It’s Halloween, the best time of the year! Well, for us Horror Ghouls at least. And for Sam, a cute little trick-or-treater you’ll get to know better here in Trick ‘r Treat.
In the fictional town of Warren Valley, Ohio, several people are celebrating Halloween night. The stories here are told in a nonlinear narrative, and first we meet Emma and her husband Henry. Emma is a Halloween hater (yup, one of those), and blows out the jack-o’-lantern before midnight. This is not according to Halloween rules! And she’ll soon find out the consequences. Then we meet Steven Wilkins, who is a serial killer who sticks to his own rules and traditions on Halloween. Just a reminder to all the kids out there to check their candy. We later also meet a group of teenagers, who visits a flooded quarry where the urban legend of the “Halloween School Bus Massacre“ was supposed to have taken place. And then, we have a group of young women in sexy costumes, where one of them wears a Little Red Riding Hood outfit. Hmmm…I wonder if she’s going to meet any wolves tonight. Then, of course, there’s little Sam, who is always nearby. Some of the stories and characters have a relation to each other, and all will be revealed before Halloween night is over.
Trick ‘r Treat is a horror anthology film from 2007, written and directed by Michael Dougherty in his directorial debut. The film was delayed for two years, and only had a limited number of screenings at film festivals. It grossed only $27,909 on a budget of $12 million. Ouchie. Over the years, though, the film has since garnered a cult following. Fans have been teased with a sequel for several years but so far nothing seems to happen. Only time will show. In the meantime, Dougherty directed Krampus (2015) and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019).
If you’re a Halloween lover, like any horror ghoul with the slightest ounce of self-respect does, then this movie is certain to feel like a treat. Like many horror anthologies out there, including The Mortuary Collection and Tales from the Hood, all the stories are in some way interwoven with the rest. Aside from the aforementioned anthologies however, this one is told in a nonlinear way and mixes the stories a bit back and forth. It doesn’t require too much attention to get the coherence, so don’t worry about it being too hard to follow. There’s a little bit of twists and turns, including some characters appearing in one story only to prove a significance later on in one of the other stories. It’s all pure popcorn entertainment, never even remotely frightening but offers a little bit of gore here and there and a lot of lighthearted amusing fun. The cute little character Sam is derived from the word Samhain which is the ancient Celtic festival of the dead. It’s from Samhain that the modern-day Halloween is derived. In this movie they’ve taken the name a little further and turned him into the most adorable little deity. Just don’t be fooled by his cuteness, though, he sure knows how to play tricks on those who disrespect the traditions!
The actors playing the deformed children from the Halloween School Bus Massacre segment all had real disabilities or injuries, and they apparently had a total blast during the filming. And we also got one of those famous “gumball rolling down the stairs“ scenes, which is of course a nod to the excellent ghost horror movie The Changeling (1980), and the cameraman working on this sequence also filmed that exact scene in that film.
Trick ‘r Treat is a solid Halloween movie, with enough ghoulish pleasantries to satisfy the most. Happy Halloween!
Writer and director: Michael Dougherty
Country & year: USA/Canada, 2007
Actors: Dylan Baker, Rochelle Aytes, Quinn Lord, Lauren Lee Smith, Moneca Delain, Tahmoh Penikett, Brett Kelly, Britt McKillip, Isabelle Deluce, Jean-Luc Bilodeau, Alberto Ghisi, Samm Todd, Anna Paquin, Brian Cox
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0862856/
