Trick ‘r Treat-review

The children on the bus are creepy as hell, creepy as hell, creepy as hell.

This movie is really close to what is the true spirit of a Halloween movie.  Granted, the original first two “Halloween” movies to me REALLY personified the mood of the Halloween holiday in a movie but then along came this direct to video movie that really shows originality.  It’s four separate stories like “Creepshow”.  However, unlike “Creepshow” “Trick ‘r Treat” has its tales all weave together so that the movie gives four views of one crazy night of horror.  

I'm hot, sticky sweet, from my head to my feet, yeah!

            Most of the stories revolve around a little character named Sam.  He doesn’t say anything and he wears footie pajamas and a burlap sack mask like the illegitimate child of the Scarecrow from “Batman Begins”.    His nature seems benign at first but he is rather strict on enforcing the rules of Halloween. They are as follows:

1. Wear a costume

2. Hand out treats

3. Never blow out a Jack o’ lantern 

4. Always check your candy.

You see Charlie, sometimes a man has an urge to love on a pumpkin bad.

The actors are pretty decent given the subject matter.  The two most notable that stood out for me were Brian Cox and Dylan Baker.  Brian Cox has been in a ton of things before and he gives a sort of gravitas to almost any role.   Dylan Baker is a great character actor who has been in movies ranging from “Fido” and “Across the Universe” to the Spiderman movies.  He is damn good; and he brings that talent from “Fido” back for more.

Sookie Stackhouse here has bigger issues now than just vampires.

I don’t intend to spoil much of the surprises.  There are things many of the average horror fans will probably not like.  There are kids being killed.  There are jump scares and silly CGI effects.  However, if you can handle watching something akin to HBOs “Tales from the Crypt” with much better production values then you can handle this.  It’s got a mix of spooks and humor like you would expect from campfire stories.  I think that is the main appeal.  I recommend this movie to anyone who is in the mood for something new and not too mainstream to bring in the mood of Halloween.