Review of Trick 'r Treat (2007) by Peter H — 29 Oct 2011

SPOOK-A-THON!

October 2011.

REVIEW #:031.

TRICK 'R' TREAT [2009]: HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

Let's just face the facts as good film buffs should now days, almost 70% of Modern horror movies are either melodramatic over the top jump scare montages, yet another dozen sequels for a horror series that die off years ago or dare I say it , rubbish bastardizations remakes of some truly great horror films. So sadly that only makes 30% of modern horror films that can be called good. With the highly original 2009 anthology horror movie film TRICK 'R' TREAT when it came out during a year of another half dozen remakes hitting cinema screens had probably the worst thing to happen to a very good movie in today's society. A straight to DVD realise without any sort of theatrical realise. Sadly this neat little Halloween film got buried under every other half-ass horror film to make it on the big screen. However due to a good two years of positive word of mouth talk about this film; TRICK 'R' TREAT is slowly becoming a new slow-burning Cult hit. And after hearing one or two positive things about this film all I can say is I'm grateful to have seen this film.

THE PLOTLINE: In the same vein as other Horror Anthology movies like CREEPSHOW [1982], TRICK 'R' TREAT has a bunch of short horror stories in the same film but instead all the tales are interwoven and all take place on Halloween in the same small town.

The opening story sees a couple coming home from a nights Halloween outing when the girlfriend is instant of taking down their Halloween decorations hours before November 1st starts due to the boyfriend being lazy. So the girlfriend decides to start taking down the decorations which goes against the superstition about not taking the decorations down before Halloween is over. This upsets someone who has the idea punishment is in order by killing her.

Story One: after the opening story the movie cuts to a bratty fat kid going around smashing Jack-O-lanterns onto the sidewalk around the small town and of course taking lollies from a curiosity jar on someone's front deck. The owner arrives which happens to be the Kid's school principal who talks to him about Halloween traditions and how you should always check your lollies before eating them. Of course the bratty kid didn't think of this and starts to puke up blood and die. So the good principal decides to bury the kid in a shallow grave in his backyard before his neighbour finds out.

Story Two: In another story, a group of Pre-Teens go around the neighbour borrowing Jack-O-Lanterns for a special purpose. When they come to the house of a nerdy Girl from their school the group ask her to come with them. When they arrive at their destination an abandon quarry, the leader of the group tells the local urban legend of the school bus massacre, where a deranged school bus driver was paid by the parents of the special Needs students to get rid of them on Halloween by driving the bus into the quarry. So the group go down to the lakeside a place Jack-O-Lanterns by the lake when the group start to scream. The Nerdy girl fears the worse and tries to leave only to find out that it was a sick hoax. However when the zombies of the dead kids from the massacre come after the prankers the disturbed girl still thinks it's a hoax.

Story Three: In another story a group of Female University aged students arrive in the town to get amongst the Halloween party. One a virgin member of the group hopes to night that she will find that special somebody. Amidst the party atmosphere the sadistic Principal is out killing young women. When the group go their separate ways and head for a party in the woods, the Virgin (Anna Paquin) comes across the principal with disturbing consequences.

Story Four: In the final story a grumpy old neighbour of the Principal at the same time as he is burring the body of the greedy kid has his own Halloween Terror. After rejecting and refusing Trick or Treater's the grumpy old man is attacked by the mysterious mute Sam, a sadistic little guy who hates to see Halloween traditions being ignored. And in a do or die battle with the old man the truth about Sam is revealed.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: The best way to describe this new age cult classic is to look at it as a huge bag full of mixed Halloween Lollies. There are so many goodies jam packed into one film it satisfies the most blood thirsty horror buff. With having a familiar face like Anna Paquin in one of the roles, good direction and solid performances from the cast, a bunch of stories that are gruesome fun than scary, neat send ups of old Halloween urban legends and having all stories with the character of Sam, a weird child like creature that bridges all the stories together, TRICK 'R' TREAT lives up to the title of one the finest Halloween films to have been made in the past 30 years.

As for me, TRICK 'R' TREAT is a new found favourite horror film & cult movie. This films slowly growing popularity has lead to rumours that a sequel may be made and that Figurines' of Sam have been manufactured for collectors. For the ones that haven't seen this film may the following phrase sell you on this film "Serial Killers, Werewolves, Vampires & zombies oh my!" The rating for this film is a much deserved 80%.