Monster High is a fashion doll brand from Mattel featuring characters inspired by the horror genre including werewolves, vampires, and more. Nickelodeon and Mattel Television produced a live-action musical film, Monster High: The Movie, that premiered on Nickelodeon in October 2022. This week, Monster High 2 will debut on Paramount+ and Nickelodeon, continuing the adventures of Clawdeen Wolf, Draculaura, and Frankie Stein.

Todd Holland is back as the director, and in Monster High 2, Draculaura will get more of the limelight and Clawdeen Wolf will meet a new rival.

“I think we’ll surprise people with our fierce kind of suspense action,” Holland tells Nerd Reactor. “And we’ve just raised the bar on that this time. Our actors love making the action stuff. And our third act is super exciting. There are a lot of monster powers and a lot more heroic acts.”

Monster High carries the message of “Be yourself, be unique, be a monster.” The second movie will continue the tradition.

“It’s core to Monster High the idea of inclusion, acceptance and being uniquely monster,” the director said. “I found that little slide that’s part of the Mattel brand, ‘Be yourself, be unique, be a monster,’ and I put it in the end credits. I said, ‘This is the message we need to end on.’ And we end on that message again in this movie. I mean, who does feel like they’re normal? You know, nobody thinks they’re normal. So to celebrate our uniqueness is the best thing about this franchise.”

Of all the types of monsters featured in the movies, Holland is especially drawn to werewolves.

“As much as I love vampires, I’m drawn to werewolves,” Holland revealed. “I like the lunar power part of the whole thing. So I gravitate towards Clawdeen as a werewolf, but I don’t have a favorite child. I mean, they’re all unique. The fun is the new ones. That fun is Toralei Stripe coming in finally. Another were-creature challenging Clawdeen for alpha status in the school. And that’s really exciting in this movie.”

If the first film is Clawdeen’s movie, then the second film is Draculaura’s movie, according to the director.

“This is Draculaura’s movie,” Holland said. “And what we came to realize in arcing the journeys of the characters is that Draculaura has known who she needs to be from the beginning. And this is the real extension of that. She actually is the most mature character. She is 1600 years old, but she’s the most mature character. And in this movie, she becomes confident in her reason to exist in the world. And she’s going to move on this mission. And so that’s what’s exciting. It becomes more complicated than she understands as she starts the journey. But what’s great about Draculaura is is she’s very centered. That’s kind of impressive for a young kid.”

Frankie Stein will have some new upgrades, and she’ll find out what she’ll need in order to help her friends.

“Frankie Stein, everybody’s favorite character,” he said. “I’m most excited that Frankie is kind of still questioning who they need to be in the world. And so Frankie’s tried some upgrades in our movie, and they’re not quite in their control. And so Frankie is still going to learn little lessons in this movie about how, what powers you need to be a great friend, and it’s not as complicated as they thought it was.”

Monster High 2 premieres on Paramount+ on October 5, 2023.

Featured image courtesy of Nickelodeon and Paramount+.