The 7th and final movie of my "Halloween" week that I decided to watch was the 2007 straight to DVD flick Trick R Treat. During my usual glance of upcoming DVD releases I noticed this one last year and immediately rented it because it looked intriguing to me. Even though this film was scheduled to be released in 2007 it never reached the big screen and went straight to DVD two years after it was made. This was one interesting movie that I thoroughly enjoyed. Below is my detailed review.
This film did not include any big hollywood A-listers but had some familiar faces none the less. Dylan Baker, Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, and Leslie Bibb being the most recognizable but all of the actors were good in this film and it wasn't really one of those movies that needed a bunch of A-listers to be good. This film was driven more by the storylines than the actual acting itself but with that being said the characters in this film were vital to the flow of the film and each individual storyline so good acting was a necessity for this film.
This film was quite unique and intertwined four storylines or subplots you may say within the entire movie. One would think that this would make for a long movie but actually it was quite short, only 84 minutes to be exact. For a movie to be less than an hour and a half, have four separate storylines, and actually be good is something one might now expect but this is clearly the case for this film. It wasn't just good, it was great! This movie had excellent atmospheric presence, original storylines, and unique and disturbing characters all which led me to a conclusion that this is one of the better Halloween movies out there.
As mentioned above there were four separate storylines that made up this film. Each storyline at some point or another intertwined with the other even showing characters from one story appearing in a different story all together. It was pretty cool. All the stories themselves had different aspects to them that I really like and none of them were boring or lack luster in any way, shape, or form. Sometimes this can be the case when you have sub plots in a film but that was not present in this film as they were all four equally as good as the other. Sure I had my favorite but they were all great! With that being said lets dive into each of them.
Lets start with Principal Wilkens (Baker). At first he looks to be an ordinary run of the mill father and principal but things are not as they seem. Turns out he is a vicious killer who poisons young trick or treaters and then kills them even going as far as beheading one of them. Vicious just like I said. There is a scene of sheer vomiting that to me would be impossible to actually happen but hey its movie right. Not for the faint of heart when it comes to those who don't like seeing vomiting on film. The burying scene in the backyard was pretty good and had an unexpected jump in there so that was cool. I do however find it hard to believe that a Dad would let his son in on his evil dark side like Principal Wilkens did but again lets draw that up to it being a movie and move on.
The next little storyline involved fittingly four women who were searching for a good time on Halloween. All young and beautiful these women brought to the film the sultry sexy visuals that are quite often evident in horror films at some point or another. These women just like the Principal are not as they seem. They are in fact werewolves who feast on helpless victims and devoured them with great delight. In this story we see a very cliché scene with Laurie (Paquin) the virgin (named that because she hasn't had her first kill yet) of the group meandering aimlessly through the woods. Her costume is Little Red Riding Hood. There she gets attacked by a masked man who turns out to be Principal Wilkens who after enduring a gruesome broken leg gets eaten alive by a pack of hungry werewolves. In the transformation scene where we first see what these women are the Marilyn Manson version of Sweet Dreams plays in the background which was actually a perfectly fit tune for this scene. Very creepy and very cool!
The next storyline involved an urban legend, kids, a prank, and a rock quarry, need we say more. We originally see three children trick or treating at Principal Wilkens house this obviously prior to his brutal death. These kids along with another friend all plan to play a prank on an unassuming "idiot savant" as one child suggests. That idiot savant was actually a girl who had nothing but good intentions and went along with the other kids. It is during this story that we see the horrendous urban legend of a school bus of mentally disabled students that went off a cliff to their deaths way back when. The story itself was horrible but led to a wonderfully creepy and astonishingly dark setting for this prank that these kids would play. This "accident" took place at the rock quarry and the entire scene where the kids play the prank at night at that same rock quarry is just wonderful. Dark, scary, suspenseful, and satisfying in every way. If for nothing else in this film it is worth a rental just to watch this scene and make sure to do so with all the lights out and the surround sound on! Easily my favorite story of all four.
The remaining story had to do with the bus driver of that fateful group of students that went over the cliff at that rock quarry. This story was a bit shorter than the previous three but provided for some nice little jumps and scares. I love the old creepy 2 story home which conveniently is located right next door to Principal Wilens home. I'm a sucker for a scary movie that includes a scene in a dark desolate house environment with a crackling fire burning. Add in Sam, the pumpkin headed killer back for revenge and you have the makings of a great final sequence to this film.
There were a lot of great scenes in this movie and they all flowed together so incredibly well. There were two houses in this film that were so brilliantly decorated it made me want to create that same scene outside a house should I ever own one. I am speaking of the house at the beginning with all the hanging ghosts and then the girls house with all the pumpkins, both amazingly gorgeous visual scenes for any Halloween fans out there.
Speaking of the opening scene, the kill scene at the beginning with Emma (Bibb) was a great start to the movie. Very scary! I also thoroughly enjoyed the pumpkin killer with his mask off, he looked like an alien zombie and the opening and closing credits to this film were awesome. Their comic book presentation with what sounds like a modern day psycho theme song was just brilliant! All in all this movie was phenomenal and I would easily give it an A+!
