Trick ‘r Treat (2008)
Posted By Action Flick Chick on October 17, 2009
I love Halloween. It is a fun time of the year when people can dress up in the most disgusting, most scary, or most revealing outfit imaginable and it’s all okay because it’s Halloween! Everyone can decorate their houses so that a zombie or mummy pops out of the ground and attackst anyone who steps on their property. It’s also the time of year that heart attacks and pants wetting increases 50% from all the mummies popping up out of the ground unexpectedly, and mummy sales increase 50% from the non heart attack having people reflexively destroying the mummy and the owner having to buy a new one. Halloween is also a lot of fun because of all the horror movies that come out centering around the holiday. Trick ‘r Treat is one of these movies and I’ve got to say, I really enjoyed it.
Michael Dougherty wrote and directed the straight-to-DVD flim, Trick ‘r Treat. It follows four different stories that are all connected in a minor way. Really, it covers five different sets of people that all cross paths at some point during the movie. There is actually a twist in one of the stories that I didn’t see coming, and it was awesome. I loved the turn of events. I would suggest not reading a spoiler before you see the movie. And then, after you see it, go back and watch it again and you will pick up on so many clues and little jokes that you didn’t get the first time.
Trick ‘r Treat does all the great things that most people don’t want to think about on Halloween. Like, having someone lace candy bars with poison and razor blades. The film shows how easy it would be to snatch kids who come to your door or kill someone out in the middle of the street but no one notices this person getting killed because it’s Halloween and everyone thinks it’s a joke and/or the blood is part of the costume. On the other hand, Trick ‘r Treat can be watched to learn what not to do on Halloween. So, it’s a win-win situation. You get to learn how to keep yourself safe on Halloween while being entertained by others making those mistakes and paying for them.
This is a horror flick so there isn’t a lot of action. However, you are entertained the whole time and the action is well paced to keep you interested.
Beware! There be lots of spoilers a foot! The twist in the movie is not spoiled, though.
Time until initial action: ~ 4 minutes
Baddies: Anyone who disrespects Halloween!
Best Line: “Coach Taylor was in a hot dog costume, buttf***ing a pig…I think.”
Best Kill: Principal Wilkins (Dylan Baker) has always had a special spot for kids… six feet under a tree in his backyard, to be specific. He’s the reason you have to check all the candy before you eat it. He poisons a kid with one of his candy bars and the kid starts throwing up blood like he just drank a gallon of ipecac. The Principal drags the kid inside, chops off his head and buries him in the back yard. But don’t worry, the kid won’t be lonely. He had a grave-mate or two in there with him.
Biggest Lapse in Judgment: There are lots of things that happened in Trick ‘r Treat where, if they had just thought it through, it might not have come back to bite them in the butt. However, everyone has momentary judgment lapses, some more than others, and some are harmless, or in this case, can freakin’ kill you! In Trick ‘r Treat there are several judgment laspes that directly caused something bad to happen to that person later. They’re all so awesome that I’m going to talk about the top two. The second biggest is that at the end of the Halloween night, Emma (Leslie Bibb) gets the Humbug virus and decides it’s time to take down all the decorations even though Halloween isn’t over quite yet. She starts by blowing out a jack-o’-lantern even though her husband warned her not to because it is against tradition. Noooooo, she shouldn’t have done that. That was a serious lapse in judgment on her part and she pays the price later. Her husband found a lit jack-o’-lantern later, his wife’s head!
The biggest lapse of judgment came from Mr. Kreeg (Brian Cox). Back in the day, he was a bus driver for odd, mentally challenged kids. The parents offered him money to somehow wreck the school bus in order to kill all the weird kids. Wow! I am going to submit them for Best Parents of the Year Award. Anyway, Mr. Kreeg had a horrible lapse in judgment and took the offer and killed the kids. Well, he gets his comeuppance later when the zombie kids show up at his door as trick-or-treaters. Mr. Kreeg was a treat indeed for those kids.
Action Rating: 1 Sam ‘n the gang trick ‘r treating, out of 5
Illustration by Alex Langley. Rocket Llama World Headquarters
This is the Action Flick Chick, and you’ve just been kicked in the ass!
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Great post. Trick ‘r Treat seems to be an entertaining film. I may purchase the DVD. Thanks.
This sounds like an interesting movie to see for Halloween. I really enjoy films that have the style where different stories are introduced and the character(s) cross each other’s path at some point (like Go – a movie I enjoy seeing over and over again!) which ties the film all together. With Halloween coming up, I’ve been looking for some flicks to watch to get into the “spirit” of things, I’ll have to check it out. Thanks for sharing!
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Just watched this last night and really enjoyed it. It’s got just the right amount of cheese on top to sell the whole affair. I absolutely loved the Anna Paquin segment! My only problem was with the segment with the 4 kids heading into the quarry. That seemed like a lot of trouble to go thru, but I let that quibble go and just enjoyed the outcome. I should be posting this sometime this week for my Week of Reel Whorror!