Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Today, we’ve come to a bit of an end for me with checking out ‘The Dog Who Saved…’ film series. I know I’ve been watching these films out-of-order on DVD, but there’s a likelihood I’ll be revisiting ‘The Dog Who Saved…’ films in chronological order with in-depth reviews.

Back in December 2019, I saw the three ‘Dog Who Saved Christmas’ films. This year, I saw ‘The Dog Who Saved Easter’ which I shared my thoughts on in April, and later, I saw ‘The Dog Who Saved Summer’, which I shared my thoughts on in August. I’m glad I did that.

It’s time to check out ‘The Dog Who Saved Halloween’, the third instalment of the film series, as it takes place between ‘The Dog Who Saved Christmas Vacation’ and ‘The Dog Who Saved the Christmas Holidays’. This was quite a spooky and entertaining film to see.

In the film, Zeus and the Bannisters have moved into a new home, just in time for Halloween. Not sure why they had to move into a new home. I probably will need to revisit the films in chronological order to understand it better, but that’s nothing to worry about.

Needless to say, I’ve found ‘The Dog Who Saved…’ film series quite a mixed bag over the years. There have been some enjoyable moments in all the films, but they can be on the verge of being repetitive, particularly with ‘Home Alone’-like plots and the inconsistent casting.

More with the Bannister children than anyone else, as they keep changing faces every time I see them in each film. With the story, Gary Valentine as George, the father of the Bannister family, becomes suspicious of their next-door neighbour and his creepy house.

The next-door neighbour happens to be Lance Henriksen as Eli Cole. I’ve checked him up and apparently, Lance Henriksen is well-known for being in the ‘Alien’ film series. Interesting to see him in a kids’ film about a dog compared to him being in the ‘Alien’ films.

George takes it upon himself to find out what’s going on with Eli Cole’s house, also guarded by his dog Medusa. He enlists the help of a very unlikely pair – Dean Cain as Ted and Joey Diaz as Stewey – the crooks the Bannisters encountered in the first two films. 😀

On the one hand, I quite like the idea of George recruiting help from the two regular ‘Home Alone’-like crooks. It makes a change from having the criminals break into a house of their own volition and have them being recruited to assist solve a mystery of a scary neighbour.

It doesn’t quite go anywhere judging by how the next three films – ‘The Dog Who Saved the Christmas Holidays’, ‘The Dog Who Saved Easter’ and ‘The Dog Who Saved Summer’ turned out – but I appreciate the attempt to do something different with the repetitive plot. 🙂

There are some hilarious antics that go on in the film, particularly with Ted and Stewey breaking into the spooky house. The combination of horror and comedy featured in this children’s film about a dog is quite welcome and for the most part, it feels quite harmless.

The rest of the cast includes Elisa Donovan as Belinda, George’s wife, the hero dog Zeus (voiced by Joey Lawrence instead of Mario López) and Medusa, Eli’s dog (voiced by Mayim Bialik). Curtis Armstrong also stars as Max, one of the neighbours as well as Louis Mandylor as Kent and Kristen Miller as Monique.

There’s Kayley Stallings as Kara and Brennan Bailey as Ben, the two Bannister children. Apparently, both Kayley Stallings and Brennan Bailey played Kara and Ben in the previous film ‘The Dog Who Saved Christmas Vacation’. So, I guess some continuity is maintained.

Mindy Sterling also briefly appears as Grandma in the film’s closing scenes. It’s been fun checking out ‘The Dog Who Saved Halloween’ on DVD. I wouldn’t say it’s the best film in ‘The Dog Who Saved…’ film series, but then again, the films have varied in terms of quality.

I’m glad I’ve seen all six ‘Dog Who Saved…’ films on DVD. I’m looking forward to revisiting them at some point in the future. Despite the repetitive formula they have in being ‘Home Alone’-like and the casting of the Bannister children changing, these films are fun indeed.

Cuddles: I enjoyed the films very much. Nice to see Zeus the dog. Not sure about ‘Halloween’ though.

Puddles: Oh, no, no. Yes. That was a little bit scary when we watched it. Liked the other films, not sure about the ‘Halloween’ film. Woof!

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂