So here's a bit more esoteric look at the Halloween season - an anthology!
We focus upon the fictional town of Warren Valley, Ohio where Halloween is in full swing. Five interconnecting vignettes play, each showing a different story, all centered around the holiday. As such, I really can't do a recap in my usual style where I recap the plot to a point. Basically, this entire film is just "Halloween and things that happen during it", which is really underselling it.
Each vignette is an interesting story in and of itself.
Principal concerns itself with Steven Wilkins (Dylan Baker), a school principal who murders a child with poison-laced candy. . .and then has some difficulty in trying to hide the body.
Halloween School Bus Massacre involves a group of trick-or-treaters going to a quarry where a school bus full of mentally handicapped kids is believed to have all been killed in a crash set up by their parents. When they try to pull a prank on one of their number, however, they find out that some legends are indeed very, very true. . .
Surprise Party involves a somewhat nebbish young woman named Laurie (Anna Paquin), who is stalked by a serial killer after declining and invitation to a raucous Halloween Party. However, it won't be Laurie who gets the last fright of the evening. . .
Sam tells the tale of old Mr. Kreeg, a curmudgeonly old man who lives alone and spends his Halloween nights scaring children to take their candy. When he gets a new trick or treater, however, he's going to find that that tactic isn't going to work. . .and fights for his very life against the spirit of Halloween itself!
As I said before, the four vignettes aren't directly connected, but certain characters do cross over if only in a passing mention or a brief cameo, save for the very end where many characters do all appear in the same scene.
The biggest thing about the film is the character of Sam, which is derived from "Samhain" (pronounced Sow-When for those who don't know - like John Carpenter writing Halloween II, for example). Seemingly a child, wearing a potato sack mask and suit almost like some sort of Scarecrow, Sam appears to be if Sam is any indication, a demonic being that could potentially be as old as Halloween itself. He appears in all the stories, either as a cameo or as part of the main plot, and seems to exist in order to enforce "the rules" of Halloween.
What all the rules? Well, the Horror Film Wiki was kind enough to lay the rules out plainly for us. They are:
- Always hand out candy to trick-or-treaters.
- Always wear a costume.
- NEVER blow out a Jack-O-Lantern before midnight.
- Always respect the Dead.
- Always check your candy.
- NEVER take down your decorations before November 1st.
- NEVER hurt the innocent.
Sam has a pretty intense pass/fail metric for this one: break them and you die. Usually in an incredibly gory, painful manner. However, as per the rules, he doesn't do this to the innocent - just people who break the rules. Also, just because you are following the rules - at least some of them - doesn't mean that you'll be spared, just as Mr. Kreeg found out in the end.
I like Sam in that he's something unique, but also feels very fitting of Halloween and the spooky season in general, almost as though he had always been there. Writer and director Michael Dougherty (who you might remember from things such as the writer of X2, Superman Returns, and the other eclectic holiday film Krampus) brought together Sam and several other elements to bring us a spooky good anthology that feels in step with others of it's kind. I'm not saying that the vignettes of Trick 'r Treat could have been episodes of Tales from the Darkside or Tales from the Crypt. . .but I'm not not saying it.
Actually, to be fair, a lot of the vignettes are better than episodes of those shows - particularly Tales from the Darkside.
Sadly, the film only received a very limited theatrical release, but has achieved a cult following with many people calling it a Halloween staple alongside. . .well, Halloween. Plans for a sequel have been made, though as of 2019, Dougherty has said he wants to finish his work on the Godzilla series before doing so.
While I can understand that, I'm very interested to see what he brings to the table after twelve plus years. If Trick 'r Treat is any indication, then it's clear that he has a deep love of the genre and horror films in general, and he's almost certain to give us a spooky good time the next time the leaves turn red and brown, carved pumpkins shed a light out against the darkness, and Sam rises once more from the pumpkin patch to make sure the rules are being followed. . .
Trick 'r Treat is brought to us by Legendary Pictures, Bad Hat Harry Productions, and Warner Brothers.
For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.
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