Trick 'r Treat (2009)
Directed by Michael Dougherty
Written by Michael Dougherty

Trick 'r Treat is a new take on the horror anthology genre. It tips its hat to EC Comics' Tales From The Crypt with its comic-book montage opening credit sequence and with its caption boxes "Later" "Earlier" and "Meanwhile", but there is a sense in which the film seems inspired more by films that were inspired by EC like Creepshow than by the original comics themselves.

You might think that in being an homage to an homage that there would be the danger of being like a blurred photocopy of a photocopy, but instead the distance from the original material allows Trick 'r Treat to take risks and become something completely original.

The danger with anthologies whether in film, books or comic books is that one story will be so strong that it overshadows the rest of the collection (and conversely one so weak that it ruins the whole collection). Writer and director Michael Dougherty neatly avoids this dilemma by interweaving all the separate stories together. The film cuts back and forth in space and time from one story to another with characters from one story bumping into characters from another.

The most common element in all of the stories is a small scarecrow figure called Sam, but all of the stories have some connection with other stories. The connections are so strong that in reviews, people talk about four stories, but I count at least six: the couple returning home from the Hallowe'en parade, the school principal (Dylan Baker) with a ghoulish secret, the virgin (Anna Paquin) looking for a Hallowe'en date, the kids playing a prank on an autistic girl, the story of the school bus crash told by the pranksters and the grouchy old man (Brian Cox) dealing with a home invasion.

Because all of the characters intertwine with one story or another, the film ends up quite accidentally dealing with one of the favourite themes of Tales From The Crypt: the hierarchy of monsters. The Cryptkeeper (and his fans) were always fascinated by wondering whether monsters had a food chain and if so, who was the apex predator. Or to put it another way, at what point do monsters become victims of other monsters?

The success of the Saw franchise seems to have doomed this film to a direct to DVD release which is a real shame. It is a spooky, creepy and inventive reminder of why we love the Hallowe'en season and the many superstitions that we have evolved to keep us safe from the monsters that go bump in the night.

I swear I saw the trailer for this attached to something a couple of years ago. Pan's Labyrinth maybe?

Either way, it looked fantastic then. I look forward to seeing it now that it's finally getting release.

It was originally scheduled for release October 2007. The fact that it was shelved has nothing to do with its quality and everything to do with Warner Brothers fear of the Saw franchise.

Yeah, I've been waiting for this for a long time.

Didn't realize it was finally out.

I saw it at the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal. Supposedly it is being released direct to DVD for October.

Oh.

Well, then, I expect it to be delayed again any day now.

For those who don't already know, this got released in October. I finally watched it last night, and holy sweet Jesus is it awesome.

It's an anthology only in the loosest sense, feeling more like a well oiled machine where each character plays a different part in the bigger picture. Everything connects at some point, and without ever even being asked, the film seems to answer the question of who/what Sam is and what his role in the whole thing is. It's pretty freaking awesome and one of the best horror flicks I've seen (and I've seen quality stuff in the last year+)

Also, the DVD comes with the short film "Season's Greetings" from 1996 which introduces Sam and is kinda neat and fun in its own right.

But yeah, any horror fan should see this. It's awesome.

Seconded, one of the best horror films of the past decade, arguably the best.

Also, fans of Dead Like Me should get a kick out of one of the starring roles as well as one of the cameos.

Just saw this, it was pretty awesome. The plotline with the whorish girls entertained me the most, and I'd start laughing a hell of a lot whenever Rhonda was on the screen, because she looked a lot like my ex did on Halloween...complete with witch costume.

I, like Joe, just got around to seeing this recently. I got it at Blockbuster used in a 3 for $20 deal and I thought it was totally worth it. My girlfriend isn't the biggest horror fan, so I popped it in when she went out to run errands and I actually planned on falling asleep to the movie, as I was getting over the flu. The first story was kind of slow but once it started, it hooked me in and I watched the whole flick. I was hoping there was commentary on it but it was only on the short film. I really dug it though. I'd love to see more movies like this.