Starring: Brian Cox, Anna Paquin, Leslie Bibb, Quinn Lord, Dylan Baker, Rochelle Aytes.
Director:Michael Dougherty.
We're gonna do Halloween right here on "My Year of Horror" with the rather extraordinary Trick 'r Treat. It's not the greatest film ever made, but it's basically pure fun and has a lot of affection for the holiday.
It's an anthology film, so it's scattered by it's very nature, but the stories are pretty fun and entertaining. Its staccato narrative style is going to make it a bit difficult for me to write about it in any organized way, but I'll do the best I can. It should be noted once again that this is not a spoiler free space. I will be discussing plot details, so please proceed at your own peril.
Every single moment of this film is designed with a great deal of whimsy and fun, from its jolting opening sequence, to its comic book style credits...it's clear that the film wants to have a good time with not only horror conventions but also with popular culture in general. There's nothing super complicated about any of it: the basic set-ups are all very standard but interesting and ultimately rather subversive.
A helpful news report at the beginning clears up a particularly glaring plot problem (why would all of this things be happening in the same place at the same time) even for those who were good at suspending disbelief. But the report just establishes that this town is particularly big on Halloween and the traditions of the holiday.
Dylan Baker is excellent as a murderous high school principle who, for reasons unknown, decides to murder an overweight kid and bury him in the backyard...only to have frequent interruptions by his angry neighbor(an excellently cast Brian Cox, whose story ties in later) and his incredibly loud son. Anna Paquin is a young lady looking to lose her virginity wearing a Red Riding Hood costume who is stalked by a killer...and she has a dark secret of her own. Things tie together quite nicely, as Baker IS the killer stalking Paquin and gets his just deserts in what may be one of my favorite twists in horror history: when our innocent Riding Hood turns out to be the big bad wolf in disguise.
The most ominous and stylish of the segments is the teenagers who journey to an old rock quarry to "make an offering" to some apparent ghosts from the town's dirty little secret: the flashback of how a group of mentally disturbed children died in a bus "accident" and now haunt the quarry where they died is particularly creepy. The strange sighs and sounds that the kids make, along with the absurd, dark-eyed masks they wear...it's all very surreal and off-putting. It's a strong sequence. The continuing story in the present day: the teens have set up "Rhonda The Retard" for what is most certainly a mean-spirited scare prank. Most of the kids are scum except for the one nice guy who, while he goes along the prank, knows when things go too far and is sympathetic to poor Rhonda. It doesn't help him in the end, though: Rhonda leaves her tormentors to their fates.
The whole film has a nice concept of karmic justice. People who do morally questionable things are punished for their transgressions while the innocent and nice people end up fine...there just aren't many of the latter in this film.
The sequence where Anna and friends transform...it's easily one of my favorite transformation sequences in film. How effective is it to see a Woman unzip her own back like a dress?! I love the twist in general: instead of being a victim, they are aggressors. The make-up effects are excellent...the full-on Werewolves don't look super great but I suspect this movie didn't have a considerably huge amount of money to work with. It's my favorite of the stories told within this film, and has some of the best camerawork and staging featured. The quick cuts, the sweeping camera moves around the fire, the sudden slamming of boots against logs, the sound of tearing flesh, moans and growls...it's an excellent sequence and a great piece of film-making.
Brian Cox shows up to Brian Cox all over the place and I couldn't be happier. I have a habit of using "Brian Coxing" as a verb. His story is probably the most generic of the piece but it does feature the adorable little burlap sack wearing pumpkin creature Sam, who has been seen witnessing other things throughout the proceedings. It ties in well with the rest of the film: he was the aforementioned bus driver who, if nothing else, witnessed (caused?) the deaths of those children many years ago and the cranky neighbor giving Dylan Baker a hard time.
Everything ties together nicely: Sam teaches Cox about the value of Halloween, and then witnesses Rhonda arrive home safely, Paquin and her fellow Werewolves drive by, and Baker's Son is handing out what is most assuredly more death candy...and then Sam goes off to punish the Woman in the robot costume for disrespecting Halloween.
Final Thoughts: For what it is, which is pure unadulterated fun, Trick 'r Treat works really well. While there isn't much in the way of depth or character, the film manages to keep things moving along with a deliberately scattered narrative style that doesn't necessarily tell a real story but instead concerns itself with a series of events. It's an ambitious approach to an anthology film and, while there are some cracks in the facade, it mostly pays off. It's kind of a tragedy that a sequel hasn't managed to get itself made yet-last I had read it was still stuck in development hell as a result of the film's low box office yield-but maybe someday we'll get more of it. I really feel that it's a strong enough film and has the perfect style to make a sequel worthwhile.
Final Rating: Four Stars.
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