Monster High 2 is a 2023 American live-action musical fantasy film based on Mattel's Monster High franchise, which was created by Garrett Sander. It is the 74th Nickelodeon feature film, and serves as a sequel to "Monster High: The Movie" (2022). It is directed Todd Holland, with a teleplay written by Matt and Billy Eddy, from a story by Holland, Matt and Billy Eddy. The film stars Miia Harris, Ceci Balagot and Nayah Damasen, reprising their roles as Clawdeen, Frankie and Draculaura, with Case Walker, Marci T. House, Jy Prishkulnik, Lina Lecompte, Justin Derickson, Lilah Fitzgerald and Nasiv Sall reprising their supporting roles. The film is produced by Mattel Television, a division of the toy company behind the series, Dark Toy, Brightlight Pictures, Nickelodeon Productions.[2] It released on Nickelodeon and Paramount+ on October 5, 2023.[1]
Synopsis[]
As Clawdeen Wolf, Draculaura and Frankie Stein enter sophomore year at Monster High, the power of three is put to the test as they face even bigger challenges this year — new students, new powers, evolving friendships, and an even bigger threat that could not only tear their friendship apart, but could change the world forever.[1]
Plot[]
Draculaura hosts an end-of-summer party at her house with all of her school friends. Clawdeen and Frankie arrive at the party and the boos embrace each other and exclaim it will be the best year ever. Because of an EekTok video about the events of the previous school year, Clawdeen has become famous and everyone wants to talk to her. Her boyfriend Deuce tells her that's what popularity is like, and Clawdeen wishes she wasn't popular; Frankie reveals that they got new upgrades over the summer to strengthen their mental abilities ("My Heart Goes Boom Boom Boom").
The gang goes back to school, where they meet Toralei Stripe, a werecat who studied abroad in France last year. Toralei doesn't approve of half-monsters or witchcraft being at Monster High, as she shows off the scars she got from the witches who attacked her in France. Clawdeen stands up to Toralei, who ignores her critiques and leaves.
Clawdeen, Draculaura, and Frankie are outside the school welcoming back the students, when a group of monsters - the HuMon Pride Club - walk up to Clawdeen. The group is led by Demi Boovais, who tells the trio that she is a half monster (being half ghost), and that Clawdeen is the reason she came to Monster High. Whilst Clawdeen gives the group autographs, Draculaura and Frankie walk to class and a new kid bumps into Draculaura. The student introduces himself as Ellis, a vampire, which Frankie points out later. Draculaura and Ellis talk for a second and seem to enjoy each other's company.
Later, while Clawdeen and Deuce are on a date, Deuce tells Clawdeen about how his mother Medusa is making him do a Gorgodium, a traditional year long trip away from school to find himself, especially since Medusa despises Monster High; Clawdeen admits she is glad he decided to stay. There is then a whole school assembly that welcomes the new students. Headmistress Bloodgood announces that the school, as it is literally alive, will choose two candidates to run for prefect, with Heath and Lagoona using their elemental powers to commence the ritual - the school chooses Clawdeen and Toralei. In the hallway, tally skulls keep track of which one is the best leader, and increases the score whilst watching over the candidates. Clawdeen wants to become prefect because her mom Selena was one, and wants to make sure that Draculaura and half-monsters are openly accepted at Monster High. Cleo appoints herself as Clawdeen's campaign manager.
Disgruntled at Toralei's prejudice, Draculaura practices magic in the courtyard and Ellis catches her. However, he assures her not to hide her magic as he also practices witchcraft. He teaches her how to make "automatons", body doubles of people made of soil, and they bond over being the only vampires that do witchcraft at Monster High ("Reason We've Got Magic").
Later in their dorm room, Clawdeen and Frankie are trying to sleep, with Frankie admitting that they hoped their upgrades would make them more of a monster, but Clawdeen is stressed from Cleo bombarding her with texts asking about her running for prefect. Witches suddenly appear in the room and advance towards Draculaura when she arrives, but Clawdeen scares them away with her super werewolf roar.
In Bloodgood's office, Clawdeen, Frankie, and Draculaura explain what happened in their room. Toralei and her friends arrive and suggest that the witches were searching for Draculaura, thus making her an indirect threat. Clawdeen and her friends confront Toralei to clarify that Draculaura and witches are innocent, but Toralei manages to instill fear into more students ("You Don't Know"). Bloodgood announces that she is putting a school-wide ban on all witchcraft.
The next day, Toralei is winning the elections by a landslide. Clawdeen tries to convince Draculaura to stop practicing witchcraft temporarily, straining their friendship. Later in the courtyard, Draculaura vents to Ellis about witches being heavily prejudiced against. Ellis reveals himself as a human, revealing that he was sent to find and convince her to go with him to meet his mother, Zamara, the head of the Salem Witch Coven, to help end the centuries-old feud between the witches and vampires by casting "The Voice of Eternal Peace". They recount how the feud started - when a male vampire and a female witch fell in love, the vampire wanted to become human for her, thus gifting her a mortality spell to grant his wish; but the spell was actually a curse, therefore killing thousands of vampires instead, and the two races have been blaming each other since. Draculaura decides to run away with Ellis ("Reason We've Got Magic (Reprise)"), leaving behind a far-from-perfect automaton of herself. The boo crew worry about this the following day, as Dracula is planning on coming to school tomorrow to throw a party for her 1600 birthday, when she'll come of age. They break into Ellis' room to look for clues, and discover a post code from Seattle on his suitcase. Clawdeen decides to go to Seattle alone to find Draculaura, despite risking her chances at winning the prefect elections; Heath, Deuce, and Frankie tag along disguised regardless.
They all find their way to Coleman Eves, a company that creates herbs that prevent death and increase life longevity. Draculaura meets Zamara, the head of the coven/company, who convinces her to speak at the huge witch conclave the next day. Meanwhile, Apollo Wolf, whose security company is in charge of the event's security, manages to guide Clawdeen to Draculaura - meanwhile, Clawdeen's absence at Monster High is causing Toralei to become more trustworthy. Frankie expresses to Deuce how useless they've felt since facing Komos last year, but Deuce assures them that, in spite of all their upgrades, their greatest power is their friendship. Clawdeen and Frankie try to convince Draculaura to come back, but Draculaura won't leave as she believes she must fight for peace ("Not How Our Story Goes").
Clawdeen and her friends return to Monster High without Draculaura in time for the closing prefect speeches. Toralei spews hate speech, calling for exclusion of all witches, and Clawdeen's speech about how monsters should know better than to be bigoted wins over a small few in the crowd. After Draculaura watches Clawdeen's speech from Seattle, she decides to head back. However, Zamara appears and reveals to Draculaura that she is actually trapped. When Draculaura comes of age at midnight, the Salem witches plan to make her cast not just "The Voice of Eternal Peace", but also "The Voice of Eternal Rest" -- the same mortality curse that initially started the feud to kill all vampires. Draculaura is kept in a cage, made of wraith-silver to repel monsters, and is put under a spell to continuously chant the curse. The only way to snap her out of it is if someone touches her.
Clawdeen, her friends, and Toralei discover Zamara's plan through Cleo's scarabs and launch a rescue mission in Seattle. Deuce, Heath, and Toralei create diversions by fighting off the Salem witches, while Frankie helps short-circuit the entrance doors. Zamara arrives to thwart the rescue, but Ellis, disillusioned with his mother for manipulating him, helps hold her off with his magic so Clawdeen can free Draculaura.
Clawdeen risks her life to save Draculaura by bending the cage bars to reach her and touch her, breaking the spell. She loses consciousness but refuses to give up life when facing the Grim Reaper. Clawdeen is revived by Frankie and finds out that Draculaura has taken care of the situation by using the full extent of her witchcraft abilities. Dracula arrives, congratulates her, and arrests Zamara and the Salem witches. Ellis and Draculaura make peace, and Draculaura returns to school.
At Monster High, the friends celebrate Draculaura's birthday. The school makes its decision of who is the prefect, granting the position to Clawdeen, who earns Toralei's respect for standing up for her friends, and the two bond over shared witch scars. Deuce decides to partake on the Gorgodium, but congratulates Clawdeen on finally finding herself, and the two share their first kiss. Celebratories continue ("Monsters Are").
In the final scene, Deuce departs from Monster High, only to be attacked by the Grim Reaper, who then heads towards Monster High, declaring, "The dead must rest. And I will not be cheated again." Frankie then awakens.
Cast[]
- Miia Harris as Clawdeen Wolf, daughter of a Werewolf, Deuce's girlfriend and best friend to Frankie and Draculaura.
- Ceci Balagot as Frankie Stein, child of Frankenstein and best friend to Clawdeen and Draculaura.
- Nayah Damasen as Draculaura, daughter of Dracula, Ellis’ love interest and best friend to Clawdeen and Frankie.
- Case Walker as Deuce Gorgon, son of Medusa, Clawdeen's boyfriend and Heath’s best friend.
- Justin Derickson as Heath Burns, son of the Fire Elementals, Deuce's best friend and Abbey's love interest.
- Salena Qureshi as Toralei Stripe, the daughter of Werecats, a feisty British werecat back after a year aboard in Scaris, France.
- Marci T. House as Headmistress Bloodgood, the headless horsewoman. Monster High's tough but fair leader and a stickler for following the rules.
- Steve Valentine as Dracula, Draculaura's father
- Scotch Ellis Loring as Apollo Wolf, Clawdeen's father
- Jy Prishkulnik as Cleo de Nile, daughter of Mummies, Deuce's ex-girlfriend, Lagoona's best friend and Monster High's resident Queen Bee.
- Lina Lecompte as Lagoona Blue, daughter of Sea Monsters and Cleo's best friend.
- Lilah Fitzgerald as Ghoulia Yelps, daughter of Zombies.
- Nasiv Sall as Abbey Bominable, daughter of Yetis and Heath's love interest.
- Bonale Fambrini as Ellis Ghould, son of Zamara and Draculaura's love interest.
- Kyra Leroux as Demi Boovais, a ghost/human hybrid who idolizes Clawdeen.
- Ana Ortiz as Zamara Prue, Ellis' mother and the leader of Coleman Eves.
- Natasha Leggero as Skullette
- TBA as Reaper, a Grim Reaper, who wanted to take Clawdeen's soul.
Production[]
Development[]
On October 25, 2022, it was announced that Monster High: The Movie had gained the green light for a sequel, since the film was the No. 1 kids and family movie on Paramount+ during its launch week and reached more than 4M total viewers across its premiere weekend on linear (Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Nicktoons and TeenNick). It was also announced that Todd Holland would return as director and executive producer. Fred Soulie, Senior Vice President & General Manager of Mattel Television; Phil Breman, Vice President of Live Action Development at Mattel; and Adam Bonnett would also return as executive producers, with the screenplay being written by Matt & Billy Eddy, with story by Todd Holland & Matt Eddy & Billy Eddy.[2]
Casting[]
In Mid-2023, Mattel and Nickelodeon released the rest principal cast to include Case Walker, Kyle Selig, Marci T. House, Scotch Ellis, Steve Valentine, Jy Prishkulnik, Lina Lecompte, Justin Derickson, Lilah Fitzgerald and Nasiv Sall.
Filming[]
Preparations for filming began on November 14, 2022 but took a Holiday hiatus from December 19, 2022 until January 3, 2023 when prep continued and ran until January 17 with filming commencing in Vancouver from January 23 until February 27, 2023, under the title Worth Something.[2][3]
Release[]
Monster High 2 debuted on Paramount+ at 12 a.m. everywhere and later aired on Nickelodeon at 7 p.m. on October 5, 2023.[2][1]
Cancelled sequel[]
The last scene before the credits teased a third film, as the Grim Reaper appears at Monster High looking for Frankie and inadvertently Clawdeen, since Frankie revived her. However, Nickelodeon did not make any announcement regarding a third live-action film, particularly noteworthy as the second film was announced a mere month after the first's release. In May 2024, director Todd Holland stated he is in talks with Nickelodeon regarding the third film.[4]
On August 19, 2024, Todd Holland indirectly announced that there will not be a third film through a behind-the-scenes tribute compilation.[5]
Marketing[]
In March 2023, Miia Harris, Ceci Balagot, Nayah Damasen and Case Walker appeared at the annual Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards to promote Monster High 2. At the awards, they were introduced and showed a sneak peek of the film, showcasing the ghouls and friends returning to Monster High for the new school year.
In July 2023, character posters and videos were released for Frankie, Draculara, Clawdeen, Toralei and Deuce. Another teaser trailer was also released.[6][7]
On September 13, an official poster was released. Along with the poster, it was announced that an official full-length trailer would be released on September 15, alongside the release date of October 5.[8][1]
Soundtrack[]
Gallery[]
Images[]
Videos[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 TVLine Items: Monster High 2 Trailer, John Carpenter Series and More
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 ‘Monster High The Movie’ Sequel Gets Green Light At Nickelodeon
- ↑ Musical Sequel MONSTER HIGH THE MOVIE 2 With Milia Harris Starts Filming This January in Vancouver
- ↑ Holland in the comments of a post about the film's nominations: "Oh, I am. Trust me. Light your candles. Unlike Frankie, we’re not dead yet. 🙂"
- ↑ Todd Holland on Instagram
- ↑ Monster High on Instagram
- ↑ Paramount+ on Instagram
- ↑ Count on your pack. #MonsterHigh2 official trailer dropping 9/15!