🎃 Ernest Scared Stupid (1991)

Campy Chaos Done Right

Lets start by showing y’all the trailers shall we?

🎬 Trailers

📖 Non-Spoiler Plot Overview

So, cards on the table — I’ve said before (and I stand by it) that Ernest Saves Christmas was the first and only Ernest movie I’d ever watched. That still counts for my December review, because I had only just recently watched Ernest Scared Stupid for the first time. And let me tell you, this one? Totally worth it.

The setup is classic Halloween fun: Ernest P. Worrell (Jim Varney), the human cartoon of slapstick nonsense, accidentally unleashes a centuries-old troll named Trantor on a small town. It’s up to Ernest, some plucky kids, and a very eccentric local woman to stop the trolls before they turn every child into a wooden doll for their army.

👥 Character Rundown

Ernest P. Worrell (Jim Varney) — The bumbling, rubber-faced hero who always manages to save the day despite himself.

Old Lady Hackmore (Eartha Kitt) — The eccentric mystic who knows the troll lore and brings that classic Eartha Kitt energy.

Kenny & the kids — Stock “horror movie kids,” mostly there to be troll-bait and remind Ernest what’s at stake.

Trantor the Troll — Nightmare fuel brought to life with practical effects, slimy makeup, and a grotesque design that’s surprisingly creepy for a “kids” movie.


⏳ Pacing / Episode Flow

The movie moves fast: prologue lore dump, Ernest unleashes the troll, trolls wreak havoc, Ernest bungles his way toward a solution, and then a big troll showdown at the pumpkin patch. It’s brisk, cartoony, and doesn’t overstay its welcome — basically the pacing you’d want from a kids’ horror-comedy.

✅ Pros

Jim Varney’s performance — This is Ernest at his comedic best, constantly switching voices, pulling faces, and doing slapstick.

Practical effects — The trolls look gnarly, gross, and memorably creepy.

Halloween vibes — Small-town atmosphere, a cursed tree, pumpkin patches, and trick-or-treat aesthetics? Perfect.

Eartha Kitt — She adds a deliciously eccentric layer to the movie.

Tone balance — Somehow both absurdly goofy and actually scary for younger viewers.


🤷 Meh

Plot simplicity — The “ancient curse, bumbling hero must stop it” template is nothing new.

Child actors — Serviceable, but not standout.

Repetitive humor — If Ernest’s shtick doesn’t click with you, parts of this will drag.

Easy ending — The “heart of a child” resolution is touching but a little too neat.


💭 Final Thoughts

Even though Saves Christmas was my first Ernest film, Scared Stupid feels like the one that best shows why Jim Varney’s character has such a cult following. It’s campy, spooky, ridiculous, and weirdly charming. It’s not high art, but it’s a fun Halloween watch that holds up way better than it has any right to.

⭐ Rating

9/10 🎃
Spooky fun with trolls, slime, and Ernest being Ernest.

🚨 Spoiler Warning

Okay, Vern — time to dig into the troll goo.

🩸 Spoilers

The film opens with a flashback: Ernest’s ancestor seals the troll Trantor under a tree with an ancient curse. Cut to modern-day, where Ernest — in true Ernest fashion — immediately undoes this by knocking on the tree and setting Trantor loose.

The troll starts turning children into wooden dolls to grow his army, leading to some surprisingly unsettling scenes of kids disappearing and their parents panicking. Old Lady Hackmore explains to Ernest and the kids that only “the heart of a child, in the hands of a child” can stop the troll. Ernest, of course, misinterprets this in increasingly ridiculous ways.

Meanwhile, Trantor unleashes chaos. The trolls multiply, the town becomes overrun, and Ernest’s gadgets (slapstick contraptions involving everything from improvised troll traps to milk sprays) only buy time. The kids get snatched one by one, and the climax arrives at the pumpkin patch, where Trantor’s army is at full force.

The payoff comes when Ernest realizes the prophecy wasn’t literal. It wasn’t about weapons or objects — it was about childlike innocence. Ernest embraces Trantor with genuine love and compassion, literally hugging the monster. That act of pure-hearted kindness destroys the trolls, frees the children, and ends the curse.

It’s absurd, it’s goofy, and somehow, it works. Troll army defeated — all thanks to Ernest being too pure for this world.