Title – Trick ‘r Treat (2007) 

Director – Michael Dougherty (Godzilla: King of the Monsters) 

Cast – Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, Dylan Baker, Leslie Bibb

Plot – A series of lives and events intertwine on a fateful Halloween night in a small American town. 

“Always check your candy” 

Review by Eddie on 27/01/2022

Dumped direct to video by its studio Warner Brother in 2009 after years of sitting on the shelf following on from Warner Brother’s seemingly being unhappy with director Michael Dougherty and this films producer Bryan Singer following the unsuccessful Superman Returns film they both worked on, Trick ‘r Treat has since in the time that’s passed become a cult classic that must surely be regarded as one of the best Halloween set films of all time. 

Taking a very fun approach to the horror genre and a playful examination of the Halloween setting that sees Dougherty weave together five separate stories across one night of bloody festivities, Treat is not a film too be taken seriously but it revels in its over the top nature and colourful setting with Dougherty and his cast having a blast bringing this bonkers escapade to life.   

Sometimes this type of multi-story feature struggles too balance the best with the bad of their narrative offerings but that’s never a problem with Treat as it manages to nicely juggle a collection of stories that while undeniably slight and even under-explored in ways, manage to hold your interest throughout the films briskly paced 80 minute runtime that rarely, if ever stops of a breath as it bounces between its characters and scenarios. 

Some of the highlights of Treat’s wild little tales include the gloriously hamming it up Dylan Baker as school principal with a odd pastime Steven, Anna Paquin as the softly spoken teenager Laurie who is heading off to a wild Halloween party in the woods and a group of school aged children that finds themselves at a creepy old quarry where the sack wearing Sam (an iconic image/character from the film) wanders about for mysterious reasons. 

Often interacting with each other at various times in the film, Treat creates a neatly shared universe for its players as they go about their business on a Halloween night that proves too be more bloodthirsty than your average hunt for candy and scares and for anyone that has followed Dougherty’s career that’s followed in the wake of Treat’s mismanaged release its been good to see him instil some of the same fun he created here in Christmas horror Krampus and hopefully the currently proposed Trick ‘r Treat 2 that may once more bring this Halloween staple to the masses. 

Final Say – 

It’s far from high brow and doesn’t try to provide any reason to exist bar some Halloween inspired chaos and carnage but Trick ‘r Treat is a highly enjoyable horror/comedy mash-up that is deserving of its growing cult status. 

3 1/2 VHS tapes out of 5