Trick ‘r Treat

Hi, Sam.

Swift shot: I only heard about this movie while watching the True Blood interview with Alcide (Joe Manganiello) and Sookie (Anna Paquin) a few weeks ago, where, Paquin mentioned she was in Trick ‘r Treat.  She also revealed a huge spoiler – but I won’t.  Trick ‘r Treat is actually a series of five macabre tales, set in Warren Valley, Ohio on Halloween.   The episodic structure uses a common element that ties them all together with Sam, a lovable little fellow who wants to ensure all Halloween traditions are adhered to throughout the evening.  While there may be a hokey feel to the story itself, the story-telling was interesting and the acting was perfect, no one detracted from the script.

I found myself entertained while watching this, so grab a bag of candy corn, and definitely add this fun little creeper to your sack ‘o treats.  It won’t scare the hell out of you, but it will keep your attention and maybe get you thinking the next time you trick or treat.

Think back to 1982’s Creepshow and you get the general idea of Trick ‘r Treat.   The plot is non-linear and there are subtle hints throughout the film that almost give everything away – it’s layered, so you can watch it multiple times and get different things out of each viewing. As the events take place, we are offered differing “real-time” perspectives through various character’s eyes all centered around one street block.

This was director, Michael Doughtery’s first feature film running the show, and if this first foray is any indicator, he should be cranking out some high-dollar stuff fairly soon.  A lot of directors get their start in the dark recesses of guilty pleasures.  You know who they are, so I won’t bore you – but visually this movie was shot well and the sound crew get both a nod and shake of the head. Nod for allowing one kill scene to be completely off-camera and letting the viewer’s imagination take over.  Shake for poor editing during a few of the Mr. Kreeg (Brian Cox) sequences.  It was like a poorly dubbed Kung Fu flick – you’ll see, rather, hear what I mean.

Maybe it was just me, but I noticed a few subtle homages to “The Never Ending Story”. And, the kid that played Schrader (Lean-Luc Bilodeau) could be Atreyu’s son, the resemblance is uncanny.  Speaking of uncanny, Bryan Singer produced this little flick.  Finding this film was like going through all your candy after trick or treating and thinking all you got was gum left, but stuck in the last pile of Bazooka Joe is a hidden bag of delicious Jolly Ranchers!  Trick ‘r Treat is a lot like that, because odds are most of you never heard of it, it went right to DVD, has basically a cult following with an incredibly talented team of film-makers.

So, why the low, three star rating?  Simple, while I find the film interesting, well acted, well shot, even the sound work was impressive.  The overall tie-in character, Sam was just too much of a stretch for me to swallow.  Granted, a lot of the film is hard to swallow as far as reality is concerned, but Sam was just too over-the-top for me.  The five individual stories were all, for the most part, acceptable.

Overall, this film has decent horror kills, some predictable, some silly, and some flat out unbelievably disturbing.  Some of the kills you will feel, some you will only hear, some you may even smell, and most of the characters are developed well considering the limited run-time and complexity of the story.  Right now it is not on Netflix’ instant play, so you’ll have to either add it to your queue, rent it, or buy it.  It’s a fun flick to share with your horror-loving friends looking for a few scary stories.  Again, it won’t terrify you, but you should enjoy it.