Warner Bros/Legendary Pictures | USA | 82 mins
Halloween started off as a way to honor the dead, and horror movies started off as a way to look at the dark side of human nature. Trick ‘r Treat brings the Halloween movie back to its roots in one of the best horror anthologies since Creepshow. This film brings back memories of all the Halloween traditions and legends that were instilled in me as a child growing up in New England from the devilish mischief to the vengeful dead.
Trick ‘r Treat follows Halloween night in a small town where the traditions of All Hollow’s Eve have been forgotten. The night before All Saint’s Day, All Hallow’s Eve is thought to be the night where the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead is the thinnest, and the dead roam the earth. For hundreds of years, people have put safeguards in place to prevent tragedy: an offering of sweets to appease the spirits; a scarily-carved pumpkin to scare them away, and as a last resort, wearing a costume so you can’t be recognized.
The townspeople of Trick ‘r Treat have forgotten the true spirit of the holiday and learn, through a series of intertwined vignettes, the error of their ways. At first glance, Trick r’ Treat seems like a run-of-the mill gore fest: a man kills a child with tainted candy then carves his head with his son; a group of werewolves stalk and kill victims; a group of children get massacred in a prank gone wrong. These subplots seem completely unrelated except for the location and the presence of the “spirit” of Halloween, a ghoulish-looking pumpkinhead named Sam (short for Samhain, the original name for the holiday).
Sam gives purpose and justice to the “senseless” violence of the movie. 
He looks on in approval when those who pervert the meaning of Halloween for their own purposes get their just desserts, such as the serial killer father (Dylan Baker) being killed by the werewolves or a man who caused the death of helpless children has his past catch up to him. Even the opening, which features a very gruesome murder via broken lollipop, makes sense when we realize the murdered woman’s fatal action, prematurely snuffing out the traditional jack o’ lantern and muttering “I hate Halloween.”
Trick r’ Treat proves to the world that a movie can be scary without being excessively gory. In the world of movies such as Hostel and the Saw series, it seems that we have been so desensitized that we need on-screen torture to scare us. This movie plays on a macabre version of Pascal’s wager: if there are no such things as vengeful spirits or supernatural beings, then carving a jack o’ lantern, putting on a costume and giving out treats is just silly. But if they do, and you cross these evil powers, then you end up in the hands of Sam, or one of his loyal followers.
Another way the film evokes a feeling of true horror is by betraying or expectations. Viewers are shocked when the serial killer father shows his son a new Halloween tradition, or when a costumed reveler (Anna Paquin) on a search for that “special first time” has her innocence abruptly taken away only to regain power in a later scene. As someone who has seen enough horror movie to be confident in calling what is about to happen, I was pleasantly surprised with the movie’s twist and turns.
With such originality and wonderful direction, I was sorely disappointed that this movie was straight-to-DVD when this Halloween Saw VI will be hitting the theaters. Nevertheless, Trick ‘r Treat will be added to my list of annual holiday films, joining the ranks of It’s a Wonderful Life and A Charlie Brown Christmas.
And remember kids, always check your candy.
9 out of 10
What did you think of Trick ‘R Treat?