Review of Trick 'r Treat (2007) by Robert L — 22 Jan 2012

Something wicked this way comes...

I had heard rumours of a movie, a film that was a dark comedy and a bloodthirsty horror, I had heard that it was the Pulp Fiction of horror, I hard heard that Bryan Singer was the producer, I had heard all these things about Trick 'r Treat, but what I found was quite different.

I can see why people would call Trick 'r Treat the Pulp Fiction of horror, there are 4 stories all interwoven (if only very feebly) and they all come to a conclusion, each in turn, they also all have an impact on the other. It's an obvious link, but one that doesn't hold true, because unlike Pulp Fiction these stories are free standing from the other plots, if one character dies it has no effect on any other character that are not related to that story, Pulp Fiction this ain't but Trick 'r Treat is something different to Pulp Fiction it's a film that tries to live in it's own skin and be proud of it, even in the ever decreasing circle of unique films in Hollywood.

That, as usual for me, is a great asset for Trick 'r Treat. The film dares to be different and win, lose or draw I will always respect that from a film maker, I mean some of Hitchcock's films totally flopped, but he was inventive and tried to be his own man in Hollywood (best example of this of course, is Rope), so that is one credit for Trick 'r Treat, but the question how is it different?

To say the film was totally unique would be an overstatement, it's not as bold or flamboyant as Inception, and it is clearly influenced by other movies (more on that in a moment) but in truth the film does try to be it's own idea, it tries to explore the rules and traditions of Halloween while still trying to be light and frothy at the same time, normally this combination wouldn't work, it wouldn't strike the right note if Trick 'r Treat was ludicrous and scary, but somehow writer/director Michael Dougherty pulls it off. Here is the film that Trick 'r Treat reminds me of most when watching it, In The Company Of Wolves, so if you liked that, this ones for you.

Also the film looks like it's a TV movie, it looks like it was made by a fan of the Goosebumps series, maybe he was, maybe that is literally the look that Dougherty was going for, if it was full credit to him, but Trick 'r Treat knows not to take itself seriously and that's why the opening credits are in a comic book form (as well as part of the end credits).

The films stories are ones that we have heard before with some nice little twists to keep us watching, nothing spectacular or that you couldn't work out if you sat and thought about it, but for what the movie aims to be (and that's light horror entertainment) it works well, the four stories are these: Some kids pick on a handicapped girl, a principle has a dark secret, a mean old man gets a visit from a special trick or treater, and A girl tries to lose her virginity for Halloween. The characters are as simple and disposable as the film itself and I'm sure they are intended that way, if not they totally fail.

The 3 main leads put on the performances that you would expect form Brian Cox, Anna Paquin and Dylan Baker, the 3 carry the film well and there are no weak links in the fence, even the younger cast members (like Jean-Luc Bilodeau and Samm Todd) are enjoyable.

Trick 'r Treat is a kids film with the same morals and stories from T.V. Shows like Goosebumps and Are You Afraid Of The Dark, but the cool thing about it is, it's for adults.

Totally ridiculous, fun. It's scary and cool in equal measure, a true Saturday night popcorn flick, but for what is it very enjoyable. It's a real fright night.