(2008) ****With no less than four reviews of this already, and three yesterday, I'm skipping even the barest list of the stories at play here. Scroll down, bitches!
What's singularly important about Trick 'r Treat is its tasty combination: good scary stories set against a sumptuous Halloween night with all the trimmings. That way viewers get a sweet dose of what Halloween is at its best: a big party in the street for which everyone dresses up. The grownups can drink, the kids can collect candy, there's falling leaves and glowing pumpkins and fake cobwebs and the air is just chilly enough for the mood and just warm enough that your mom doesn't cover your costume with a jacket. There's sneaking around and pranks and costumes, costumes, costumes.
So that's what Halloween is, and this movie adds to that several delicious flavors of what we all want Halloween to be: a night of ghosts and monsters and murder. Watching this, 50PageMcGee and I kept noting that the following day would be dreadful for that town, as news of the various unrelated corpses and disappearances started to spread. It's made clear that this little Ohio burg draws people from all around with its big parade and solid rep as a place that takes Halloween seriously, and we wondered about the grim shutting-down of all that after the events of tonight. But it's not about that, not at all. Nowhere in this movie do the cops ever show up; we are never asked to lift the dark magical veil of the holiday. Trick 'r Treat is like Halloween distilled and bottled, a special kind of fun that everyone knows has to include a little danger.
It's too bad this movie has been stuck in distribution limbo, because it doesn't deserve it. I think there are a few eleven-year-olds out there today who will reminisce years later about watching this in the dark after a good candy haul. I kind of wish I was one of them.
9 comments:
Yet another nice review of this film. It sure is a fun one to watch.
What are we up to now? Six reviews? Has anyone been keeping track?
I guess I should see it.
"we are never asked to lift the dark magical veil of the holiday. Trick 'r Treat is like Halloween distilled and bottled, a special kind of fun that everyone knows has to include a little danger."
i spent my entire review trying to say something like this.
someone on FB reposted my review and i added your whole third paragraph as a comment. well done, dude.
Yeah, we've got some good stuff going on here at Horrorthon...
Well according to the Horrorthon Monster List which I've been painstakingly keeping up with, this is the fifth review of the film. I'm not looking for praise or anything.
(Psst. Yes I am, jerks.)
Speaking of the monster list, I've been combing through some of the old reviews and Oct's TCM remake(not to be confused with TCM: The Beginning) review is pure gold:
http://horrorthon.blogspot.com/2006/10/texas-chainsaw-massacre_22.html
Prepare for one more review if I can get my kids to bed soon!
Thanks for the props, Mr. Pants!
For the record, perhaps one of the funniest comments you've ever made came right afterwards.
"Excerpt from Octo's next review: 'Asia Argento, whom I'd love to f*@! the $#!* out of, stars as the sexy *&!#! of @$$ that's just waiting for me to get her home so I can &%%^# and $@!#@ until she #@!&%@ with ecstasy while &^@% and **!&$ a water buffalo.'"
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