Hello again, moviegoers. Happy Halloween, and welcome back to the final installment of my Monster- Fest!
I’ve got a real “Treat†for you guys tonight, one which I’d imagine most of you have never heard of: “Trick ‘r Treat.†Directed by Michael Dougherty, it stars Dylan Baker, Anna Paquin, and Brian Cox.
The story behind this movie’s release is quite a fascinating one. It was initially scheduled for a theatrical release in early October of 2007, but out of nowhere that release date was cancelled. The most commonly- believed reason for this is that the Warner Brothers studio execs may have been afraid that it wouldn’t have been able to compete in the box office with both Rob Zombie’s “Halloween†and “Saw 4.†Whatever the reason, it got bumped around for the next two years. Each time an official release date would be announced, it would abruptly be cancelled, even as special one- time limited screenings earned rave reviews from those who saw it. It finally got a direct- to- DVD release in early October of 2009, and even then, it took me three full days and a whole lot of luck to find a store that wasn’t sold out of it, but I got it, and it has since become traditional Halloween viewing for me.
As for the actual storyline, ‘Trick ‘r Treat’ is an anthology, a set of 4 interconnected tales (Kind of like if ‘Pulp Fiction’ were a horror film), plus a couple really brief 5- minute stories, all taking place in the same small town, on the same Halloween night. The first story concerns a seemingly mild- mannered high school principal named Stephen Wilkins (Dylan Baker), who we soon find leads a quite vicious double life. The second story is about a group of neighborhood teens (And unlike in most horror movies with teenage characters, here they’re actually played by teenagers rather than actors in their twenties) who use a local urban legend to try and pull a cruel prank on a rather odd classmate of theirs, which let’s just say doesn’t end well. The third story is about a young woman (Anna Paquin) who’s apparently a virgin, and goes to the town’s big Halloween celebration with her sister and her friends intent on meeting “That special someone†there. The final story is about a mean old curmudgeon named Mr. Kreeg (Brian Cox) who hates Halloween, and finds himself being attacked in his home by the film’s mascot/ icon, Sam (A little trick- or- treating demon with a burlap mask whom director Dougherty intended to be like Halloween’s answer to Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny).
Literally the only problem I can think of with ‘Trick ‘r Treat’ is the packaging for the DVD. See, the outer cardboard sleeve over the DVD case shows on its front a cool- looking poster of the movie, but the inner actual cover shows what Sam’s real face (Behind the mk looks like, which in the movie isn’t revealed until near its end. The fact that it gave away a bit of the ending is the only problem I have with ‘Trick ‘r Teat.’
There is so much to like about ‘Trick ‘r Treat,’ it’s not even funny. First off, this film captures the essence of Halloween better than any other film I’ve seen. Everything about the movie practically bleeds Halloween. Also, the interconnected stories are an absolute masterstroke. Sometimes the connections are obvious, other times they are quite subtle. Pay enough attention (Usually through more than one viewing of the film), and you should be able to form at least a rough chronology of how and when everything happened that night. The set designs are absolutely superb, especially for an abandoned rock quarry where the kids- prank story takes place, and old Mr. Kreeg’s dark house. Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights really needs to make a Haunted House based around this movie, as its environments would fit a Haunted House like a glove.
The music is wonderful, too. It is like something that Danny Elfman would write/ compose, and features all different styles and tempos, from the loud, bombastic and very cool theme music heard in the opening and closing credits, to the soft piano music used as the theme for a quite innocent and gentle character we meet in the film.
For acting, it’s all great. Dylan Baker as the principal Wilkins is perfectly handled. He’s scary in certain scenes, but quite funny in others (i.e. when he and his young son Billy are having a conversation in which Billy is loudly calling out to him at a time when Wilkins clearly desires as little loud noise as possible). The young actors in the kids’ prank story are all very good for their age, especially Samm Todd as Rhonda (The strange, possibly special- needs girl who’s the intended target of the prank), and Jean- Luc Bilodeau as Schrader (An older boy, and the only one of the kids playing the prank who’s shown to be at least a somewhat good person).
Anna Paquin does a very nice job as the virgin girl Laurie, her wandering around the parade trying to find a guy really conveys the loneliness and longing she’s feeling without saying a word, just her facial expressions reveal it. This, in turn, makes the twist at the end of her story (And it is an amazing twist which I seriously didn’t see coming) all the more surprising. Brian Cox is appropriately nasty and crude as old Mr. Kreeg, while you still somewhat pity him when he’s being attacked by Sam.
Speaking of whom, Sam is an awesome character. At times, he’s scary with how violent he can get and what his real face looks like. Other times, he’s funny, and even occasionally cute (He was played by a 7- year boy in the film, and you can tell that's the case from how the little fella moves and walks). If Dougherty’s proposed sequels to this movie come to life and get filmed, I could see Sam joining the “Who’s Who†list of memorable horror movie monsters.
And, so, that wraps up ‘Trick ‘r Treat.’ Awesome film which you should all see ASAP, and which is now traditional Halloween viewing for me.
That’s the end of this year’s Monster- Fest. Thanks for reading my reviews, it’s been great, and come back in about a month when I start in on my 25 Days of Christmas marathon. Happy Halloween, and I’ll see you at the movies!
