Trick 'r Treat

This week my good friend Dez had made it a personal mission to get a hold of a movie we had seen trailers for called Trick 'r Treat. After doing some research we realized that the movie was originally scheduled to be released in October 2007 but had been pushed back for some reason and the film had been floating around on the indie circuit and film festivals for the past two years. Additionally, when Dez sought out to find the movie in the area it was sold out everywhere as well as out of stock on many sites online, thus sparking our interests even more. Halloween is already my favorite holiday and to have a Halloween themed movie sold out everywhere in the metroplex was too good for me to pass up. I now had to see this movie. Dez managed to find the movie at a Best Buy in Allen a few days ago and last night Dez, Kyle, and I sat down and watched it. I loved it, to say the least.
Trick 'r Treat, directed by Michael Dougherty, is a movie that follows four different, though related, Halloween Tales, all of which have tie-ins to the others stories throughout the movie. The stories themselves I found to be unique and interesting, and I also loved the paranormal aspects mixed in which was reminiscent of scary stories I would share with my friends as a kid. The opening of the movie had me sucked in almost instantly while a Halloween-loathing women is creatively murdered in her front lawn on Halloween night. The movie then proceeded to the opening credits , where pictures and scenes from the movie's own graphic novel were displayed in a very Repo: The Genetic Opera type fashion. (For all of those who have not seen Repo, I recommend you go take the time to watch it immediately, best goth opera you'll ever watch.) There are 4 main tales that Trick 'r Treat focuses on throughout the film, wikipedia lists the sections perfectly as: "The Principal", "The School Bus Massacre Revisited", "Surprise Party" and "Meet Sam", as well as a smaller story following the opening. Each is well constructed and told in the same fashion that Crash told it's different character stories. I really don't want to go too in depth into any of these tales because I don't want to ruin the mystery and the sparked curiosity of trying to figure out what's going on and what's going to happen next. There were many points in this movie where I felt I was genuinely in suspense or the movie had lead me to believe that an event was about to transpire, only to find out that my previous guess was wrong and surprising me once again. "What the fuck?!" was a popular phrase I found myself uttering a few times throughout the movie. If I say anything I'll say this much, Trick 'r Treat has no sympathy for children and has no problem killing them off just as brutally as any adult. Gore was definitely a strong theme throughout the film and maybe a bit over the top in some scenes, I loved it no less. Though at the same time, I am a fan of gore so my opinion is a bit biased. Ghosts and other Halloween-related beasts consumed the paranormal aspect, but I found it to be well executed and a treat for my imagination.
My most favorite part of the movie was how well all the stories, including the short opening all tied into one another. After completing Trick 'r Treat I knew immediately that I must watch it again, not only for the fact that it's a fantastic movie but looking back I started to notice hints to the other story arches. I also really loved how this movie was all about the spirit of Halloween, ghost tales, Jack o' Lanterns, trick or treaters, Halloween candy, and things that go bump in the night. Though a bit cheesy in some points which, I expect from almost any horror movie, if you can look past it I found the movie to be very entertaining. I really loved the characters and the principal genuinely creeped me out. Trick 'r Treat has definitely intensified my Halloween spirit and I will be watching the movie at least once more this weekend if not more. I can also honestly say that it is probably in my top twenty favorite movies of all time. I recommend this movie to everyone especially those who like a good Halloween flick. As I said earlier there is also a graphic novel based on the movie, originally set to be released as 4 different books you can now find it all as one, along with the movie the graphic novel was also released this month. So go rent, buy, borrow or whatever you have to do to watch this movie. I know I will definitely be purchasing both the movie and eventually the graphic novel. Oh and yes my friends, the picture on the left is indeed Sookie (Anna Paquin). Happy Halloween!!


With Affection
Korri