Halloween Scene: Trick 'r Treat (2008)

You guys, I've been waiting to see Trick 'r Treat for what seems like three years now. Back in the day when Rickey was the Hollywood editor at Wizard I remember him excitedly telling me about TrT, saying it was kind of like Nashville or Go with several stories intersecting in unexpected ways, but with horror. It's a concept I'd never heard of before. But then there were all kinds of problems. It was supposed to be in theaters in 2007 (as you can see from the poster) and it wasn't. Then it was supposedly pushed back to come out in theaters in 2008 and it didn't. Well, it finally came out today and it was worth the wait!

Not only does the film follow several groups of characters, it also jumps around in time, starting with the end of the night and hopping around from there. I really don't want to drop any specific spoilers, but I will say that I appreciate the different kinds of stories you get here. There's a monster, a supernatural slasher, ghosts and ghouls and regular old killers. For horror fans who like their stories completely explained by the end of the film, this isn't really the movie for you. And I really like that aspect of it. Some things are explained, like the image of the kids on the bus in the ultra creepy costumes, but others are completely unexplained. Unless I missed something, which is entirely possible.


There's a lot going on in this movie and I would gladly give it another watch in the near future or even add it to my collection, but I'd feel kinda bad sitting on this Netflix DVD when I know so many other fans out there are looking to check it out. Two more things before I leave you to watch this flick yourself. One, Sam, the little burlapped dude in the poster above, is probably my favorite slasher of the past 10 years. And, two, be warned, a LOT of kids get killed in this movie. I'm not talking about 24-year-old teenagers, actual kids around 14 years old and younger. I wasn't really bothered by it, but was surprised. I wonder if that had something to do with the movie getting moved back. Hopefully, it will do really REALLY well on DVD and we might get another horror movie out of Michael Dougherty.

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