for Marnie. The Knights of the Iron Dagger sends a warning through a series of actions. The Halloweentown students lose their disguises, the magical locker is broken into, and Cassie (a student) is missing.
Aggie and Marnie soon learn that Flanagan (the school principal) is the Knight behind the incidents. Unbeknownst to them, Dalloway, head of the Witches Council, is using Flanagan to ensure that Marnie’s endeavor fails; in hopes that Halloweentown and the mortal world remain isolated.
At the school Halloween carnival, Dalloway attacks mortal students by turning inanimate monsters into life. Flanagan then creates a mob to corner the Halloweentown students. Dalloway appears before everyone and takes their magic as the mortal mobs close in on them. He escapes to Halloweentown and closes the portal between both worlds. The mob initially is aggressive towards the Halloweentown folk but is then shamed by Cody, who asks them if they’ll accept Marnie now that she’s like them. The crowd accepts the Halloweentown students for who they are, and Flanagan renounces being a knight.
Aggie uses a witch’s glass that captures Dalloway as he attempts to escape through a portal. They also find Cassie, who has been imprisoned by Dalloway. The Council appears through projections and imprisons Dalloway in another witch’s glass. Aggie and Marnie are able to reclaim their magic from Dalloway.
The portal connecting Halloweentown and the mortal world remains open inside the Halloween carnival. Folks from Halloweentown are able to travel to the mortal world to enjoy the carnival together with their mortal counterparts. Marnie is seen sharing a kiss with Cody, as they fly over the carnival on a broom.
4. Return to Halloweentown – (2006)
Marnie, now 18 years old, decides to attend Witch University in Halloweentown, much to Gwen’s dismay. Gwen forces Dylan to go along with her to keep an eye out for her. At the university, Gwen and Dylan discover that they are not allowed to use magic at school. Marnie meets a new friend in the form of a genie, Annessa. She also makes new enemies in the Sinister Sisters, a malevolent trio of witches, daughter to Silas Sinister (unbeknownst to her, he is the university’s Chancellor). Dylan on the other hand becomes infatuated with the Sinister Sisters.
A silver box with the words “S. Cromwell” presents itself to Marnie. The box is then confiscated by Silas. Silas and a group of teachers are in a group called the Dominion. They intend to use Marnie to open the box in order to obtain the gift inside it. Marnie approaches Professor Periwinkle who informs her that S. Cromwell stood for Splendora Cromwell. Dylan and Marnie discover that Splendor had hidden “the Gift” in that silver box for a thousand years. Unbeknownst to them, the Dominion was watching the duo and planned to use him in their plot to rule over Halloweentown. Dylan soon falls under a spell by the Sinister Sisters.
Marney approaches Periwinkle for help, who then sends her a thousand years into the past to meet with Splendora. There she learns that the Gift is a powerful necklace that grants someone complete control over anyone. Splendora turns out to be Aggie (who adopted the name Aggie due to her middle name being Agatha).
When Marnie returns to the present, she is captured by the Dominion, where they threaten her to use the necklace to put Halloweentown under control. Marney is able to turn on them with the help of Aneesa, trapping the necklace in her genie lamp. They destroy the lamp, which in turn destroys the necklace.
The Dominion are apprehended by Periwinkle, who reveals herself to be a Halloweentown Detective. Dylan discovers that Marnie did not destroy the necklace, but had hidden it for his safekeeping, as he is the only one she trusts. Dylan hides the necklace away, using it for good, only when necessary.