Just in time for Halloween, Warner Bros.
Trick 'r Treat arrives on
Blu-ray and DVD which features four horror filled tales that are amusingly
linked to the Celtic harvest festival of Samhain who is somewhat of a
guardian over Halloween. The motto of the story is don't f**K with
Halloween and the movie features scares, gore and a killer twist.
Basically, Samhain or "Sam" is a strange creature wearing a mask and if
humans disrespect this time, they are inevitably punished for their sins
which of course is where the horror comes into play. I really enjoyed
that Trick ‘r Treat was a collection of horror stories, rather than 90
minutes of cliché and predictable plot situations. The humour also
goes throughout the movie like the Black and White start which features
tips for children participating in Halloween.
The characters
involved in Trick ‘r Treat include Henry (Tahmod Penikett) and Emma
(Leslie Bibb) who have conflicting opinions about the phenomenon of
Halloween itself. Of course this causes a rift between them because
Henry loves the night and Emma cannot stand it. Just to spoil this first
story, let's just say that Emma's stubbornness causes the first death in
this movie.
Next up we have the delightful and quite scary Dylan
Baker who plays Steven Wilkins, a high school principal who catches a
teenager destroying his Halloween dressings and to compound the
situation, he is actually a serial kill. Probably not a good idea,
nor the fact that his snoopy neighbour catches him digging a hole.
We also follow a group of teenagers who are attempting to perform a
Halloween prank on the “strange” girl (Samm Todd) from their school and
finally, a group of young women who are trying to setup their friend
(Anna Paquin) in order for her to lose her virginity. Of course a group
of perfect women trawling the streets is a little too suspect in my
books and my suspicions were correct but I'll let you figure it out.
Paquin is also involved in a great titillation scene for male viewers!
The stories are quite reminiscent of Tales from the Crypt and the movie
works quite well in relation to this, especially with director Dougherty
at the helm who successfully manages to tie it all together in a
comicbook like experience. Best of
all, there are quite a few standout horror moments in the movie and a
few that we never expected which makes it even more entertaining.
With horror, drama and a healthy touch of comedy, Trick 'r Treat is
a fun horror movie with some great dialogue and interesting stories. We thoroughly enjoyed this over the top horror film that assisted in
breaking the clichéd mould of Hollywood itself by not taking itself too
seriously.
If reference to video quality, the quality is very impressive on
Blu-ray, presented in glorious high definition with an aspect ratio of
16:9. Even on DVD, the video is extremely impressive with vibrant
colours, deep levels of black and sharp images. On both Blu-ray and DVD,
the sound quality is great and uses the surround sound setup well and
there are a few "wow" moments in the film, thanks to the
sound.
Add in some
special features such as the Lore and Legends of Halloween, additional
scenes with commentary by Direct Michael Dougherty, animated shorts and
the school bus special effects explanation and this nicely rounds up
this entertaining film that may look like a kids movie but it's
definitely not!
Special
Features
Scared to Death - The Origin of Scary Halloween Traditions
The Animated Short That Inspired the Filmmakers!
Additional Terrifying Scenes
Special Effects Comparison
