Review of Trick 'r Treat (2007) by Sean W — 31 Oct 2014

As the story goes, Trick 'r Treat was written/directed by Michael Dougherty, who worked with director Bryan Singer to bring Superman Returns to life. Not a great start Michael, but let's keep rolling with this! Bryan Singer also helped to produced this, which was based on the short Season's Greetings (title change done so as not to be confused with a Christmas flick, as one would naturally do given the subject matter). So this flick was set to hit theaters 2007 and word is that it was held back because of a Saw flick coming out around the same time. It finally just went straight to DVD in 2009. Now, generally horror pictures do very well because they cost very little and people still go to see them. So why wasn't this released in theaters to try and recoup its budget? Because it sucks. I'm going to jump into spoiler territory here so if you're THAT type, you've been warned.

Okay, it's not all bad. Far from the worst. Conceptually, I was ready to jump into this. This film is split up into different episodes and I grew up watching episodic stories from the likes of Tales from the Crypt, and Creepshow. Trick 'r Treat tries too fucking hard to tie it all together though. We have several stories going one at once, and the film likes to jump back and forth like it's fucking Pulp Fiction. Ooooh, remember that character from that episode? Look at they interact with this character! Like that will make a difference! I digress, though.

I'm not going to get too much into the details of each episode, but some are given to you straight up and some are inexplicably split up over the course of the entire film. For what reason? At attempt at coherence, I suppose, but all it does is make it feel like there's a dozen people who live in this town and they're all connected in some way. The first real episode is a bit of a black comedy about a father who fulfills his bloodlust on Halloween. It's supposed to be funny because he's trying to bury a body while his son is nagging him, but it doesn't really pay off given that his son is in on it. Next up we have some kids who come down to a rock quarry to visit the site where supposedly a school bus filled with children had incidentally plummeted to their deaths. The kids aren't given much meat to chew on, and after they fake-out the outsider, this story plays out exactly how you would imagine it.

It doesn't help that the film's two weakest stories are up front, but so it goes. Next up we have what's conceptually the most interesting of the shorts. While it's technically spread throughout the film, the third episode follows a group of girls as they pick up Halloween costumes and head out for some fun. One girl, sporting a Little Red Riding Hood outfit, plays the role of the ugly duckling. Given the outgoing nature of the rest of her group, she is definitely wading in the virgin end of the pond. She eventually comes to be stalked by a vampire of sorts and in a nice twist of events, she goes full werewolf on the guy.

Now here's a great example of why this movie doesn't live up to its potential. We have a fantastic concept; a play on the Little Red Riding Hood myth. We have a really cool allegory in terms of losing one's virginity and either feeding or killing someone for the first time. And it's all glossed over. Given that Anna Paquin is playing the lead in this bit, it's hard not to make the comparison to True Blood. Season 2 of that show is where some really fucked up orgies took place, and what we have here is much more restrained by comparison (yes I'm aware this flick came first). The payoff is pretty cool, but it's too little too late. In regards to the soundtrack, we've already had Marilyn Manson's Sweet Dreams in another horror flick (looking at you House on Haunted Hill remake) and I was tired of it then. At the very least, this is when the film picks up.

Our last story is easily the most fun. It deals with a crotchety old man, played by Bryan Cox (who's dressed up to look like John Carpenter) and . . . well, this is essentially the Ebenezer Scrooge story of the film. The dude does not celebrate Halloween and that's when this "creature" that has been hinted at throughout the whole film comes out to play. And it's fucking ridiculous, but in the best way. The creature and the old man fight it out throughout the house, and it turns out the little dude has a pumpkin for a head . . . how could you not like this?

The epilogue closes things out without making much sense (why do the other creatures bother the old man when Sam the Pumpkinhead leaves him?). I've probably given you a pretty shitty overview of the story, but if I went into any more detail, you wouldn't want to see it either. And it's barely worth it, to be honest. While splitting the film into episodes does keep the film moving along at a nice pace, there's really not all that much there to begin with. Scares have been done better. Comedy has been done better. The film's a wink and a nod towards other, better horror films and it will leave your brain just as fast.