Trick ‘r Treat
Started & Finished: 10/19/09
I always forget how much I enjoy scary movie season. Not for the (usually horrific) horror films that have frequented theaters in the last decade or so, but for the openness the rest of the world shows toward a genre that has been relegated to the bargain bin at your local Walmart. And for good reason: The market is saturated with remakes and reboots that rely more on surprising you with loud, nondiagetic sounds than manifesting actual fear. But while I will watch The Shining any day, October provides a once-a-year opportunity to indulge in the crap that is Halloween-themed-horror.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some quality films centered around this holiday. And I hardly consider myself a horror aficionado. But the recession-proof nature of the genre only spurs Hollywood’s goals of quantity over quality. So it should be no surprise that a film like Trick ‘r Treat was released straight to video. What is surprising is that it’s actually a quality Halloween-themed flick that might have found a following in theaters had it been marketed properly.
The concept is simple: Several Halloween myths converge over the course of one night in Sleepytown, Ohio. Add a bit of Tales From The Crypt and a splash of Pulp Fiction-style storytelling for an added gimmick, and you’ve got Trick ‘r Treat. There’s the requisite gore, comedy and nudity in this 82 minute feature, and even several history lessons on the origins of the holiday. And while it fails to drum up much fear in the audience, it certainly succeeds as a fun, Halloween-themed romp that recent horror has failed to provide.
Trick ‘r Treat was supposed to be released in 2007, but because it didn’t fit the Hollywood model, it was tossed away and only released a few weeks ago. The film is certainly no replacement for the classics, but it could have been a step in the right direction for a tired genre if it had been given the chance. Perhaps one day, the world will produce tweens that find the Saw series boring and demand something original. But until that day, I’m afraid we’re stuck wading through the tripe that is modern-day horror. And that is a scary thought. Bwa-ha-ha-h… shut up.
