:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/Wes-Brown-Lacey-Chabert-Peter-Jacobson-Haul-Out-the-Halloween-101125-0f3d368c1b0747eeb474a2652be8f8e8.jpg)
NEED TO KNOW
- Lacey Chabert, Wes Brown, Melissa Peterman and Stephen Tobolowsky return for a third Haul Out movie, this time set during Halloween
- They are joined by Halloweentown alums Kimberly J. Brown and Daniel Kountz
- All six sat down with PEOPLE and shared Halloween treats about the movie
Before anyone can trim a tree, there’s one order of business: Halloween. And, in a rare twist, that’s true for Hallmark Channel — and its Christmas queen, Lacey Chabert.
The actress, who has starred in more than 40 movies for the network, rejoins her Haul Out the Holly and Haul Out the Holly: Lit Up castmates — including Wes Brown, Melissa Peterman, Stephen Tobolowsky and Ellen Travolta — for a third installment of the comedic franchise directed by Maclain Nelson about an extremely (extremely) festive neighborhood. And, well, she had some mixed feelings about it.
“I felt like I was cheating on Christmas,” Chabert tells PEOPLE with a laugh. “Our characters do too. But it was really so much fun.”
Fred Hayes/ Hallmark
Also adding to the fun were a pair of new residents to Evergreen Lane: Halloweentown‘s Kimberly J. Brown and Daniel Kountz, who play Marvin and Luna, a married pair of Halloween-obsessed neighbors who help remind the HOA of the good times had on and around Oct. 31 before an incident led them to take the spooky season down a notch.
Below, the cast shares a few tricks and treats from the movie, including a few romantic moments, who can’t contain their laughter, and more.
From Real-Life Pals to Neighbors
Fred Hayes/ Hallmark
“This was just a dream scenario,” Chabert , 43, says of working with her “dearest” friends, Kimberly J. Brown and Daniel Kountz, who are married. “Kim and I have been friends since we were 7, 8, or 9 years old, and we did Les Misérables together on Broadway. She’s someone that I just cherish in my life and I absolutely love her husband Daniel, and so getting to have them spend those three weeks in Salt Lake City on Evergreen Lane with us was just wonderful.”
Says Kimberly, 40, “It was exciting on so many levels because we had been genuine fans of the Haul Out the Holly series from the very beginning. So we were familiar with everybody’s characters, and were so thrilled to get a chance to bring a little bit of a spooky vibe to the neighborhood, But also on a personal note, to join just such an amazing cast of actors who we’ve admired for so long, and then also to be able to act across Lacey is just always such a gift.”
Adds Kountz, 46: “Being able to get in front of the camera with Lacey, whom we’ve known for so long and love so much, was just an absolute treat. I was so happy to be able to share that experience.”
Fred Hayes/ Hallmark
Watch Out for Easter Eggs
The movie franchise is known for hiding little treats for eagle-eyed (and -eared) viewers, and this one has more than most. Fans should watch for a Mean Girls-inspired “plastic” line from Chabert and Halloweentown nods from Kimberly and Kountz, not to mention countless pop culture references from The Wizard of Oz to The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.
“I love referencing it,” Chabert says of the wink to Mean Girls. “I try not to do it too much because I don’t ever want it to be annoying to our viewers, but I think we try to pick the right moments. Hopefully, they will find this one amusing.”
“I so appreciated our amazing director, Maclain Nelson, playing with me and trying to find great moments for some nods to Halloweentown for our amazing fans,” says Kimberly. “I tried to pay homage to the movies as best I could and to Debbie Reynolds, of course, because I always like to draw a little bit of inspiration for characters, and I was definitely thinking of her a lot while I was playing Luna.”
A New Romance Will Come to Light
“There was a joke about it in that first movie,” Peterman warns.
“It was a total shock to me when I read the script,” says Tobolowsky. “What makes it so fun is it’s a hidden romance that becomes unhidden.”
A Wizard of Oz-Inspired Scene Nearly Broke Chabert
“The hardest thing for me on these movies is not laughing,” Chabert says. “The Wizard of Oz bit with Melissa Peterman: I had tears rolling down my eyes so many times when was off camera, I was just breaking and laughing and trying to hide it and not ruin a take.”
Fred Hayes/ Hallmark
But the Goal Is to Make Stephen Tobolowsky Laugh
“He’s one of the funniest humans alive, so if you get Stephen to giggle, it’s just infectious,” says Peterman.
“Melissa gets me laughing every scene we’re in,” says the Groundhog Day alum. “She’ll say something absolutely horrible and unforgivable and hilarious and perfect, and it just knocks my socks off. I have a rule, I have a rule I’ll share with you: Maclain says, ‘I’m writing a new scene, Stephen, for you.’ And I said, “Well, Melissa has to be in it because she is the closer.’ No matter what scene we’re in, I always wait. Now, it may be too off-color to use in a Hallmark film. But at the same time, I just love it.”
Fred Hayes/ Hallmark
A Wedding Scene Brings Real Tears
“I found myself crying at the damn wedding,” admits Tobolowsky. “It was so beautiful. Until Walter [Platz] smacked me in the head. I’m going, ‘What the hell? What’s going on?’ He goes, ‘There was a mosquito on your head.'”
“That venue where we held the wedding was so stunning,” says Peterman. “It was our next-to-last day shooting, so most of the cast was going to be leaving, and so we were all really emotional anyway.”
“There was a scene before the wedding, leading right up to it with myself and Stephen and Walter,” Wes recalls. “Anytime you can combine something super sweet with a nice speech and then just funny on top of it is great.”
“it’s a particularly sweet wedding because of the neighborhood coming together,” says Chabert. “We see how much these characters genuinely love each other. They may drive each other crazy at times and disagree about certain HOA rules, but underneath it all is a real sense of community.”
Fred Hayes/ Hallmark
Stephen Tobolowsky Is the Ultimate Storyteller
“People should pay a lot of money for this,” says Wes after Tobolowsky shared details of reuniting with a grade-school crush while filming Haul Out the Halloween. “This is what it’s really like. This is what we get. He’s the best storyteller in the world.”
Adds Peterman: “They’re incredible.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Haul Out the Halloween premieres Saturday, Oct. 11 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Hallmark Channel and will be streaming the next day on Hallmark+.