Trick 'r Treat
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''Trick 'r Treat'' is a 2007 American
anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...
horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...
written and directed by
Michael Dougherty Michael Patrick Dougherty (born October 28, 1974) is an American writer, director, animator, and producer known for his work in a variety of genre films, both big and small. Beginning his career as an animator and illustrator, Dougherty’s a ...
(in his directorial debut) and produced by
Bryan Singer Bryan Jay Singer (born September 17, 1965) is an American filmmaker. He is the founder of Bad Hat Harry Productions and has produced almost all of the films he has directed, as well as multiple television series. After graduating from the Univ ...
. The film stars
Dylan Baker Dylan Baker (born October 7, 1959) is an American actor. He gained recognition for his roles in films such as '' Planes, Trains and Automobiles'' (1987), ''Happiness'' (1998), '' Thirteen Days'' (2000), '' Road to Perdition'' (2002), ''Spider-Man ...
,
Rochelle Aytes Rochelle Aytes (born May 17, 1976) is an American actress and model. She is best known for her role as April Malloy on American Broadcasting Company, ABC drama series ''Mistresses (U.S. TV series), Mistresses'' (2013–16) and as the voice of Lef ...
, Anna Paquin, and Brian Cox. It relates four
Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...
horror stories with a common element in them: Sam, a
trick-or-treating Trick-or-treating is a traditional Halloween custom for children and adults in some countries. During the evening of Halloween, on October 31, people in costumes travel from house to house, asking for treats with the phrase "trick or treat". Th ...
demon wearing orange footie pajamas with a burlap sack over his head. The character appears in each story whenever one of the other characters breaks a Halloween tradition. Despite being delayed for two years and having only a limited number of screenings at film festivals, the film received positive reviews and has since garnered a
cult following A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, boo ...
.


Plot

The film takes place on
Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...
night in the fictional town of Warren Valley,
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
. The plot follows a
nonlinear narrative Nonlinear narrative, disjointed narrative, or disrupted narrative is a narrative technique where events are portrayed, for example, out of chronological order or in other ways where the narrative does not follow the direct causality pattern of the ...
, with characters crossing paths throughout the film. At the center of the story is Sam, a peculiar trick-or-treater in an orange footie pajama
costume Costume is the distinctive style of dress and/or makeup of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, occupation, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch—in short, culture. The term also was traditionally used to describe typica ...
, who appears to enforce the "rules" of Halloween.


Opening

In the opening scene, Emma and her Halloween-loving husband Henry return home after a celebratory night. Emma (who hates Halloween) blows out their jack-o'-lantern before midnight against Henry's advice. As Henry falls asleep in the house, Emma tears down the decorations; but is then ambushed and murdered by an unseen assailant. Hours later, Henry discovers Emma's mutilated corpse on display with the decorations.


Principal

Charlie vandalizes
jack-o'-lantern A jack-o'-lantern (or jack o'lantern) is a carved lantern, most commonly made from a pumpkin, or formerly a root vegetable such as a mangelwurzel, rutabaga or turnip. Jack-o'-lanterns are associated with the Halloween holiday. Its name comes ...
s and steals candy from unattended bowls. When school principal Steven Wilkins catches him red-handed, Wilkins offers Charlie a candy bar while lecturing him on the importance of respecting Halloween rules and traditions. Shortly after, Charlie begins vomiting violently. As Charlie dies, Wilkins reveals that he laced the candy with
cyanide In chemistry, cyanide () is an inorganic chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Ionic cyanides contain the cyanide anion . This a ...
. Wilkins attempts to bury Charlie in his backyard along with the body of another victim, but is continually interrupted by trick-or-treaters (including Sam), his young Halloween-loving son Billy, his cantankerous elderly neighbor Mr. Kreeg, and Kreeg’s dog Spite. The other victim turns out to still be alive, and Wilkins beats him to death with a shovel to keep him quiet. Returning indoors, Wilkins notices Kreeg seemingly in distress but brushes it off before something attacks Kreeg. Wilkins guides Billy downstairs to carve a jack-o'-lantern. As a twist, the "jack-o'-lantern" they are about to carve is Charlie's severed head.


Halloween School Bus Massacre

A group of teenage trick-or-treaters—Macy, Chip, Schrader, and Sara—meet devout Halloween traditionalist Rhonda. Macy leads the group to a flooded
quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...
and recounts the
urban legend Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not. These legends can be e ...
of the "Halloween School Bus Massacre". The parents of eight mentally disabled children bribed their bus driver to dispose of them. Things go awry when a child dressed as Dracula gets loose and the bus is driven off a cliff into the quarry. The children all drowned, and the driver (the only survivor) was never heard from again. No one tried to find the bus as the people didn't want it found. Macy leaves eight jack-o'-lanterns by the lake as a tribute to the deceased. The group splits up, leaving Rhonda and Chip behind. Rhonda gets separated and is then pursued by horrifying figures, which turn out to be the other teens in disguise—a prank planned by Macy. Realizing that the trick has gone too far, Schrader tries to comfort the hurt and terrified Rhonda while a bitter Macy kicks a jack-o'-lantern into the water. The actual drowned children, now risen as undead, emerge from the lake and attack the teens. Rhonda abandons the rest to their deaths as revenge for their prank. As she leaves with a wagon of jack-o'-lanterns, Rhonda encounters Sam and exchanges a respectful nod with him.


Surprise Party

Laurie, a self-conscious 22-year-old from out of town, joins her older sister Danielle and friends Maria and Janet for Halloween. The girls select princess costumes, while Laurie dresses up as "
Little Red Riding Hood "Little Red Riding Hood" () is a fairy tale by Charles Perrault about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th-century European Fable, folk tales. It was later retold in the 19th-century by the Broth ...
". A devout Halloween traditionalist, Laurie misses trick-or-treating and is uncaring of her friends' and sister's talks of dates. While the other girls pick up dates and head to a bonfire party in the woods, Laurie stays and enjoys the town festival. Later, on the way to meet up with her friends, she is attacked by a man in a vampire costume. Laurie arrives at the girls' bonfire with the injured and frightened "vampire" who turns out to be a disguised Steven Wilkins. The girls shed their clothing and skin, revealing their
werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (from Ancient Greek ), is an individual who can shapeshifting, shapeshift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a Shapeshifting, therianthropic Hybrid beasts in folklore, hybrid wol ...
bodies. Having chosen Wilkins as her first kill as he truly deserves it, Laurie also transforms and kills Wilkins before devouring him. Sam watches as the werewolves feast on their deceased dates.


Sam

Kreeg, a curmudgeonly Halloween hater, dresses up his dog to scare trick-or-treaters off his doorstep. As the night proceeds, Kreeg encounters increasingly unusual phenomena: The front of the house is egged; the lawn is filled with ornate jack-o'-lanterns; and the hallways and ceiling are scrawled with Halloween and Samhain greetings. Sam ambushes and attacks Kreeg. In their struggle, Kreeg manages to unmask his assailant, whose head resembles a grotesque hybrid of a skull and a jack-o'-lantern. Kreeg shoots Sam several times with a shotgun, knocking him down. However, Sam incapacitates and corners Kreeg who fails to get Wilkins to help him. When Sam tries to stab Kreeg, he instead hits a candy bar which had fallen on the old man's lap. With this, Kreeg accidentally "gives" the candy to Sam, completing the tradition of handing out candies on Halloween. Satisfied, Sam spares a confused Kreeg and departs. Meanwhile, photographs burning in the fireplace reveal that Kreeg was the missing driver from the School Bus Massacre.


Conclusion

A heavily-bandaged Kreeg gives candy to trick-or-treaters and witnesses other people upholding Halloween traditions. Billy sits on his father's porch while handing out candy and enjoying himself, Rhonda casually pulls along her wagon filled with jack-o'-lanterns, and Laurie and her friends drive by while laughing to each other. After Emma and Henry arrive at home, Sam sees Emma prematurely extinguishing the jack-o'-lantern and moves in to kill her as punishment. Kreeg answers another knock at his door as the scene becomes animated as he is surrounded and brutally torn apart by the zombie children from the bus.


Cast


Production


Development

''Season's Greetings'' is an animated short created by ''Trick 'r Treat'' writer and director
Michael Dougherty Michael Patrick Dougherty (born October 28, 1974) is an American writer, director, animator, and producer known for his work in a variety of genre films, both big and small. Beginning his career as an animator and illustrator, Dougherty’s a ...
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.


Writing

"The Halloween School Bus Massacre" segment initially took place in a graveyard and had the kids luring the girl to play with them. It was going to be revealed that they were all ghosts and that the girl had forgotten she was one of them. Dougherty ultimately had to rewrite the whole segment because he felt that the twist of someone being dead all along had become an overused trope.


Filming

''Trick 'r Treat'' was filmed on location in
Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
,
British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
. 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 home media in 2009.


Release


Theatrical screenings

The first public screening took place at Harry Knowles'
Butt-Numb-A-Thon The Butt-Numb-A-Thon (also known as BNAT) was a film marathon held in Austin, Texas every December from 1999 to 2016. It was hosted by Harry Knowles of ''Ain't It Cool News'' in celebration of his birthday. The festival showed 24 hours of vinta ...
film festival in
Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...
, on December 9, 2007. Subsequent screenings included the
Sitges Film Festival SITGES - International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia () is an annual film festival held in Sitges, Catalonia, Spain. It specializes in fantasy film, fantasy, Horror film, horror and Cult film, cult films. Established in 1968, the festiva ...
on October 7, 2008, the 2008 Screamfest Horror Film Festival on October 10, 2008 and a free screening in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
sponsored by ''
Fangoria ''Fangoria'' is an internationally distributed American horror film fan magazine, in publication since 1979. It is published four times a year by Fangoria Publishing, LLC and is edited by Phil Nobile Jr. The magazine was originally released i ...
'' on October 13, 2008. Another free screening, co-sponsored by ''
Ain't It Cool News Ain't It Cool News (AICN) is an entertainment news website founded by Harry Knowles and run by his sister Dannie Knowles since September 2017, dedicated to news, rumors, and reviews of upcoming and current films, television, and comic book proj ...
'' and Legendary Pictures, was held on October 23, 2008, at
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in
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...
, featuring a Q&A with Michael Dougherty and a costume contest judged by him. The film was also screened at the 2009
San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...
, the
Fantasia Festival Fantasia International Film Festival, also known as Fantasia Fest or simply Fantasia, is a genre film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. It focuses on fantasy, horror, sci-fi and cult genre films. Regular ...
on July 29 and 30, 2009, the film festival Terror in the Aisles 2 in
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
on August 15, 2009, and the After Dark film festival in
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
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 Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
in North America on October 6, 2009, in the UK on October 26, and in Australia on October 28.
Shout! Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...
released a "Collector's Edition" Blu-ray on October 9, 2018, with all extras from previous DVD/Blu-ray releases included as well as new extra content.


Marketing


Comic books

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
partner
Wildstorm Comics Wildstorm Productions (stylized as WildStorm) is an American comic book imprint. Originally founded as an independent company established by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi to publish through Image Comics, Wildstorm became a publishing imprint of DC C ...
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 Michael Patrick Dougherty (born October 28, 1974) is an American writer, director, animator, and producer known for his work in a variety of genre films, both big and small. Beginning his career as an animator and illustrator, Dougherty’s a ...
, 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 A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...
adaptation in October 2009.
Legendary Comics Legendary Comics is an American comic book publisher founded in 2010. The company is owned by Legendary Entertainment, a media company located in Burbank, California. The company publishes both original works and licensed ones based on films ...
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 was released alongside the graphic novel tie-in of Dougherty's ''Krampus''.


Reception


Box office

As of October 26, 2023, ''Trick 'r Treat'' grossed $27,909 in the United Kingdom.


Critical response

On
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 83% based on 35 reviews, with an average rating of 7.40/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "A deftly crafted tribute to Halloween legends, ''Trick 'r' Treat'' hits all the genre marks with gusto and old-fashioned suspense." ''Dread Central'' gave it five out of five stars, stating: "''Trick 'r Treat'' ranks alongside
John Carpenter John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, composer, and actor. Most commonly associated with horror film, horror, action film, action, and science fiction film, science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s, he is ...
's ''
Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...
'' 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 ten out of ten from Ryan Rotten of ShockTilYouDrop.com. ''
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
'' called it a "very well-crafted Halloween horror tribute" and "a scary blast", rating it a score of eight out of ten. ''
Bloody Disgusting Bloody Disgusting is an American independent multi-media company, which began as a horror genre-focused news website specializing in information services that covered various horror media. The company expanded into other media including podcast ...
'' 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." Jeffrey M. Anderson of ''
Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an American nonprofit organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.
'' rated the film four stars out of five, stating that "rarely work as well as this one does, with its brisk pacing and excellent casting, and its alluring combination of prankish humor and sincere dread." He also noted that the stories are "admirable how beautifully
hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...
twist and flow and snap together, most with little tricks and twist endings that reference other parts of the movie." Jim Vorel of ''Paste Magazine'' praised the characters' "different social castes and age groups" and, overall, called it "one of the most purely entertaining horror films of the 2000s."


Awards

* 2008 – Audience Choice Award, Screamfest Horror Film Festival * 2009 – Silver Audience Award, Toronto After Dark Film Festival


Possible sequel

Dougherty announced in October 2009 that he was planning a sequel, but later stated that there was "no active development nor an attempt at a pitch." A sequel was announced in October 2013, but there was a change in Legendary's management. Dougherty has continued to express interest in a sequel but said the film stands on its own. In October 2022, Dougherty revealed that he was in "active development" of a sequel with Legendary Pictures, although the film had not been officially greenlit yet. In October 2023, Dougherty confirmed that several screenplay drafts were complete, confirming that progress had only recently continued due to the end of the
2023 Writers Guild of America strike From May 2 to September 27, 2023, the Writers Guild of America (WGA)—representing 11,500 screenwriters—went on Strike action, strike over a labor dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Lasting 148 days, ...
. He also clarified that he hoped to be looking at budgetary and scheduling concerns afterward; while also stating: "I mean, I love all of our favorite horror franchise characters as much as any of us, but not all of them are great. And I know we've grown to love even the lesser chapters of our favorite horror series. There's always a cheese value to them, but if I'm gonna do a sequel, I want it to be as good if not better than the original, and good things take time. The last thing I would want is to see ''Trick ‘r Treat Part 9: Sam Goes to Space'', you know? Although that does have potential, I will say."


See also

*
List of films set around Halloween This is a list of films set on or around Halloween. Children's and family * '' A-Haunting We Will Go'' (1966) * '' The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad'' (1949) * '' The Addams Family'' (1991) * '' The Addams Family'' (2019) * '' Alpha and Ome ...
* List of cult films


References


External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Trick 'R Treat 2007 films 2007 comedy horror films 2007 black comedy films 2007 independent films 2000s serial killer films 2000s supernatural films 2000s monster movies American horror anthology films American supernatural horror films American independent films American zombie films Fiction about buses Demons in film Features based on short films Films about filicide Films about contract killing in the United States Films about educators Films adapted into comics Films based on Little Red Riding Hood Films set in the 1970s Films set in Ohio Films shot in Vancouver Films about mass murder American nonlinear narrative films American serial killer films American werewolf films Bad Hat Harry Productions films Legendary Pictures films Films directed by Michael Dougherty Films produced by Bryan Singer Films scored by Douglas Pipes Films with screenplays by Michael Dougherty Halloween horror films Films about poisonings American films about Halloween 2007 directorial debut films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language comedy horror films English-language science fiction horror films English-language independent films English-language crime films