Trick 'r Treat

I'm a sucker for all things Halloween related. Jack-o'-lanterns, family-sized candy fun packs, women dressed like whores and horror films. Especially horror films.

My latest and greatest favorite is a little direct-to-DVD gem called Trick 'r Treat. How this film was robbed of a theatrical release, I have no idea!  Something to do with the creative team from Superman Returns and the competition from one of the many Saw flicks.  I still don't get it.

It's a horror anthology in the tradition of Tales From the Darkside or Creepshow, but with it's own unique style and gimmick.  I've read reviews from both sides of the afterlife on this one.  Good and bad.  It seems that a lot of horror film folks were a bit disappointed in it.  Thought it was overrated.  I dunno how a film that doesn't even rate a theatrical release could be overrated, but whatevs.

For me, this film worked best as an homage to the EC horror comics of yore.  William Gaines would be proud.  There is nothing particularly terrifying about the film, per se.  But it lives, eats, shits and breathes Halloween.  It feels like Halloween, in a way that so many films that have tried have failed.  One of the amazing things about the film is how beautifully it was shot.  The jack-o'-lanterns, the mist, the eerie wooded paths, the dream quality flashbacks.  It's a beautiful film just to look at.  And so much fun for someone who loves the holiday.

There is a bunch of stuff going on in this sleepy little town on Halloween night.

• A young couple argue at the end of the evening, but it's really about sex.  She hates Halloween and wants it all to be over, and she wants to take all the decorations down.  But he knows that there are un-written rules against stuff like that on the night of the dead.  Rules that can't be broken without repercussions.  
  
• A deranged and widowed principal and his son bond while teaching the local kids that Halloween night is all about respecting the dead. And checking your candy.
  
• An introverted young girl is led to an old spooky quarry by her new friends.  The site of a terrible tragedy 30 years earlier in which a bus of "disturbed" children were killed on Halloween day.  Not. A. Good. Idea.
  
• A man in black is stalking and killing women during the town's Halloween parade.  And my, what big teeth he has!  The better to suck your blood!
  
• A young woman is pressured into losing her virginity by a pack of her girlfriends.  It's supposed to happen at a bonfire party in the woods outside of town that night.  But Little Red Riding Hood wants her first time to be...special.
• A bitter old man deals with his own past demons while terrorizing the young trick-or-treaters in the neighborhood.  But will he learn his lesson when a real demon of the night comes knocking on his door?  Will he survive?
  

And then there is Sam.  A mysterious little trick-or-treater with a burlap pumpkin head for a costume.  He ties all the stories together.  In fact, since all the stories occur in the same town on the same night you can see many of the characters from every story in the backgrounds of all the other stories.  It's definitely a fun film to watch more than once.  Just for the stuff in the background.

Sam was actually first introduced to the world back in the late 1990's in an animated short by writer/director Michael Dougherty.  A macabre little piece of business called "Season's Greetings."  Enjoy!  And remember...not everyone is as innocent as they appear.

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