TrickRTreat

Trick ‘r Treat (2008)

It has been a very long time since I’ve seen a horror anthology that I’ve really enjoyed. Well I suppose I should say a new one because I do break out the Creepshow DVD (now Blu-Ray) once in a while. Here director Michael Dougherty has added a new film to my annual Halloween viewing list with the great little movie Trick ‘r Treat.

You have an annual Halloween event in a small Ohio town, which serves as the setting for all sorts of mischief. First there is the young wife that doesn’t seem to be a big fan of the holiday (huge mistake in this town). Then there is the local principal of the elementary school that has some rather strange habits and traditions surrounding Halloween. Oh and a crusty old neighbor man that doesn’t seem to like kids, or anyone else that much. Toss in some local preteens investigating the urban legend involving a special bus and a nifty twist on Red Riding Hood and you have yourself a hell of a movie.

And really I’m unabashedly infatuated with this movie. First of all I love how the narrative is set up where the timeline jumps around, which instead of being disjointed actually allows us to see how the characters evenings all intersect with one another. Now I’ve complained in the past about movies that become clutter and impossible to follow, but when you pull a narrative off like this it only makes the movie that much more fun. Here it is done to perfection. I love the fact that the movie starts and ends right around the same time and place. Now to the individual stories themselves I won’t sit here and say that I had them all figured out, because I didn’t. But I can’t argue with some of those that have been critical of the movie for not being terribly original. That said I think the stories are fine. To me this movie is kind of like sitting around telling spooky stories in the dark with your friends. Sure everyone knows most of the stories by our age, but that doesn’t mean you can’t turn your cynical side off and just go with it. You know just enjoy the atmosphere and let yourself get a little bit scared and have fun with the creepiness. I did and was reminded of being a kid and why I’ve always loved this sort of movie and this time of year.

I also wanted to briefly mention the special effects. In a word they are simply excellent. I can’t say much about the specifics because I don’t want to spoil any of the twists and turns the movie takes. But I can say that most of the creature effects are practical and look fairly good. This is especially true of the Sam character that seems to function not only as a character in the movie, but as sort of it’s mascot/watcher as well. The character looks great to begin with and even better when the big reveal comes.

This is the kind of horror movie that I wished we would get in the theater. But instead I get to choose to stay home with my DVD collection or go see the latest Saw movie. I think I’ll be popping Trick ‘r Treat back in the DVD player this 31st! I highly recommend this one guys, you can’t go wrong.

3 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer