Trick 'r Treat is a 2007 anthology black comedy horror film written and directed by Michael Dougherty and produced by Bryan Singer. The film stars Dylan Baker, Rochelle Aytes, Anna Paquin and Brian Cox. It centers on four Halloween-related horror stories. One common element that ties the stories together is the presence of Sam, a mysterious child trick-or-treater wearing shabby orange footie pajamas with a burlap sack over his head, who makes an appearance in all the stories whenever a character breaks Halloween traditions.
Despite being delayed for two years and having a small number of public screenings, the film received much critical acclaim and has since garnered a strong cult following. In October 2013, the filmmakers announced that a sequel, Trick 'r Treat 2, is in the works. In 2016, Michael Dougherty and Legendary Pictures teamed up with AtmosFX to create a series of digital Halloween decorations that feature Sam. In 2017, a Trick 'r Treat-themed "scare zone" was added to the Halloween Horror Nights event, which is held annually at the Universal Orlando Resort.
Video Trick 'r Treat
Plot
Opening
It is Halloween night in the fictional town of Warren Valley, Ohio. Emma and Henry, a couple, return home after a night of festivities. Henry had overdone it while decorating their home for Halloween, and it looks like a haunted attraction. Emma and Henry discuss removing the Halloween decorations from their yard, which is against tradition, before midnight. Emma starts doing so regardless, while Henry waits for her inside their house.
While continuing to remove decorations, Emma is enveloped by a white sheet, which was part of the decorations. Someone unseen attacks her, and they briefly struggle beneath the sheet. Her throat is slit by a candy sucker. A few trick-or-treaters witness the murder, but run away. The unseen killer drags Emma's corpse back to the yard. Henry wakes up some time later, and goes searching for Emma. He finds that Emma's mutilated body parts have been incorporated into the decorations. A pumpkin sucker is lodged in Emma's mouth.
The Principal
Charlie, a young vandal, destroys the jack-o'-lanterns which decorate an entire neighborhood. At a certain house, Charlie begins to take a bucket of candy under a "please take one!" sign, and is caught by the homeowner: his school principal, Steven Wilkins. Wilkins knows that Charlie suffers from diabetes mellitus, and warns him against indulging in candy. Wilkins sits down on his porch, and invites Charlie to join him. Charlie is given a lecture on respect and rules of etiquette by Wilkins, while eating a chocolate bar. Charlie begins coughing, while Wilkins continues acting casually. Wilkins notes that an important rule for Halloween is to always check your candy. Charlie soon vomits blood, and dies. Charlie was poisoned by a chocolate bar spiked with cyanide. Wilkins drags the body into his house, just ahead of the visit of a group of trick-or-treaters. They receive candy from Wilkins.
Wilkins dumps Charlie in his back yard, in a large hole containing another child's body. As he tries to bury the bodies, Wilkins faces numerous interruptions: his young son Billy repeatedly asking for help with his jack-o'-lantern, Spite (the neighbor's dog) that barks at the fence, the first child in the grave trying to escape, and surly neighbor Mr. Kreeg. Wilkins stabs the boy with his shovel, throws a severed finger over the fence to distract the dog, and explains to Kreeg that he is dealing with a septic leak. Wilkins voices his frustration with his son's requests, such as Billy's wish that his mother was still alive.
Wilkins finishes burying the bodies. He ignores Kreeg, who seems to be requesting help, and enters his own kitchen, where Billy jumps out and scares him. Billy again asks for help with his jack-o'-lantern. Seemingly annoyed, Wilkins takes a butcher knife and follows Billy to the basement, where a table is covered with carving materials. Billy suggests making a scary face this time, as Wilkins brings the knife down, drawing blood. Though the lead up to the scene implies that Wilkins is killing his son, the shot shifts to Billy alive and smiling. Father and son look together at Charlie's severed head, which they intend to carve.
The School Bus Massacre
Four trick-or-treaters (seen earlier) scour the neighborhood, collecting jack-o'-lanterns. They consist of two girls (Macy and Sara) and two boys (Chip and Schrader), and they are led by Macy. They stop at the home of schoolmate Rhonda, said to be a savant. They ask for one of her jack-o'-lanterns and invite Rhonda to a quarry. When they arrive, the group's leader, Macy, claims it is the site of "The Halloween School Bus Massacre", a local legend.
The events of the legend are depicted in flashback, while narrated by Macy. According to Macy , thirty years ago, the bus was carrying eight mentally challenged and mentally disturbed children, clad in freakish Halloween costumes. They were so deranged, that they had to be chained to their seats. There was a contract killing arrangement between their parents and the bus driver, since the parents hired him to kill their children. One of the children broke free and tried to drive the bus to safety, but ended up driving it off the cliff and into the lake. The only survivor was the paid driver, and the bodies were never recovered. The driver supposedly disappeared. The eight jack-o'-lanterns collected are meant as an offering to the eight souls who died.
The trick-or-treaters take a rickety elevator to the bottom of the quarry, where Chip and Rhonda seem to be attacked by water-drenched figures in chains. It turns out to be a cruel prank to scare Rhonda. However, when Macy kicks a jack-o'-lantern into the lake, the eight dead children rise up. Rhonda reaches the elevator first, while Sara is captured by the undead children. The other three teens beg Rhonda to let them in the elevator, but she ascends with the jack-o'-lanterns instead and abandons them. The teens can be heard getting brutally murdered by the dead children. While Rhonda silently leaves the quarry (as the sole survivor), she briefly encounters Sam.
Surprise Party
Laurie, a self-conscious young woman, is getting ready for a party with her older sister Danielle and two female friends (called Maria and Janet). The women dress in fairy tale costumes, with Laurie uncomfortable as Little Red Riding Hood. Danielle claims it is a tradition. The women pick up dates while walking through town, but Laurie is disinterested and leaves. Nearby, a masked man has a sexual encounter with a young woman in an alley. The man reveals the fangs of a vampire, and the woman soon bleeds to death. Her corpse is abandoned on a sidewalk, and the passing crowd ignores it. The vampire casually walks away, with nobody suspecting him of murder.
Later, as Laurie walks in the woods alone, she is confronted by the same vampire. He sinks his fangs into her neck. The vampire mocks her by commenting: "My, my, what big eyes you have", in reference to the fairy tale.
The other three women are enjoying a bonfire party with the men they brought, and with several other similarly-dressed women. Danielle is worried about the missing Laurie, commenting that Laurie was always "the runt of the litter". Someone screams as a body falls out of a tree, dressed in Laurie's red cloak. Danielle removes the cloak and sees it is the vampire, who is bleeding and begging for help. Laurie then appears and assures everyone that she is all right, despite the blood oozing from her neck, and that she is ready to join them. The vampire is revealed to be wearing fake fangs and a mask, and is actually Wilkins. The women, including Laurie, begin transforming into werewolves. Laurie had been shy because she had never killed anyone before, but now she is happy to have found someone who deserves death. As she prepares to kill Wilkins, she mocks his terrified eyes with the phrase: "My, my...what big eyes you have".
The other werewolf women feast on their dates, which they had already killed before Wilkins' arrival. Sam is observing their feast, though nobody seems to notice him.
Meet Sam
Kreeg lives alone with his dog, Spite, and scares away trick-or-treaters while stealing their candy. He later finds his home decorated, inside and out, with jack-o'-lanterns and scribbled trick-or-treat rhymes. While still within his home, Kreeg is attacked by Sam, a small boy in orange footie pajamas who has been a witness to many events of the evening. During a brutal struggle, Kreeg removes the burlap sack from Sam's head to reveal a cross between a jack-o'-lantern and a human skull. Kreeg calls to Wilkins for help, but is tackled by Sam. Kreeg shoots Sam with a shotgun, but Sam is soon attacking again. However, rather than killing Kreeg, Sam instead takes a chocolate bar which landed on Kreeg's chest, chewing on it as he leaves. Photos burning in a nearby fireplace reveal Kreeg to be the bus driver from the "School Bus Massacre".
Conclusion
Bandaged and bruised from his encounter with Sam, Kreeg answers his door to give candy to trick-or-treaters. He spots Sam walking over to Emma and Henry's house. Rhonda then walks by and is almost hit by a car of laughing women (the werewolves). Billy Wilkins sits on his porch, handing out candy and wearing a costume that mimics his father's first appearance. Kreeg returns inside then answers another knock at the door to find the kids from the School Bus Massacre with their bags outstretched.
During the end credits, a series of comic strip panels show Kreeg being murdered and dismembered by the school bus kids.
Maps Trick 'r Treat
Cast
Production
Season's Greetings
Season's Greetings is an animated short created by Trick 'r Treat writer and director Michael Dougherty in 1996 and was the precursor of the film. The film featured Sam as a little boy dressed in orange footy pajamas with his burlap sack head covering, as he is being stalked by a stranger on Halloween night. The short was released as a DVD extra on the original release for Trick 'r Treat and was aired on FEARnet in October 2013 as part of a 24-hour Trick 'r Treat marathon on Halloween.
Trick 'r Treat
Trick r' Treat was filmed on location in Vancouver, British Columbia. Originally slated for an October 5, 2007 theatrical release, it was announced in September 2007 that the film had been pushed back. After many festival screenings, it was released on video in 2009.
Release
Theatrical screenings
The first public screening took place at Harry Knowles' Butt-Numb-A-Thon film festival in Austin, Texas, on December 9, 2007. Subsequent screenings included the Sitges Film Festival on October 7, 2008, the 2008 Screamfest Horror Film Festival on October 10, 2008, a free screening in New York sponsored by Fangoria on October 13, 2008, and another free screening in Los Angeles co-sponsored by Ain't It Cool News and Legendary Pictures on October 23, 2008. The film was also screened at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International, the Fantasia Festival on July 29 and 30, 2009, the film festival Terror in the Aisles 2 in Chicago on August 15, 2009, and the After Dark film festival in Toronto on August 20, 2009 at The Bloor.
Home media
Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures released the film direct to DVD and on Blu-ray in North America on October 6, 2009, in the UK on October 26, and in Australia on October 28.
Merchandise
- Sideshow Collectibles created a 15-inch vinyl figure based on the film's scarecrow-like character Sam.
- NECA created a 5 1/2-inch scale figure of Sam that has been released as part of NECA's "Cult Classics" line of movie figures; the figure includes a stand, pumpkins, "candybar", lollipop, sack, and interchangeable, uncovered head.
- Palace Press and Insight Editions published a 108-page coffee table book entitled Trick 'r Treat: Tales of Mayhem, Mystery & Mischief. It documents the making of the film, and includes storyboards, concept art, cast and crew biographies, and behind-the-scenes photographs.
Comic books
DC Comics partner Wildstorm Comics had planned to release a four-issue adaptation of Trick 'r Treat written by Marc Andreyko and illustrated by Fiona Staples, with covers by Michael Dougherty, Breehn Burns and Ragnar. The series was originally going to be released weekly in October 2007, ending on Halloween, but the series was pushed back due to the film's backlisting. The four comics were instead released as a graphic novel adaptation in October 2009. Legendary Comics set the second Trick 'r Treat comic book, titled Trick 'r Treat: Days of the Dead, for an October 2015 release date, and features Arts of Artist Fiona Staples and Stephen Byrne. The comic will be released alongside the graphic novel adaptation of Dougherty's Krampus.
Reception
Critical reaction
Despite only a handful of public screenings, the film has received critical acclaim. Based on 21 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an overall "Fresh" approval rating from critics of 86%, with an average score of 7.4 out of 10 and a critical consensus that the "deftly crafted tribute to Halloween legends, Trick 'r' Treat hits all the genre marks with gusto and old fashioned suspense." Dread Central gave it 5 out of 5 stars, stating, "Trick 'r Treat ranks alongside John Carpenter's Halloween as traditional October viewing and I can't imagine a single horror fan that won't fall head over heels in love with it." The film earned 10 out of 10 from Ryan Rotten of ShockTilYouDrop.com. IGN called it a "very well-crafted Halloween horror tribute" and "a scary blast", rating it a score of 8 out of 10. Bloody Disgusting ranked the film ninth in their list of the 'Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade', calling it "so good that its lack of a theatrical release borders on the criminal."
Awards
- 2008 - Audience Choice Award, Screamfest Horror Film Festival
- 2009 - Silver Audience Award, Toronto After Dark Film Festival
Sequel
Michael Dougherty announced in October 2009 that he is planning a sequel, but later stated that there were "no active development nor an attempt at a pitch." He went on to say that "[the] more fans continue to support and spread the movie, the more likely it is that Sam will rise from the pumpkin patch once more." Dougherty helped create a short promotional Easter trailer for FEARnet's Trick 'r Treat 24-hour marathon for Halloween 2011; the trailer showed a family's Easter celebration turning into one of horror, with Sam watching the chaos outside whilst wearing rabbit ears. In October 2013, Dougherty and Legendary Pictures officially announced a sequel, titled Trick 'r Treat 2. Dougherty said he plans to "shake it up a little bit" with the sequel. In October 2017, Dougherty stated "My hope is that once Godzilla has been put to rest that I can dive back into it," said the filmmaker. "I would love to finish writing it in post-production and then I'd love to make it my next project. But we'll see."
See also
- List of cult films
References
External links
- Official website
- Trick 'r Treat on IMDb
- Trick 'r Treat at AllMovie
- Trick 'r Treat at Rotten Tomatoes
- Trick 'r Treat at Box Office Mojo
- Trick 'r Treat at The Numbers
Source of article : Wikipedia
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