Jack In The Box Halloween Commercial Makes 'Free Tacos' Horrifying

Ah, Halloween — one of the spookiest and most commercially appealing times of the year. It's a season chock-full of ads for candy bars, costumes, and, for 2023, at least, tacos. Indeed, fast food chain Jack in the Box has debuted a new ad campaign for its Angry Monster Tacos, but it's not what customers may initially expect. In fact, not only is the chain's new commercial in keeping with the spirit of the season, but it may just be one of the most ambitious fast food ads to ever hit the market.

Midway through October, Jack in the Box shared nothing less than a fully-produced short film promoting its Angry Monster Tacos. Suffice to say, the result is pretty fascinating. The short runs at roughly seven-and-a-half minutes long and tells a horror-tinged tale involving a few unfortunate teenagers' encounter with a haunted taco truck. Titled "Feeding Time," the short has an unexpectedly perilous bite to it (pardon the pun), and that may be because it has some esteemed names from the horror industry among its creators.

Jack in the Box's "Feeding Time" short centers around a creepy tale that unfolds on Halloween night itself. After three delinquent teenagers steal the candy from two young trick-or-treaters, they encounter a derelict-looking truck advertising free tacos. The trio are lured closer by a plate of Angry Monster Tacos, but not everything is as it seems.

In classic horror fashion, the taco truck turns out to be a monstrous, multi-tentacled abomination that captures two of the teenagers and pursues the third throughout the neighborhood. Not even a chance encounter with Jack in the Box's mascot Jack Box is enough to save the day. After unsuccessfully pleading with the kids he stole from earlier to let him inside their house, the last teenager is consumed by the truck, never to be seen again. Later, the two kids encounter the same taco truck and successfully retrieve the plate of tacos, while the monster gifts them their stolen bag of candy. Thus, karmic justice is served.

All told, the short film is a pretty unconventional way to market a new taco product, but it is marketing all the same. Monster Tacos and Angry Monster Tacos are currently available on Jack in the Box's menu. Meanwhile, those who aren't afraid of having a chance encounter with the terrifying taco truck itself have a chance of seeing it in Los Angeles starting on October 21, while the truck can also be booked for Halloween parties on Resy throughout the last week of October.

It's not a stretch to say that Jack in the Box's "Feeding Time" skews a little closer to the edgy side of corporate marketing. According to Jeff O'Keefe, the creative director of the chain's agency partner, TBWAChiatDay LA, that was an intentional choice. "Jack in the Box has here resisted the much more common route of leveraging Halloween for a few simple visual cues and gags in order to seem timely," O'Keefe said in a statement shared with Marketing Dive. "Instead, we've taken inspiration from culture, and sought to offer up an authentic piece of culture ourselves, respecting fans' intelligence and catering to their desires while also seamlessly including our product."

If "Feeding Time" feels like a surprisingly well-executed short horror film, it's probably because the people responsible for making it have an extensive background in the genre. The short was directed by Marcus Dunstan, who previously wrote the screenplays for several of the "Saw" movies and helped develop the story for 2019's "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark," among quite a few other notable horror projects.

Along with Dunstan, several other horror veterans joined forces to write "Feeding Time." Among the list is "American Horror Story" staff writer Asha Michelle Wilson, Dunstan's frequent collaborator and fellow "Saw" screenplay writer Patrick Melton, and "Servant" writer Kara Lee Corthron. Leave it to a fast food chain to develop one of the most ambitious horror talent crossovers of 2023.