All language subtitles for Skelly.2024.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264

- When it comes to
spending time with family,

the holiday most people
think of is Christmas.

Cozying up by the
fire, exchanging gifts,

and having big family dinners

is what marks this
special time of year.

But when I was a kid,

the most special holiday
for me and my family

was a bit different.

Tricks, treats,
and haunted houses.

You guessed it, Halloween.

I know it's not conventional,

but Halloween always brought
my family together growing up,

more so than any other holiday.

It was a father son
thing especially.

And even though we
haven't been together

for many Halloweens,

I still think of
my dad each year.

Between starting a family,

moving away,

and my career taking over,

life just kind of happened.

- Hi, Daddy!
- Hi, sweetheart.

Oh, my God, you are so big!

Hi, buddy.

Hi, JJ.

- Whoa!
- What was that for?

- I'm just getting ready
for Halloween, bud.

Oh, my queen!

I'm humbled by your
presence, oh, great beauty.

- Well, I just
washed those pants.

- Oh, aye-aye.

- Ugh!

- Oh, now you're interested
in the real world.

- These two have
been at it all day.

- Well, you can't play
just one game of Skelly.

- Yeah, I don't really
understand how it's played.

- What?

Rebecca, come on.

You're missing out.

Okay, each player
takes their cap

and they place it on the
starting point and flips.

All right, now the goal is
land on each number in order,

one, two, three, and so on,

eventually getting on the
13th box with the skull mark.

- I didn't realize
it was so simple.

- Well, I mean, more or less.

There, you know,

are other rules you can
play by if you want.

Grandpa would be pretty proud.

Papa Dave, not so much.

Did you check the mail today?

- Yeah, something came.

- Something came?

- Yes.
- Is it your book?

- Well, I don't know.

I haven't opened it.

Did you send your dad a copy?

- Yeah, I think it's
supposed to arrive today.

- Are you ready to
read it to them?

- Yeah, yeah, I mean, I've
put so much into this.

I think it's time.

- Kids.

Lucy.

JJ.

JJ, Charlie.

Let's go inside.

- Come on, buddy.

There you go.

Pep in your step, that's my boy!

Wait, is that it?
- Uh-huh.

- Wait, wait!

- Good.

Kids, come downstairs
when you're done!

Your dad has a surprise
for you.

- Hey, when are we gonna put
up the Halloween decorations?

- Well, isn't it a little
too early for that?

- Never.

- Okay,
well go get 'em.

- Can we see
the surprise now?

- Oh yeah.

Gather around, children.

Your father has
accomplished a great feat,

and now you must be subjected
to the fruits of his labor.

- Wait, what kind of fruits?

Apples?

- Obviously grapes.

- But, but I don't like grapes!

- Okay, just forget
about the fruits, okay?

- So what's the surprise?

- Well,

it's a book that I wrote

just for you guys and Papa Dave.

- We haven't seen
Papa Dave in so long.

- Yeah, since last Christmas.

- Yeah, it has been awhile.

Well, maybe before
this Christmas arrives,

we can actually start
reading the book.

- All right, all right.

Many years ago,

a boy named Jonah was getting
excited for Halloween.

- Who's Jonah?

- Jonah is me.

- I thought your name was Daddy.

- Yeah, well, before
I was called Daddy

I was mostly known as Jonah.

- Oh.

- Every year Jonah,
his dad and his grandpa

would make a haunted house

with all the neighborhood
kids for Halloween.

This year would be
their biggest build yet.

So plans started early in
the spring over breakfast.

Come on.

- Enough about omelets.

Just talk about
the haunted house.

- Okay, okay.

Later that year,

those haunted house plans
were being put into action

by Jonah and his friends,

with curly haired
Nate taking the lead.

- It won't turn!
- Oh, no way.

Is this not gonna go
bro? Just leave it alone.

- No, hold on.
- It's going towards you.

It's going towards you.

- Should we begin?

So first, I just want to say

that I'm really glad

we're doing the haunted
house again this year.

The haunted house
is seriously, like.

my favorite part of last year.

But that being said,

I feel like we just
need to make it a goal

to outdo last year.

- That's gonna be pretty hard.

I mean, remember the car scene?

- Is your guys' dad
gonna be helping again?

- I think so.

- Because that would
be a lot of help.

- All right, assuming
their dad is on board,

we got one idea so far.

The guillotine.

- What's a guillotine?

- It's a machine
designed to cut-

- No!
- We'll get to that later.

- Which was actually
a pretty good idea.

- Naturally.

- But that still leaves
us with one idea.

So we need to
think of some more.

- Well, look who it is.

- How'd they ever let that
guy be an exchange student?

- He probably lied on
his application somehow.

- He had to have.

There's no way he's
a good student.

The other day he asked
me what state were we in?

- What's the foreign
exchange student's name?

- Hmm, to be honest,
I don't know.

I don't, I don't think any of
us knew how to pronounce it.

Vlad? Vilas?

I don't know, it doesn't matter.

- What's he doing?

Is he gonna smoke a cigarette?

- Of course.

- Whoa, wait a second.

Vlad in the haunted house.

- He is terrifying in real life.

- All we would have to
do is put a mask on him

and just let him be
his scary Danish self.

- I don't know, what
if he beats up a kid?

'Cause he would do that.

- True, he might beat up a
kid in the heat of the moment.

- I think that's a risk
we're gonna have to take.

- Okay, everyone in favor

for having Vilas in
the haunted house?

- All right.

Well, it's official.

Some little kid's gonna have
a heart attack this year.

- Hey, Vilas?

- Yes, Dave?

- You got Halloween in Denmark?

- We do.

But we have Halloween,
we celebrate that.

You know, your traditions
spill over to my traditions,

but we also have Fastelavn.

- Festive Lawn?

- Nope, Fastelavn.

- Festive Lawn.

- Not festive, Fastelavn.

- Festive Lawn.

- Fastelavn.
- I'll get it.

What do you do for Fastelavn?

- You have bobbing for apples.

We have sort of
like bobbing for,

it's called Festive Hollow.

Bob down, you eat it
without your hands.

And if you win, you get
money, you get candy.

- You get money?

That sounds pretty American.

- We don't get much.

It's not like big prize
game, like, you know,

$100,000 like all your
game shows, but...

We have fun. It's a good time.

- Do me a favor, hold that.

Now follow me.

- Where are we going?

- We're gonna do some work.

- But I'm smoking.

- Vilas? Huh.

Well, he left his door open,

so he can't really blame
us if we look around.

Okay, back in Denmark.

I'm sure these posters
meant something.

Oh, "Are you finish?

"No, I'm Danish."

I don't get it.

Whoa.

That looks pretty realistic.

And I bet you they mold it
from someone's actual face.

- Probably.

- Hey, we could use this
for the haunted house.

- Hmm.

- Ah, dude, we could use it
for like, a guillotine scene.

- That'd be awesome.

- And I mean, it looks so real.

- Should we ask Vilas
if we can use it?

- Well, then he'll know
we were in his room.

- I wonder if we
can get fake blood.

- I'm working here, guys.

Do you need something?

- We had an idea for
the haunted house.

We were in Vilas' room.

He let us go in.

Well, he didn't say we
couldn't be there anyway.

He gave us this.

- We are thinking
we could use it

for like a guillotine scene.

- You guys are
crazy, you know that?

- Could you help us make it?

- I don't know.

Jonah, I'm gonna be
really busy this fall.

We'll see, okay?

I gotta take this.

Hello?

- The garage
was cold and empty.

Young Jonah had a
lot of work to do

without his dad or his grandpa.

- Why did Papa Dave
not wanna help?

- Well, he hadn't built
anything for awhile.

Not since his last project.

- What was his last project?

- You guys obviously
know the game Skelly, right?

- Yeah.

- My favorite game!

- That was a game
that my grandpa,

your great-grandpa
taught me and your uncle

when we were young.

- Now you have to use a
little imagination here.

Picture that you're
in the middle

of a narrow Brooklyn street.

Cars parked on either side,

surrounded by huge
tenement buildings.

- Yeah, and the year is 1930.

Newspaper costs a nickel,

and there's a crazy new dance

called the foxtrot
sweeping the nation.

- I do not need your sarcasm.

- Grandpa, what would you do

when a car came down the street?

- Well, we'd pause
the game, of course,

and hope that the car
hadn't hit anyone's pieces.

- What's in them?

- Wax and a penny.

- Those regulation, Dad?

- Enough of you.

Right, let me show you
how they work, okay?

Not quite like that,
but nearly like that.

So let me tell you about the
time we was playing the game

and Dutch Schultz came
down the street.

You'll never guess how
nimble his fingers were.

Gimme the pieces.

- So let me get this straight.

You took a street game
from Brooklyn and the Bronx

and turned it into
a parlor game?

- No, not, not a parlor game.

And I was thinking
it would be more like

a college dorm room
game like foosball.

- Foosball?

This game is nothing
like foosball.

Jonah, you've played foosball.

Is this game anything
like foosball?

No.

- No, I, I know not,
not like foosball,

but just a similar
genre of game, Dad.

- Oh, similar genre.

You know?

And what about the
bottle caps, huh?

I mean, they'd scuff any
smooth surface you've got,

but I suppose you're
gonna have them replaced

with something more
suitable to your dorm, huh?

- Well, first of all,
Dad, it's not my dorm room.

I live in a house.

Yeah, but yes,

actually I did think
that something smoother

would work a little bit better,
so I made, I made those.

- Huh.

- You wanna see?

Show him.

- It's round.

It's, it's all wrong.

It's round, it
shouldn't be round.

- Well, I mean, that's
the part of the problem

we ran into with
the first prototype.

The pieces were getting
stuck in the corners,

but now look, you
can, you can do this.

- Oh.

Oh, that's, that's neat.

So what do you think, Jonah?

Would you play this game?

- Yeah, it's pretty fun.

- Well, if my grandson likes it

then clearly it has
potential.

- You okay, Dad?

Are you sure?

I, um, I even made another
set of legs for it.

You can take them off
and they're shorter.

You can sit on a table.

- It's wonderful, David.

- I made it for you, Dad.

- Thank you.

- Is that the last time
you saw your grandpa?

- Yeah, it was.

That's why my dad or Papa Dave

had such a hard time
building things.

It only reminded him of
his last gift to Grandpa.

Without the help of his dad,

Jonah and his friends started
visiting other haunted houses

to get ideas for their own.

- We'll see how this goes.
- I'm super excited.

- All right, remember, guys,

this is reconnaissance.

So we wanna see what works

and what doesn't in
the haunted house.

- First mistake, fake
skeleton missing its head.

- I thought it was
supposed to be like that.

- Oh, like, uh...

- Ichabod Crane.
- Right.

But then why would
it be a skeleton?

It's like mixing two
different things.

- Maybe the wind blew it off,
or somebody bumped into it.

- I think the fact
that we don't know

if it's supposed to be that
way or not, says it all.

- True.

- Halloween was
only a few weeks away.

So Jonah got to
building on his own.

He couldn't help but worry that
without the help of his dad,

the haunted house
would be a dud.

After all, everyone was having
a hard time without grandpa.

Mom was a preacher,

and the stories she told
always gave a way of giving us

the comfort and
guidance we needed.

- In spiritual experiences
in many religions,

the revelation that sweetens
life, that brings peace,

is surely that despite our
fully recognized limitations,

brokenness, sinfulness,
culpability, suffering,

we are yet one,
beloved, belonging,

at one with the universe.

Whether we experience this
bliss as redemption, salvation,

or as the unifying spirit
of life, or as nirvana,

or however, this
experience of oneness

is joyful transformations

that reconnect us with
our spiritual path.

Now, we extinguish this flame,
but not the light of truth,

the warmth of community
or the fire of commitment.

These we carry in our hearts
until we are together again.

- That was nice.
- Yeah.

- Now, you know me.

I would never smoke cigarettes.

You know, I mean,
think about it.

Cigarettes, it's the
time of the name.

I'm just gonna smoke cigars.

Now that
is pizza dough.

How we looking? Is
the sauce ready?

- Just about.

- Oh, oh, no.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Not so much, a little.

- I only put a little.

- You always put too much, here.

- No, I don't.
- Sorry, okay, come on.

Here we go.

That, that's something.

All right, here we go.

Pizza time.

Ready?

- Mm-hmm.
- Let's do this.

Okay.

Start with the sauce.

- You do that.
- Yeah, go ahead.

All right, get the toppings.

Start with the cheese.

Look at this.

Here you go.

Oh, wait, hold on.

Wait!

Don't put the cheese on yet.

Let me do this.

Let me do my sauce work.

Let me do my sauce
work really quick.

All right, oh, cheese.

Wait for the cheese.

You're the cheese, man.

Crazy for cheese.

You gotta hold on for a second.

Let me get this
going, all right?

I know what I'm doing.

I've made, I've
done this before.

You're, you're a
little rookie-ish,

if I do say so myself.

All right, hold on.

You know, just on one,
you one half, one half.

Okay, sausage freak.

This is, it's gonna
get crazy up in here, so.

- This is sausage?

- Yes, that is sausage.

And you know that I
don't like sausage.

So let's, let's be
easy with it.

Do you ever wonder
what would be like

to just live in the woods?

You know, like if
you didn't have

a house to stay in or anything,

and you had to survive on
your own in the wilderness.

Do you ever wonder
stuff like that?

- Yeah.

- Like, we're so used
to living in houses

and getting our food
from the grocery store

that you never even
think about it.

But you know, it could happen.

- You'd have to catch your
own food for one thing.

- Yeah, exactly.

So it'd probably be important
not to accidentally step on

your sister's fishing pole,

ruining your only chance of-

- That was you!

- How many times
have we been through this?

I was 15 feet away
when I heard that.

- I was 15 feet away
when I heard it!

I was untangling my line
from the tree, I remember!

- Oh, wow!

You heard it because it
was right under your feet.

Think about it.

How could you have heard it
if you were 15 feet away?

- Yes, and that's
what you said too.

- Fine, fine.

It's clear that we're not
gonna settle this tonight,

so let's just agree to disagree.

- Fine.

- You broke your
sister's fishing pole.

Stop!

- Fine! Fine! Fine!

Truce, truce, truce.

You know, 25 years from now,

we're still gonna be
arguing about this.

- Yep.

- Goodnight.

- Goodnight.

Do you ever think about death?

- Kids,
dinner's ready.

- Dino nuggies!

- What?
- I'll get them.

- I don't know, Jonah.

Do you think this is all
a little heavy for them?

- Hmm, kids are smart.
- Yeah.

- You'd be surprised
what they pick up on.

After all, I learned
my mother's teachings,

and even if they don't, the
doctor said that I need this.

- Your doctor?

You've only seen a
dermatologist this year.

- Largest organ in your body
and mine was calling for help.

- Oh yeah? Yeah?

Oh, I think it'll be fine.

- Yeah.

- Hey.

- Hey.

Long day?

- Yeah.

Just this project deadline.

There was a
miscommunication early on,

and now we're all scrambling
to find out where it started.

But that's life.

How was the sermon?

- It's coming along, yeah.

- Remind me what
it's about again.

- Grief, but it's
gonna be uplifting.

- Sounds like a
real crowd pleaser.

- Well, I think the
mistake that people make

is thinking that we get
through grief, right?

Like, we move beyond it,

and it's behind us when really

we're always kind of
going through grief.

- I already feel uplifted.

- This doesn't have to be
so depressing, you know?

It's like, yes,

we are always experiencing
loss from the day we're born.

And at times that loss can
feel greater than others.

As you're experiencing right
now with your father's passing.

And though we can't avoid
loss or the pain it causes,

you know, if we're open
to the possibility,

we can experience
an equally strong,

though more elusive
emotion, catharsis.

Unfortunately, one cannot be
experienced without the other.

Oh, Dave.

- Dad, I thought you said

this was a Halloween story
about a haunted house.

- Well, don't forget,
it's about love and loss too.

Mom's next sermon
was very special.

- A man is on his deathbed

and his family is
gathered around.

His son says, "Papa, is
there anything I can do

"to make you more comfortable?"

I stole this from Billy
Crystal, by the way.

"I wanna taste
mom's chopped liver

"just once more before I
die," the father replies.

"Please, some chopped liver."

"Okay, Pop," the son says,
and he goes into the kitchen.

A few moments later,
he comes back.

"Do you have the
liver?" The dad asks.

"No, Mom said it's for after."

Death and life are so
intertwined in our experience,

but the good stuff doesn't
have to only be for after.

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon
asked the big question,

what is the point of
life under the sun?

Now, he was kind of in an
existential funk at the time.

In fact, he begins Ecclesiastes

by repeating the word
meaningless over and over.

Everything is meaningless.

What is the point of life?

He wonders, when we are at
the mercy of circumstance,

when tragedy and hardship
can come unexpectedly,

when so much of what
we do seems so futile.

Solomon did not shy away

from asking these
challenging questions.

And he urged others not to
shy away from them either.

But instead to embrace the fact

that life can be
frustrating at times,

confusing, unfair,
and downright painful.

He was a realist.

But in the face of this chaos,

what does he suggest?
To enjoy life.

Yes, Solomon said

and he said it many
times, enjoy life.

What an audacious suggestion.

Have that chopped liver now,
don't save it for later.

Enjoy that sunset

instead of continuing to
work into the evening.

Go out dancing,
laugh, eat good food.

All within
moderation, of course,

he wasn't advocating
gluttony or hedonism

or laziness or anything
like that, just enjoyment.

Now he does acknowledge
that this way of living,

holding such a large
contradiction can
pose as a challenge

to know that you will
face tragedy in your life.

That you will lose loved ones.

That everything you create
will one day be destroyed.

To accept all of this and still
choose simply to enjoy life,

it is a challenge.

But in the end, it's a
challenge worth taking.

- Is this where
the story gets happier?

- Although the kids

were still missing
dad's help and advice,

they could always count

on Uncle Glenn's
quirky philosophies.

- Well, maybe if
we, I don't know.

I don't, I don't know, I don't.

- This is impossible.

- It's just, if I got nothing.

It's, yeah, it's impossible.

- Hello, boys.

What's going on?

Little meeting of the minds?

- We're trying to hit the hoop.

So the marker cap
falls in the bottle.

- It's impossible.

I don't know how we did it.

- Vilas showed it to us.

- Can I see?

Can I try?

- Sure.

- So what are you guys doing
up so late on a school night?

Isn't this a little late?

- Well, we have tomorrow
off for parent meetings.

- Parent meetings.
What's that about?

It sounds lame.

Where the teachers
all go to Six Flags?

- I ain't complaining.

- Yeah, I wouldn't
complain either.

Now you gotta
understand about this

is that you are being deceived
by your own perceptions.

Okay, your mind is
telling you one thing,

but reality is
slightly different.

What you need to do

is turn off your
caveman brain, huh?

And start to see what is
actually in front of you.

Good day, gentlemen.

- Oh, Uncle Glenn.

He's always giving the most
interesting yet random advice.

- He is known for that.

- Uncle Glenn is so smart.

- Do you even understand
what he meant?

- Yeah, he meant that
you can't view your life

and the universe
through a narrow lens.

To accomplish your goals,

you have to think
outside of the box,

rather than being clouded
in a superficiality.

At least it's what he
told me on 4th of July,

before he lit his pants
on fire with fireworks.

- That's Uncle Glenn for you.

Anyways, although Jonah
appreciated his uncle's insight,

it still couldn't replace
his dad's guidance.

No offense to Uncle Glenn,

but Jonah needed more
than bottle tricks

to lift up his spirits.

Meanwhile, Dad was starting
to realize that it's important

to cherish the time you have
with the people you love,

especially in difficult times.

So, Dad got to work once again.

- Personally I think it
should be Ned's head.

It looks the most
like the dummy's.

- Oh, thanks.

- Let's see.

I can see it.

- Yeah, the only
problem is the hair.

- Could you shave
your head, dude?

- Oh, what if they were
both wearing a bandana?

- Hey Dave.
- Hey Dave.

- Hey guys.

Oh, how's the board working?

- It's really nice,
really smooth.

- Good, yeah.

I put an extra
layer of oil on it.

I think that really helped.

- Definitely.

- So I was, you know,

I was thinking last night
about that guillotine scene,

how you guys could do it.

- Hey, we were just
talking about that.

- Oh, oh, okay.

I mean, if you guys already
have an idea, that's-

- No, no, no.

We wanna hear your idea.

- Can I draw here?

- Go ahead.
- Okay.

So what I was thinking is,

we're gonna make a
guillotine, right?

It's gonna look just like
any other guillotine, right?

But then what we're gonna do
is we're gonna take a door.

We're gonna put six inches
in front of the guillotine.

That way whoever's head

is actually sticking
out of the guillotine.

- Ned.
- Ned.

Ned can pull his head out
before the blade falls.

- And there's gonna
be an actual blade?

- Well, it's gonna be luan,
but we're gonna spray paint it.

I mean, it's gonna look
just like real metal.

- So we actually wanna
show the blade falling?

- Yeah, right, but
you are gonna hear it.

I mean, it's gonna be loud.

Like, really loud.

And then what I was
thinking is, you know,

when the door opens and
closes, when you open it,

the head's gonna fall out.

So what I'm gonna do is
I'm gonna take that head,

you guys stole from Vilas.

I'm gonna hollow it out.

Fill it up with concrete.

That way when it
hits the ground,

it's gonna make a huge thud.

- Yes.
- That's pretty good.

- Only your dad
would think about

filling a fake head with
concrete for a haunted house.

- Yeah.

- Now, I can't start
it like right away,

but I think I should
get some time next week.

- In the meantime,

we gotta start thinking
of some other ideas.

- We should start meeting

at least twice a week
going forward now.

I'll make a schedule.

- Oh, you guys are crazy.

You know that?

- Yeah, but you love it.

- I think this is gonna work.

I can see it.

- Well, where were you
guys while he was building?

- We were busy brainstorming.

- What's a brainstorm?

- It's when brains
fall from the sky.

- No, no.
- Yes, it is.

- Charlie, it is not.
- Yes, it is.

- Brainstorming is when-

- Is when
brains fall from the sky.

- Is when you think really hard

with a group of people
using your brains.

- Oh, okay.

- Anyways, while Dad was
outside building things,

the kids were
inside brainstorming

after visiting other
haunted houses.

- I just feel like, yes.

We could create
the same illusions

that that haunted house had

if we had hundreds of
dollars to work with.

But we don't, so it's
not a fair comparison.

- Whatever, I'm glad we don't.

Everything in theirs
was so store bought.

It wasn't even original.

- Exactly.

We're building our
scenes from scratch.

- Well, Dave's doing a lot
of the actual building.

- Yeah, but we're
coming up with the ideas

and making them unique.

- But true, we
owe a lot to Dave.

- I just feel like there's so
many haunted houses out there

that aren't even worth
the price of admission.

You know what I mean?

They're not scary,
they're not original.

They're just this
cliche experience and
we just accept that.

No one questions it.

Oh, another haunted house.

I wonder what's gonna happen
when they pop open the crypt.

Is a dummy gonna pop out?

Oh, didn't see that one coming.

- They're all made by adults.

- Exactly, and who should be
making the haunted houses?

Guys, this is the
perfect opportunity

to do something that
hasn't been done before.

Build a haunted house
that's actually scary.

That's actually gonna make kids

pee their pants.

We can't mess this up.

- Have you guys
ever thought about

doing something with snakes?

I always thought that
would make a good scene.

You know, I don't know
how it would work really.

Maybe you could
like have the snakes

fall down from the ceiling
on top of everyone.

- That's actually a
good idea, Suzanne.

- Hey, I got ideas.

- Hey guys, you guys
wanna see something?

Come on, I wanna
show you something!

Come on.

- Let's go, let's go.
- Alrighty.

- All right, this could be good.

- In there?
- That's crazy.

- Come on, check it out.

- Whoa.
- Okay.

- The blade looks awesome.

- Oh, thanks, yeah.

It's got a nice
metallic sheen to it.

Oh, but check this out.

Now, it was a little
touch and go at first,

but I was able to
hollow out this head.

Fill it with concrete.

Here, careful.

- Whoa.
- Pass it around.

- Jeez.
- That's awesome.

- Here.

- Wow.
- Yeah?

What do you think?

- That's got some weight to it.

- Yeah, try dropping it.

Not too high.

Yeah.

- Whoa!

- It's crazy.
- Yeah.

So you guys, you wanna
see the guillotine?

- Yeah!

- Alright, come on.

- Whoa.
- All right, all right.

Listen up.

I want you guys to
understand something.

If you are not very
careful with this thing,

it can actually hurt you.

Got it?

- Mm-hmm.
- Okay.

Now, obviously I haven't
put the door on yet,

and I'm thinking we're
gonna get a basket

down there to catch the head.

But this is the basic structure.

- How long did this take you?

- I don't know.

Most of the time
was spent up here,

but I'd say about four or five
hours to actually build it

plus getting materials.

- Where'd you get the wood?

- Don't worry about that, Nate.

Now I was having a lot of
trouble with this blade.

It wasn't falling straight
'cause luan likes to warp,

especially this time of year.

So I was able to offset that
by attaching this strip here.

Plus it gives us a nice ledge
to lift it when we reset it.

This is the safety, okay?

You have to engage this when
we're resetting, got it?

Safety's on and the blade
actually gets held in place

by a peg that's in the back.

That's if it winds up.

Got it.

Now turn the safety off.

Now this thing is live, okay?

You guys ready?

- Yeah.

Whoa!

- That's so cool, bro.
- What?

- Now I was thinking
it would be awesome

if we could actually show that

but I don't think it's possible

with somebody's head
actually sticking out, right?

That is where the door comes in.

- I have a question.
- Yeah.

- And this, this is awesome.

This is so much cooler
than I was even picturing.

- Thank you.

- But why is the
hole in the middle

shaped like a puzzle piece?

- Yeah, I was wondering
about that too.

- Oh.

Oh, you guys wanna know how
it's actually gonna work?

Okay, that's a fair question.

Let me get the collar
and I'll show you.

- Your dad's insane.
- Yeah.

- This is gonna be cool though.

- Yep.

- Yes, I'm in.

I'm totally in.

I'm honored they
thought of me at all.

It's exactly the kind of thing

I used to be into when
I was a little kid.

Beat it.

Yeah.

Alright.

Yeah, I'll see what
I have lying around.

Actually, you know what?

I got a costume designer friend
at Shakespeare and Company.

I'm just gonna,

oh no, the executioner has
gotta have the right costume!

Alright.

Okay, Bubba.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I look forward to it.

See you then.

Bye!

- Push, push, push.
- Good job, boys.

- All right.
- Hold it there.

- Dude, that's enough.

- So wait, the dummy's
gonna be wearing

the same outfit as Vilas?

- Yeah.

Then it's like, which
one's the real one?

- Got it now.

- Push, push, push, push!

- Oh, Vilas,
Vilas, come here!

- Is that a realistic
amount of blood?

- You know, I think we
could add a little bit more.

- Stop, stop.
- Oh.

- Phew.

All right, what is this
thing being used for again?

- We didn't exactly
think of a specific idea.

- Oh, Nate!

After the group sees the snakes,

they're still gonna
get by, right?

So, and that screw stops
it from falling off.

- That's pretty cool.
- Yeah, yeah.

Now we just need
to get some snakes.

- Oh, and a branch.

- And a branch.

That's the one.

- Yeah, but how are
we gonna get to it?

- What are you talking about?

There's only one thing to do.

- You're not gonna
swim, are you?

- Yeah, come on.

- We should've just
brought bathing suits.

It'd be so much easier.

- No, we don't
need bathing suits.

It's gonna be fine.

- Hmm, I don't know.

- It's gonna be easy.

- That looks cold.

- Yeah!

Woo, yeah!

Come on in, guys.

The water's nice.

- No way, that's cold.

- Woo!

Come on, get in the water!

Okay, well one of you
guys can cut this.

Cut that part.

Oh, nice.

Okay.

Okay.

Staple gun?

Thank you.

Okay, now we go through here.

All right, I think we're
ready for a test drive.

- Wow.
- Oh man.

- That's so cool.
- Yeah? Does it look good?

- Yeah.
- It looks really good.

- Good, okay.

So then what we would do is
we would turn the lights off

and then we will.

- Oh, that's so.
- Wow, wait, it moves?

- Yeah, yeah,
I put in a track.

- I just got an idea.

What if something happens
after the lights go out?

- Like what?

- Like, oh, I don't know.

Maybe if there was some
way to make it feel

like there were snakes on
the floor, for instance.

- Oh my God.
- Yeah.

- If I felt snakes on
the floor at the scene,

I would piss my pants.

- No, that'd be awesome though

'cause it's like
they see the branch

and then the lights go out
and then they think it's over.

And then that's when
we hit them with.

- Real snakes.
- Yeah!

- What? No.

We're not bringing
real snakes in here.

- Come on, just like
gardener snakes.

- No chance.

- Fine.

- But we still need something

to happen after
the lights go out.

- Why isn't the branch
enough on its own?

- You gotta hit 'em when
they're most vulnerable.

- Yeah.

- Oh, so your plan is just

to torture your
audience to death?

- Yep.
- Yeah.

- Basically.
- That's the idea, yeah.

- We're gonna have to
put up a disclaimer

or I'm gonna get sued.

That's pretty good
though, right?

- I want a pet snake.

- You'll have to ask
your mother about that one.

- Oh, no, no, no.

No snakes.

- Alright buddy, we're
gonna go to four and a half.

- Jonah and his dad

were finally spending
time together again.

- Okay, good enough.

Earmuffs.

Nice line, buddy.

Okay, now we can talk about
making another one of those.

Well, hold on.

Let's think about this.

People are gonna be coming in,

what groups of like
five or six, right?

- Yeah, that's what
they were last year.

- Okay, five or six people
in a narrow hallway.

They're gonna be
grouped into twos,

but they're gonna
be bunched together

'cause they're gonna
be scared, right?

So maybe we'll do two dowels

and I'll just put
'em this far apart.

- Let's do it.

- All right.

Into the Croix.

He chests it down.

He shoots! Goal!

Grab it, pass.

Nice one.

It goes to the forward.
The forward passes back.

Come on!

He gets it.

Oh, are you all right, bud?

- I'm worn out.
- Oh.

We can take a break.

You know, you played a
really good game on Sunday.

I think you're really coming
into your own in the midfield.

- Thanks.

- No, midfield's not an
easy position, buddy.

I mean, you gotta see the
whole field at the same time.

- How can I see behind me?

- That's a good point.

No, it's just, you
know, your team's,

they're really
thrilling to watch.

I mean, you guys are playing
like a much older team.

- Like 14 year olds?

- Yeah, I guess so.

If you need me to put a
number on it, 14 year olds.

No, but it's just that,

you know what makes soccer
such a beautiful game

is that it doesn't matter

if you have a team
that plays together

and they play in sync

and they play intelligently
the way you guys are playing

and they're gonna beat a team

with better
individuals hands down.

I mean, that's what
makes it so beautiful.

It's just such a,

such a collective sport.

- Teamwork really
does make the dream work

and if this haunted house
was to be a success,

they'd need a lot of it.

- Wait, when is this
haunted house gonna be?

- We decided on next Thursday.

- You mean Halloween?

- Yeah, Halloween.

- It starts at 8:00,

but there's probably
gonna be a line.

So you might want to
get here a little early.

- Is this like,
actually gonna be scary?

- Yep.

- We're actually thinking
of putting a disclaimer.

- Oh, is that right?

- And yeah, it's all about
the kids having a good time

and we just wanna make
sure everyone feels safe.

- All right, thanks man.

We'll get it back to you
after school tomorrow.

- Yeah, no problem.

- So you think you
guys can make it?

- We'll see.

- Well, remember next Thursday.

- Eight o'clock.

At seven there's a line.
- Yes.

- They'll be there early.
- Yes.

- It'll be fine.
- There's the kids.

- Did you guys make
announcements in
your classes yet?

- Yeah, man, everybody's
talking about it.

It's gonna be a
really big turnout.

- Dude, it's definitely
gonna be a big turnout.

- Is it just me or does
the haunted house feel

so much more
substantial this year?

- No, I know what you mean.

- We made a real haunted house.

- Time flies when
you're building a haunted house

and quicker than
a game of Skelly.

Halloween was just one day away.

- Oh, you know, this
is the easy part.

Getting Nate up in
that thing tomorrow,

that's gonna be a challenge.

- Yeah.
- Oh.

All right. We
should test it, huh?

Yeah, I think that's
gonna hold him.

Oh, you think,

you think we're ready?

Yep, that pretty much says it.

Well, we can't reschedule.

Halloween's tomorrow.

- It'll be good.

- Yeah, I think so too.

As long as nobody
loses their head.

- Well also, that kind
of needs to happen.

- Right, you're right.

We are kind of depending
on it, aren't we?

- No, it's gonna be good.

You guys came up with a lot
of good illusions this year.

Ah, I wish your grandpa
was here to see it.

He always loved
these haunted houses.

You coming?

- Yeah, I'll be in soon.
- Okay.

- The haunted
house had come a long way

from the cold empty garage
it was just a few weeks ago,

but it still wasn't done yet.

Part of Jonah was a bit worried

they wouldn't finish on time.

Either way, he still wished
Grandpa was there to see it.

After all, it was impressive

what the group had accomplished.

- Well, were you
guys able to finish?

- Be patient and
you'll find out.

It was the day of Halloween.

- Dude, this
has to be perfect.

You don't understand
this is last one.

- If we
stick to the plan,

everything should
be okay, I'm not.

- Listen, everybody's supposed
to be on their Ps and Qs and-

- Hi, girls.

- You ready for tonight, Vilas?

- Yeah, but I think
I lost my crown.

- Seriously?

- I'll look for it, don't worry.

- Alright, well,
can you be ready

in the barn in an
hour for rehearsal?

- Sure, sure.

Hey.

Pretty good, right?

- All right, let's
head inside, guys.

- Let's go.

- All right, guys, this is it.

We only have a few hours until
trick or treating begins.

And we have a lot of work to do.

First and foremost,
we need to...

- We decided you guys
probably need our help.

- Yeah, you'll
definitely need our help.

- Oh, I hope you don't mind.

I brought some of my
mom's paramedic supplies.

- I don't mind.

- I don't mind either.

- Where
have you guys been?

- We've been here.

- Alright, well, welcome aboard.

Alright, we only have an hour

and we still have a
lot of things to do.

Ned, you and Ian are practicing
the guillotine scene.

- All right.

- Just do it as many
times as possible.

You want it to be like
second nature by tonight.

Jonah and Kelvin, you guys are
recording the snake sounds.

Nice.

- Make sure the
audio sounds good.

Not like the tape we
recorded last year.

- Right.

Brendan and Alex, you guys are
setting up the torture room.

- Affirmative.

- And then Kyle and Asher,
Liza, Caitlin, and Abby,

you guys are gonna set
up the hospital scene.

- Got it.

- The challenge is ours.

The way I see it,

this is gonna be a pretty cool
haunted house no matter what.

But I'm not satisfied
with pretty cool.

We stand together
on the precipice.

Now, if you're not up for
the challenge, speak up now.

No one will think
any less of you.

All right, let's be
ready in an hour.

- Hey Dave.
- Oh, just a sec, guys.

- Ah.
- Oh my God.

- Yeah, you like it?

All coming together, right?

- It looks great.

- Yeah, we'll see if it
actually works tonight.

- Um, I was just
gonna see about-

- Oh, oh yeah, the collar.

So I put a hinge in the
collar and it opens and closes

and I even dated in a
biscuit so that it locks.

Check it out.

- What?

- Okay, so let me
get this straight.

This is a surgery scene.

The surgeons are aliens who
are eviscerating their patient.

- Eviscerating sounds so harsh.

- That's the actual term

for taking organs out
of someone's body.

- Shouldn't there at least be
some blood on the walls then?

- Check this out.

- Oh my God, that's so creepy.

- That's gonna be awesome.

- It's all about the details.

- Speaking of which, anybody
seen the butcher knife?

- Butcher's knife?

- So I pull my head out?

- Yeah.

- Then the executioner
closes the door,

and then I drop the blade.

- You're gonna
pull your head out

as the executioner
closes the door.

You guys wanna try it?

It's really finicky.

- All right.
- Good, perfect.

Okay, now as he closes
the door, pull your head.

Good, he's gonna lock the door.

Then I guess you guys are gonna
wanna go one one thousand,

two one thousand, three
one thousand in your head.

You're gonna close that.

Lock it.

- That's awesome.
- When did you do the neck?

- Yeah, you like that?

I just did it the other day.

I cut the bottom
off of another head.

- Oh, you bought another head?

- Yeah, two heads
are better than one.

Hey guys.

- That's awesome!

- Man, oh man.

- So what's going on guys?

- Right, so we were thinking,

since the hospital
scene is so bright,

do you think it'll
affect the snake scene,

which needs to be really dark?

- That is a good point.

Let me just take the
collar off of Ned

and I'll come help you out.

- Get on the other side.

- Oh!

Oh, that's so cool,
dude!

Oh, I would be scared to death.

I would be scared to death.

Wait, does it come back in?

Oh, that's so cool.

How it just goes back
in the wall like that.

Wait, what are these for?

- Let me show you.

So when this is out.

- Okay.

- And it comes back out.
- All right.

- They think the scene
is over, but it's not.

- Okay, all right.

- So they're here and
then the lights go out.

- Oh.

Oh, wow!

Your dad really has
thought of everything.

- Dave, it's
Allison on the phone.

She wants to know how
you're gonna make sure

that the guillotine
doesn't accidentally

fall on her son's neck.

- I'll be right there!

- That sounds like
a lot of work.

Did you guys even get
to go trick or treating?

- You can't have a
Halloween without candy.

- As a matter of fact,
we did go trick or treating.

- All right, Lake,
then up to Magnolia?

- As long as we
stop by the house

with the three chimneys first.

- The one down Summer?
- Yep.

- But there aren't as
many houses down there.

- Yeah, but that house
gives a ton of candy.

- Yeah, but we lose
time walking there.

- But you know, we might
get less candy elsewhere,

but we'd make better
use of our time.

- That actually makes sense.

- Hey guys, are we getting
too old for trick or treating?

- Nope.

- I'm Vilas.

You wanna see my pumpkin?

- Very nice, very nice.
- Yeah.

- I mean, this is like a
woodworking marvel, you know?

- Thanks.

Well, I certainly spend
enough time on it.

- Yeah, you're not
even a woodworker.

- No, no, not by trade.
- Right.

Well, now you got
something to fall back on.

- Yeah, we'll see.

- What inspired you?

- Oh, it was a gift for my dad.

- Nice.
- Actually, yeah.

I, you know, when
he got sick, I just,

I wanted to make him something.

- Nice.
- You know,

Skelly was a game that he'd
grown up playing in the Bronx,

and, you know, he
made a version of it

for the kids last year

and we talked about making
a tabletop version of it,

but then, and then
he got sick and...

- And you did it?
- And I did it, yeah.

- Did he like it?
- Yeah, he saw it.

It's funny, I, I spent all
this time making this for him,

and now I just,

I kind of wish I would've spent

that time with him, you know?

- Well, I'm sure he
really appreciated it.

- Yeah, I think so.

- Trick or treat!

- Oh.
- An army descends.

- Yeah, we'd better help 'em.

You guys wanna bring it in?

Yeah, let's bring it
in just for a second.

I just wanna say,

it's been so fun working
on this with you guys.

I mean, you guys have, you've
done amazing work and it's-

- You too, Dave.

- Yeah, Dave!

- Okay, all
right, all right.

- Dave! Dave! Dave!

- Okay, okay, look, no.

Okay, okay, look, it
wasn't just me guys.

It really, it was all of us.

- Let's make this something
to remember, guys!

- Yeah, yeah!

Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!

- Through, perfect.

Good, okay.

All right, now you just
wanna get your arms through.

Great.

Alright.

- Nice.
- That's great.

- Here we go, woo!
- Let's do it. Ready?

- Yeah.

- Chains, since-

- We'll just move 'em over.

- Yeah, she'll come
in, she'll see them.

So we have to move it.

- All right, lemme
move the axes.

- Okay, yeah, anything
in the middle.

Anything that she can see
one coming through the door.

- Now should that one
go on there or there?

Well, what was the
like when it was over?

- Okay.
- Put it in the middle.

- Yeah, yeah, okay.

Do that, okay.

- That should work.
- Okay.

Yeah, that should be it.

- Okay, alright.

So you're gonna drop
the blade, right?

- No, I drop the head
and flip the trap door.

- Oh, so I drop the blade?

- No, I drop the blade.

- You drop the blade?

Yeah, that makes
sense 'cause, yeah.

So do you remember your lines?

- I don't say anything.
- You don't?

I wonder if I should
say something.

- Um, maybe?

- I know a guillotine joke.

A priest, a vagabond,
and an engineer,

were gonna go to the guillotine

and they all get led
to the public square.

And the priest goes first

and he lays down and he looks
up at this guy and he says,

"God, please save me, please."

The executioner says, "Is
that all you gotta say?"

And he goes, "Yes."

He pulls the cord and
the blade comes down

and it just stops just an
inch away from his neck

and the crowd goes crazy.

He says, "That's a miracle.

"You gotta let him go."

So he gets up and he walks away,

and then vagabond comes in,

the vagabond lays
down, he looks up.

The executioner goes, "Do
you got any last words?"

He's a vagabond.

He's like you guys.

He didn't go to school
or anything like that.

So he doesn't have any words.

And he pulls the cord and the
blade comes down and stops,

just like, an inch
away from his neck

and the crowd's like apoplectic.

They're like, "This is
the day of miracles!

"You gotta let him go!"

And so he goes away

and the engineer comes and
he lays down very stoic,

and he looks up and
the engineer says,

"You got any last words?"

The engineer goes, "I think
I see what the problem is."

- Maybe
don't say that though.

- I could sell it, yeah?

- Well, I like it but
it's not scary, I dunno.

- A little long.

- Well, no one's come
running out screaming yet.

- Give it time,
the night is young.

- You think you'll miss
these haunted houses

when they're grown up

and actually celebrating
your birthday yesterday?

- You know, who knows?

I mean, with Dave,

he might be doing these
for years to come.

- So be honest, who
comes up with the ideas?

- It's a mix, you know?

The boys normally
come with this idea

that's not yet fully formed.

- To say it politely.

- And Dave then takes
the idea a step further

and then the boys take
it another step further.

And then before you
know it, you've got-

- A live guillotine.
- Exactly.

- I'll never forget that
car scene last year.

I'll never figure out
how he got it to stop

in exactly the same spot in
front of the group each time.

- Bungees.

- And the sound effects,
everything was timed just right.

- I'll never forget the year

they had Jonah under
the candy bowl.

At the end,

kids would
reach in to get candy

thinking it was over,

and then a hand would grab them

from inside the
candy bowl.

I thought we were gonna
have to call an ambulance.

- Right, and when Alex came
out of the refrigerator.

Who puts a 10 year old

in a refrigerator
for a haunted house?

- Your husband.

- Hey, at least
it was unplugged.

- Well, he's done some
amazing work on these things.

- Yeah, he really does.

And I think, you know,
especially this year,

he really needed
to be doing this

during this time, you know?

- Should we get the
next group ready?

- Sounds like
they're wrapping up.

- Let's go.

- Let's go!

- Hey, don't forget
to shut this door.

- Everyone ready?
- Yeah!

- Ready!
- Yeah, ready.

- We're ready, Suzanne!

- Things were going wrong,
but it wasn't over just yet.

- Did you hear that?

- The tape?

- I had no idea it was
taped over something.

- Yeah, we had a few
troubles of our own.

It's okay.

It's the first run, there's
always kinks to be worked out.

- How'd it go?

- There were a few glitches.

- I think the guillotine
was all right.

Tough crowd though.

- Yeah.

- The night is young.

Let's consider it a
practice run, huh?

- Yeah.

Okay.

- Young Jonah was overcome with
so many bottled up emotions

about the haunted house,
about his dad, about grandpa.

That's when he realized he
needed to let it all out.

- Jonah?

- Yeah, let's go! Woo!

Yeah!

- Yeah, let's go!
- Woo!

- Help me!

Someone help me! Please help me!

Help me!

Help me, please!

- So cold.

Oh, here it comes again.

Oh, close the
door, it blasts me.

Stay illusion.

Your thou hast any sound,
use the voice, speak to me.

If there be any good
thing that can be done

that may do easterly
or grace to me.

Speak to me.

- Watch out!

- Someone hold my blade.

Are you ready for
blood, huh?

Oh, I love blood.

There we go!

Oh, this is so much blood!

Hey guys!

- Let's go!
- We did it!

- That was great!
That was great!

- Hey, how'd it go?

- It was terrifying!

- Great, I think we're
in our groove now.

- Yeah, it's gonna
be a great night.

- Great work, guys.

- Help me, please!

Please, help me!

- All right,
that was the last one.

- All right.

Good job, guys.

All right, that
was the last one.

- We did it.

- Good job, guys.

- That snake scene
when the ropes fell.

- Got 'em every time.

Come on.

- How'd the guillotine go?

- It went well, it
went really well.

- Yeah, it went well.

- Oh man, that was...

- Yeah, you guys did it.
- Yep.

- We all did it.

- Come on, let's go see
how everyone's doing.

- We did it.

- Success felt great,

but what was even greater was
the warmth of friends, family,

and the beauty of teamwork.

Jonah and his dad
especially learned

that when life gets tough,

the most important thing
is cherishing the time

you have with the ones you love.

- Oh, nice job.
- I love you guys.

- What was that?

- I'm letting out

all of my bottles up
emotions like Daddy did.

- That's a really good idea.

- Yeah?
- Get up. Get up.

Ready?

Oh my gosh, look at the time.

Lucy, Charlie, JJ.

- Oh yeah.
- Go brush your teeth.

Get ready for bed,
no Xbox, okay?

- Sorry about that.

- I think they understood.

- Hmm, I told you they would.

- And you know who's
gonna love that book?

Papa Dave.

- Uh, Mom and Dad,
sorry to interrupt.

- What is it, JJ?

- I was just thinking
maybe we could

build a haunted
house this Halloween.

That'll be a good way to keep
the family tradition going.

- I think that's
a great idea, Son.

- Haunted house! Haunted house!

- Haunted
house! Haunted house!

Haunted house! Haunted house!

Haunted house! Haunted house!

- Oh wait, we should ask Papa
Dave if he wants to join.

I don't know if he'll be
able to come all this way,

but you know.

Uh?

- Yeah, I think you
should answer that.

- Dad, did you read the book?

What'd you think?

Yeah, yeah, I think, I think
the kids would love that.

Okay, yeah, speak soon.

All right.

Yeah, I think it
might work!

- Haunted
house! Haunted house!

Haunted house! Haunted house!

Haunted house! Haunted house!