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HorrorBid's 31 Days of Horror: TRICK 'R TREAT

My apologies to the one and only Matt Molgaard for stealing one of his review days, but I love "HorrorBid's 31 Days of Horror" and because of that I decided to delve back into the HorrorBid vault to find my original review of the great, TRICK 'R TREAT. Instead of writing a new one I thought I would let the Bidite nation experience the film right after my first viewing. And nce HorrorBid was still in its fledgling state many of you wouldn't have read this in the first place, so win, win. Check it out below.



Trick 'r Treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat. After years of waiting impatiently we finally sat down and watched the much anticipated Trick 'r Treat. Did it live up to the hype?

Halloween night! Whether it’s scary movies, collecting replicas, dresng up, art, buness or even a lifestyle . . . our entire horror genre stems from this one holiday in some form or another. If Mecca wasn’t so much a place but instead a time Halloween night would be ours. However, in the modern day it seems a large driving force behind our pason is the movies. There’s just something about being scared in a packed theater with a group of strangers. I think many of us use horror films to hold us over until the one night a year where our country and other parts of the world celebrate horror. For one night it becomes the social norm. Where am I going with this? With Halloween’s growing popularity one would think we’d have piles of films dedicated to this holiday but the sad truth is there really aren’t that many. Honestly, I got more of a Halloween vibe from E.T. than I did in the past nine movies actually titled Halloween. Then it happened. A movie gave me hope, a movie that Warner Bros. shelved years ago.

Trick ‘r Treat blew my already high expectations completely away! I originally saw the trailer attached in front of some movie nearly three years ago. I can’t even remember what film I watched but that trailer always stuck with me. I said to myself, “About time”. Well, it apparently wasn’t time as I waited year after year with many of you looking for the theatrical release. Warner Bros. excuse was that it wasn’t marketable. Honestly, some of the garbage that gets released in theaters these days and Trick ‘r Treat wasn’t marketable? The whole movie’s plot is centered around one of the country’s most popular holidays! The biggest crime to happen to the horror genre in recent years was not giving this flick a theatrical run. However, this might have added to the hype and build up as lucky individuals occaonally caught screenings. Well I’ve finally had a chance to watch it and as I said before, it not only lives up to the hype but far surpasses it.

Broken into four stories (technically five) that all interweave, Trick ‘r Treat gives us a movie about our favorite holiday in Creepshowish fashion. The film opens to a 1950’s instructional school film about Halloween safety tips. Then, it flickers to a close up of a mean faced jack-o-lantern. There’s no beating around the bush, it’s a movie about Halloween. I was surprised how well the stories crisscrossed always keeping our attention shifting from one event to another. It was like a scavenger hunt trying to notice characters and scenes from other stories playing out in the background. Another big surprise was the creative plot twists and red herrings all set to a Pulp Fiction style film. Right when one would assume to have it figured out or know what was going to happen next Trick ‘r Treat would throw a curve ball. However, if one would pay close enough attention there were little hints all along the way that spelled it out for those sharp enough to catch. How many times did I smack my forehead for not figuring it out before hand? I’ve not had a movie pull the wool over me in a long time, big props are deserved.

I was surprised at some of the big budget visuals that are spread throughout this lower budget movie. CGI was used but only where it was appropriate to serve the story. Its obvious Michael Dougherty knew what he was doing. Again, it’s just a shame most of us didn’t get to experience it in a cinematic setting. Still, depending on the success of the DVD and Blu-ray sales we could only hope for a sequel. What? Did I just say the “S” word? That’s right, Trick ‘r Treat could ealy have not just one but many sequels. If Hollywood could grow a brain and make them half as good as this at least horror would be moving in the right direction . . . back to its roots.

http://youtu.be/vMoiNyyXSwU

Source: Justin Swarens (HorrorBid)

Hell to the YES!!!

i was saving this for my final installment lol

LOL! Of course I would pick your last installment. I am sure the Bidite nation would love to here your perspective also! Hell I can't get enough of TRICK 'R TREAT! It's madness Matty! Madness! :)

first you go all green on me, then you steal my number one pick

this is cyber war Swarens!! lmao

I remember reading your original review and longing to see this.

I don't think I'll ever have the same feeling of anticipation about a movie again, and I'd bet money that no film will ever again blow away my expectations like this one did.

Such a brilliant film this, deserves all the praise it gets... and is one film I would gladly take a sequel too

Best Halloween Movie nce 1978