I’ve always had affection for anthology horror flicks, both good and bad, because by the time you get tired of one story another is there to try and win you back. Usually containing three or four short tales and a wraparound, anthologies are content with getting in, getting a few quick scares, and getting out and it’s this aesthetic that Trick ‘R Treat clings to lovingly. Though I wouldn’t really call it an anthology, since it’s more along the lines of telling the stories of a bunch of residents from a small Ohio town during Halloween night. Originally intended for theatrical run in 2007, Michael Dougherty’s ode to October 31st finally came out two years later on Warner Brother’s Premiere line of direct-to-DVD releases.

People in the sleepy town of Warren Valley just outright love Halloween. In fact, it’s one of the few times a year that everyone gets involved with massive street parties and decorations galore. Which makes this the prime season for a whole slew of horrific goings-on using the cover of the holiday to hide such acts. Things like our opening scene where a girl coming back from a costume party with her boyfriend gets backed-up underneath a sheet when taking down the decorations in their front yard. This leads into a super cool comic book themed credits sequence before writer-director Dougherty starts spinning us the four interlocked tales within.

We follow the adventures of Laurie (Anna Paquin), the virginal and naïve twenty-something who’s dressed as Little Red Riding Hood and being razzed by her sister and friends to loosen-up and meet guys. Meanwhile, Principal Wikins (Dylan Baker) completely goes against his “Leave It to Beaver” image by feeding a greedy overweight student a candy bar filled with razors leading to lots of hilarious morbid comedy as he tries to cover his tracks. But that’s not all as a group of teenagers collecting Jack ‘O Lanterns get caught up with a tale of mentally handicapped children who are given poisoned candy by their bus driver (who was hired by the parents) before drowning in a bus crash coming back from the dead and there’s apparently a masked vampire preying on women around town. And let’s not forget about cranky War veteran Mr. Kreeg (Brian Cox) who finds himself being harassed by a creepy small child wearing a burlap sack over his face – a character shown prominently on the artwork, and with good reason, because I really dug how he looked.

Eventually all of these sub-plots begin to blend together as Dougherty sets out with the goal to deliver us some Halloween themed fun (and succeeds greatly doing so) while throwing in some pretty inventive little twists that made me smile. In fact, that’s what most of Trick ‘R Treat did: make me smile. This is the kind of horror flick I love sitting through. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and is more focused on giving us an entertaining time rather than piling on excessive gore but, don’t be fooled, there is a pleasing amount of bloodshed here like a sickly funny torrent of blood puking during Wilkins’ sequence and I appreciated the fact all of it was done using practical effects rather than CGI. And speaking of the effects work, I have to give big credit to all the people involved with them for bringing me back to the days of 80’s horror in both look and feel. In fact, that’s one of the things I loved best about the entire film is the complete 80’s vibe I got from it.

Considering the amount of characters here, it’s surprising how vibrant most of the performances are. Without a doubt the movie belongs to Baker who mixes 1950’s innocence with psycho awesomely and gets a good amount of laughs in the process. Also worth mentioning is Samm Todd who plays the weird, not-all-there teenaged Rhonda with the right mix of innocence and, eventually, malice. Not to be outdone, veteran character actor Cox also gives a bravura turn as our shotgun touting, wild-haired Kreeg.

The best way to describe Trick ‘R Treat is as an affectionate tribute to both horror movies and Halloween with Dougherty letting his love of both shine through. It’s an entertaining time that’s guaranteed to give you moments of smiles, laughs, and “oh, gross!” making it perfect to be watched every October – which, I suspect, is bound to happen. (Chris Hartley, 1/18/10)

Directed By: Michael Dougherty.
Written By: Michael Dougherty.

Starring: Dylan Baker, Rochelle Aytes, Anna Paquin, Brian Cox.