Disney releases bone-chilling trailer for Muppets Haunted Mansion

Disney hasn’t always known what, exactly, it should be doing with The Muppets (the answer probably lies somewhere between “nothing” and “that ABC show The Muppets show,” but its latest shot in the dark is a throwback to the days of Muppet Treasure Island and The Muppet Christmas Carol, which is to say that Disney has just taken the Muppets you know and love and thrown them into some other genre that is not a variety show or a talk show or a behind-the-scenes dramatization of what it’s like making a variety show or a talk show. This time they’re doing the Haunted Mansion ride from various Disney theme parks for Muppets Haunted Mansion, a new Halloween special coming to Disney+ on October 8.

This trailer leans very heavily on Haunted Mansion-related imagery, like the various ghosts and that room that lower down, but with Gonzo hanging around making little jokey comments. Will Arnett is also there with Taraji P. Henson, Darren Criss, Yvette Nicole Brown, and John Stamos, but Kermit and Pepe and Piggy and The Electric Mayhem and Fozzie show up as well—though Fozzie has a big row of teeth that is… mildly upsetting. It makes him scarier, if that was the goal. There’s no sign of Statler and Waldorf, even though a joke about how the scariest thing in a Muppets Halloween special is having to sit through some Muppets shenanigans would be pretty easy, but maybe Disney is saving that good stuff for the full special. Teaser images have shown Kermit and Miss Piggy dressed as each other at a Halloween party, so they’re definitely sitting on some good stuff.

Muppets Haunted Mansion will, as mentioned up above, premiere on Disney+ on October 8. That’s a couple of days after Black Widow, so it should be a good week over at Mickey’s house.