I first read about Trick ‘r Treat in Horror Hound magazine. There was a lengthy article on the many trials and tribulations it had faced in trying to get a release date. Finally, the magazine reported, it was going to be released pretty much direct to video. The image that was used to market the film was of Sam, a little kid wearing a burlap sack fashioned into a mask. It’s a neat looking image, but it might have confused people about the true intent of the movie. I saw it and thought it was just another slasher movie. When I read the DVD case, it says that the movie is a horror anthology. That may be true, but it hardly describes what this movie really is. Trick ‘r Treat is a film that captures the spirit of Halloween. It is the horror movie equivalent of Kenny & Company which also captured the feelings of getting ready for Halloween and going trick or treating.
There are certain things I associate with Halloween. As a kid it was always trick or treating. Picking my Halloween costume was one of the most exciting things I got to do all year long. Strangely, I only recall a couple of my costumes. One year I had the Ben Cooper costume of Dick Van Dyke’s character from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I don’t know why I picked that costume because I wasn’t a huge fan of the movie. Another year I dressed in the Ben Cooper version of Walt Disney’s Snow White. Once again, I’m not sure how that happened. It was far from my favorite Disney movie and I was a boy. Either way, that’s the costume I ended up wearing. My cousin was my trick or treat chaperone, and she said after the first dozen or so houses saying what a cute little girl I was that I started saying, “Trick or treat, I’m a boy” when I knocked on the door.
As I got older Haunted Houses became the reason for the season. Janet, the same cousin I mentioned earlier, took me to my first haunted house as well. It was scary, but fun as well. I also recall they had a pretty neat gift shop at the end of the tour. Throughout junior high and high school, haunted houses were the highlight of Halloween. I would get together with a group of friends and we would hit various haunted houses in the area. Some were really lame to the point that we would come out laughing. A couple of them were a little scary, but not nearly as much when you’re with a group of friends. We stopped going before the advent of Haunted Trails and Haunted Hay Rides came about. I think we took my son to one of the Haunted Trails once, but by the time he had gotten old enough to enjoy a haunted attraction we had moved to Clendenin where Judgement Houses were more prevalent. They don’t tend to meet my idea of a fun time.
The next stage in Halloween enjoyment was horror movies. Even as a child I enjoyed a monster movie, if somebody decided to air one for Halloween. For some reason New Year’s Eve tended to be the holiday where one of the stations would run all night horror movies when I was young. After cable came along, AMC would have Monsterfest and HBO or Cinemax would usually have several scary movies. Of course the best horror movie marathons were created by renting VHS horror classics or rarities.
The final Halloween thing I have come to enjoy is decorating. For several years, the wife and I would hang up and set out all sorts of scary themed decor. The mantle would be filled with the Universal monsters from Sideshow Toys, MacFarlane’s Monsters and Tortured Souls from MacFarlane Toys, and Silent Screamers from Mezco. Over the last few years the living room has become overrun by my DVD collection, but recently I discovered Spooky Town by Lemax, and I have been pushing the DVDs on the top of the entertainment center back and setting out these pieces.
Trick ‘r Treat does an excellent job of creating a film that captures the feelings produced by many of these things. There are four stories, but characters from the different stories cross over into the other stories as well. It’s like the movies Go and Elephant where the background character in one scene becomes the main character in another scene and we relive those events from their perspective. The first story concerns a young couple who have different thoughts about Halloween. The husband loves the parties and scary decorations, the wife isn’t nearly as thrilled with it. In fact she hates Halloween. The second story concerns a high school principal who just also happens to be a serial killer. The third story involves a group of four hot young ladies looking to party the night away. Well three of them are looking forward to the party. The fourth girl is still waiting for Mr. Right to experience her first time. Story number four concerns a scary legend and a cruel prank gone wrong. The final tale deals with an old man that scares off any kids that come to his door until Sam sneaks inside. Sam, the burlap sack masked character from the DVD cover, is the spirit of Halloween vengeance. He chases the old man around and gets him ready to meet some kids from his past.
All of the stories are well done and enjoyable, and most of them do a fairly decent job of providing an unexpected twist. Of course how unexpected the twist is will depend on how many EC comics you’ve read. The acting is perfect in this film as well. For such a small film it boasts several big names including Dylan Baker, Anna Paquin, and Brian Cox (the original Hannibal Lecter). That this film was essentially buried by the studio that produced it is a real crime. Rumors claim that part of the reason relates to the dismal box office of Superman Returns which was written by this film’s writer/director, Michael Dougherty, and directed by Bryan Singer whose production company was responsible for making Trick ‘r Treat. I hope the film will get discovered now that it is on DVD. I found it at K-Mart for $5, so it’s very affordable.
I give Trick ‘r Treat 3 1/4 stars. The DVD also includes the animated short that inspired the film. Titled Season’s Greetings it tells the story of young Sam, his bag of treats, and the man stalking him. It’s a wonderful companion piece to the movie.
365 Days of DVDs 