Tahmoh Penikett and Leslie Bibb play Henry and Emma, a young couple who return home from a Halloween
celebration. Their house and front yard is adorned with elaborate Halloween
decorations of all kinds, and Emma is getting a little sick of it. But when
she extinguishes the light in one of the jack 'o' lanterns, Henry warns her
that they shouldn't put them out before midnight on Halloween night--you never
know who you might make angry, he adds. He promises to take everything down
tomorrow, on November first--but that’s not good enough for Emma. Secretly
hating Halloween--she only goes through the motions for her husband’s sake--Emma
starts taking stuff down right away. But Emma soon finds out the hard way that
Halloween, much like Christmas, has its own sentinel who protects the sanctity
of the holiday in a very nasty manner.
Shot two years ago but banished to the shelf by the studio, Trick ’R Treat is a loving celebration of all things Halloween. Produced by Bryan Singer (X-Men, X-Men 2, Superman Returns), it’s very well written and directed by Michael Dougherty, who’s obviously a major fan of the holiday, judging from the sharp attention to the details that he employs with regards to the look and feel of Halloween. Taking place in a small Ohio town on Halloween night, Trick ’R Treat is actually an anthology of four separate stories--but instead of telling each tale one by one, they’re all blended together, with the characters from each story briefly meeting up with others in a deftly set up scenario that make the viewer want to watch the film again just to see how it flows in concert.
Anna Paquin (X2, True Blood) stars as a young virgin who’s looking to fulfill an
important rite of passage with the help of her older sister and their friends.
Dylan Baker turns in a greatly intense performance as a very tightly wound man who’s celebrating the holiday in his own macabre way. And Brian Cox is great here as the Halloween version of Mister Scrooge who meets up with a pesky, creepy demonic force who’s creatively thought-out enough to potentially become the next big horror villain. Although it may use the traditional slasher film elements, Trick ’R Treat delights in pulling the rug out from under the viewer who think they know how it’s going to end up.
While Trick ‘R Treat is very humorous overall, the scares are brutal, and gory, earning the movie its R rating. But the entire film is told with such unrelenting enthusiasm and fun that it’s easy to get swept up in the excitement. And in this day and age of countless remakes of brain-dead slasher flicks, it’s great to really see a horror movie with plenty of originality. It’s just a shame that Trick ’R Treat was never given the theatrical release that it so well deserved. But at least it’s finally out on video, where people can see it. I loved this movie so much that it’s instantly become my new favorite horror movie to watch around Halloween. Gather some horror movie buff friends to watch it and you’ll be fondly reliving All Hallow’s Eve whenever you wish.
--SF
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