Get ready ghouls — Monster High is back with a live action movie that’ll fulfill all your spoopy dreams.
A new trailer for the Nickolodeon movie showcases some favorite characters (and Frankie Stein apparently uses they/them pronouns!) and the fangtastic (ha) world of Monster High. It’s garish and over-the-top, with bright makeup and costumes and we wouldn’t want it any other way. (seriously — Fate: The Winx Sagatake notes on how a magical girl cartoon made live action is supposed to look like).
For those uninitiated, Monster High is a line of dolls, movies, and web shows from Mattel, based on a line of dolls that launched in 2010 and ran for eight years. Each of the dolls was based on a classic monster archetype, but more stylish and cool. They were as fashionable as Barbies and Bratz dolls, but with a fun edge that made spooky scary monsters into something totally chic.
The three central characters, for instance — Clawdeen, Frankie, and Draculaura — were based on a werewolf, Frankenstein’s monster, and Dracula. But the toy line stretched far, with dolls that tapped from a wide variety of influences, like Operetta, the rockabilly daughter of the Phantom of the Opera, and Amanita Nightshade, a plant monster born from the seed of a Corpse Flower. The lore is pretty zany and all over the place, but that’s what made Monster High super special.
In addition to the doll line and the movies, there was also a web series that ran from 2010 to 2015. Mattel also launched a spin-off toy line called Ever After High, which followed the children of popular fairy tale characters. But declining sales prompted Mattel to reboot the doll line and web series in 2016, this time aimed at a younger audience. That didn’t work out and the line was discontinued in 2018 — however, in 2020 Mattel relaunched Monster High with some collector edition dolls and the announcement of this movie, as well as a new animated series.
Monster High: The Movie will premiere on Nickelodeon and Paramount Plus on October 6, just in time for Halloween.
