Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be covering a horror comedy anthology film from 2007. That movie is "Trick 'r Treat".
Now this film is a bit of a special case because, one, I've never seen it before, and two, it's how I got a copy of this movie that made me want to cover it tonight. See, as I've mentioned before in the past, I'm not a huge fan of Blu-ray, and I still don't own a Blu-ray player. And an associate from work that I know is a huge fan of "Trick 'r Treat". Now when I mentioned to her that I had never seen it before, she then asked me if I ever wanted to borrow her Blu-ray copy of it to watch for myself. And at first, I said no. But then I happened to remember that I do own a PS4, which does play Blu-ray movies. So I changed my mind on it and now I have it here to cover for you guys tonight. And being that it is that time of year, I might as well cover it now before Halloween passes.
Now as for what I know about this movie, I do know it's a horror anthology film and I know damn near everyone who has seen this movie said they loved it and that they make it a tradition to watch it every year around Halloween. So there's a high chance that I'll end up really enjoying this movie as well. Although as to whether or not I'll like it enough to own my own copy of it and watch it around Halloween is another story altogether. I just have to see if this one is any good, and, honestly, I'm really looking forward to watching this thing. So I'm hoping for the best here as I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Trick 'r Treat".
6 minutes later
So, guys, we're already up to the opening credits here, and I'm gonna say that I'm already digging this film already. I'm hoping that its able to keep this momentum throughout the rest of its runtime.
6 minutes later
Oh my god, it's the kid from "Bad Santa"! You know, the one who thought Billy Bob Thornton was actually Santa Claus? Yeah, I just saw him in this movie and I'm not totally sure what to feel about it, really. I guess it just depends on how much of a role he has here.
3 minutes later
OK, that's genuinely one of the more disgusting things I've seen in quite a while where the kid from "Bad Santa" just threw up a bunch of candy like a waterfall. Mind you, the set-up for it was really funny, but still, I've never seen someone throw up candy like that ever! That's definitely something new to me.
10 minutes later
OK...so I guess I got my answer as to what kind of role the kid from "Bad Santa" would have in this movie. Basically, he was not in it very long. Which is probably for the best, all things considered.
11 minutes later
So, guys, I just heard this story about a bunch of deranged kids on a school bus, and the way it ended was actually kind of messed up, too. Though, I guess, for better or worse, at least one of them got 'home' the way he wanted.
13 minutes later
Well, guys, Macy just gave those other kids what is commonly known as "just deserts". And honestly, I couldn't be more happier that those kids got what they deserved. So yeah, karmic justice wins in the end.
7 minutes later
O...K...I really wasn't expecting them to be actual werewolves. I really thought they were just vampires in disguise, but, uh...yeah, that definitely was something I wasn't expecting.
The Review
Well, guys, that was "Trick 'r Treat". Let me go ahead and shut off my PS4 here...OK. Wow, I never thought I'd actually get to say that for this series, but I guess there is a first for everything after all. So anyway, about this movie. Well, I will say that I'm actually glad I cover to this movie because I really enjoyed it. Too bad I can't keep it around now that I've finished it, but hey, at least now I can say that if I ever do find a copy of this movie somewhere, I'll definitely buy it and add it to my DVD collection. Or possibly even start my own Blu-ray collection, since I did watch the Blu-ray of this movie for this series. I'll have to think about it the next time I see a physical copy somewhere.
Anyway, now that I've gotten that trivial stuff out of the way, let's get into the movie proper here, and I'm gonna start with writing. Now, I'm gonna get the only negative out of the way here when it comes to writing. And mind you, it's a real minor nitpick, but it's still something that I want to mention regardless. Now this movie claims to be an anthology. And normally with anthologies, they would have their own titles for short movies and such depending on what it's about and the framing device that it's centered in. This one, however, is not like a lot of those traditional anthology movies, as this one is more so kinda jumping around from story to story, as you're seeing all the horror related stuff going on around this town during Halloween night. And normally, I would've said that it would've been nice if they had named some of these short stories as their own separate film because of how the movie jumps around to different characters and all.
However, I'm not gonna do that here. Because as I just said, it's an incredibly minor nitpick, and it's only gonna diminish further when you realize that all of the stories in this movie are connected to each other in some manner. For example, the old man that you see peeking through the hole at Mr. Wilkinson as he's burying the kid's body, you notice that the old man is being attacked by somebody in his house, but you don't know what it is, and it just continues on with Wikinson's story. Well, they actually do come back to it by showing the events of his point of view from the beginning leading into the attack. It's a really unique way of telling these stories. And I'm trying to think if any other anthology has ever attempted this before, but I can't think of any at the top of my mind at the moment. I'm sure it's possible someone has also tried this approach, but this is the first time I'm coming across this approach, and I think it's really unique.
Now as for the framing device, well, like I said earlier, since this film is approaching the traditional standard of how an anthology film would operate, this film is basically just sort of doing it's own thing by having the film centered around this town during Halloween as they're busy having a party for the town. And throughout this, you follow certain characters such as Wilkinson and him having to deal with the kid from "Bad Santa", or the kids who are walking around town trick or treating while also visiting the site of where the school bus ended up at the bottom of a quarry, then you have our lead of female characters who end up becoming werewolves which I won't say how for spoilers sake, and then you got the old man from earlier and what happened with him during his night at home on Halloween.
Now if I had to really pick any weak stories here, the closest one would probably have to be the werewolf one, and that's simply because there wasn't really much there for a plot. I get what they were trying to do with one of the characters there, but honestly, it still isn't much, at least for me anyway. But honestly, I would still consider that a nitpick, seeing as how I was still interested in what was happening. Same thing with every other story here. Each story has it's own unique flavor to it that you might end liking one of or even all of the stories here in this anthology. And one quick thing I wanted to mention involving characters is the small child-like being you see wearing a burlap sack on it's head. Now it's never really said who it is and what it's purpose is, but after watching the movie, it's not really gonna matter all that much because you kinda have an idea of what it's purpose might be. Now again, I won't spoil anything, because if I did, then I would have to bring up the ending, which I won't do here because it actually does make quite a bit of sense now that I'm thinking about it.
But anyway, the writing here is really strong, and, once more, every story here is gonna keep you engaged, even the ones where one story might not be as strong as the other. It'll still find a way to make you want to keep watching just to see where it goes. It really is that good, guys. The acting here is also incredibly solid. Every actor here, including all of the child actors they got for this movie, turn in an excellent showing. Which is shocking, because, normally, I would be able to find one child actor here that really kinda sucked, but not this time. All of the child actors they got for this movie turn in a really excellent showing. And hey, that's really cool, because child actors normally suck most of the time when asked to act. This is one of those rare times where I'm able to fully praise it because they were good enough for the material that they worked with. All of the adult actors did the same also. None of them phone it in, and I could tell that they had a lot of fun working on this movie. So props to all of the actors here. You definitely made this film worth watching for your performances alone.
Our sets here look amazing. This really feels like you're at a Halloween festival that's taking place here. If I were adamant about going out more, I would totally love to go to one of these myself just to see all of the costumes and everything. It's really cool-looking and I'm happy to see the filmmakers not half-assing here at all. Costuming here is also great. But again, it's Halloween in this movie, and it would've been a crime if no one was dressed up in costume here. Special effects are also great. Both practical wise with all of the blood and gore, and to also the CG as well. Granted, there's not a whole lot of CG here. But what little *is* here still looks really good. So yeah, guys, special effects in this movie are really amazing.
Camerawork here is really good. Lighting here is great, since most of it was shot outdoors and you could see a lot of the brightly lit environments going on at night. Sound-mixing here is great. The score here is pretty good. I'm also gonna mention the picture quality, since I am watching a Blu-ray movie and all. And I'll easily tell you guys that the picture in this film is excellent. I can totally see why people would prefer buying Blu-ray's over DVD's, though honestly I prefer the latter because I can watch it on my DVD player, even if the quality doesn't look as good as Blu-ray. And sometimes, the lower quality can also help enhance a movie, but that's just me personally. But I will say that the Blu-ray on "Trick 'r Treat" looks amazing. Everything is shown with a clear quality and I absolutely loved it. In fact, if I ever find a Blu-ray copy of this film for myself, I may just get that over the DVD version, though I'll just have to wait and see on that one.
But anyway, guys, with all that being said, when it comes down to it, can I recommend "Trick 'r Trick"? Oh absolutely, guys, hell yeah! It's a really solid movie. It's great to watch around Halloween, and I'm thankful that my associate from work was appreciative enough to lend me a copy of it. Now I can give it back to her and tell her that I really enjoyed it and that I'll definitely be adding a physical copy of my own when I eventually find one. But yeah, guys, if you can find this film anywhere on any format, go ahead and pick it up. It's definitely worth watching, especially this time around. It's a really solid film that I can't recommend enough. Now...while this movie was certainly really good, I'm gonna go and watch my favorite Halloween movie. Not one that anyone would ever say, but it's a short animated film called "Witches In Stitches", because I watched that one a lot when I was a kid. And there's no better time to watch it again than now. So I'm gonna go and do that next as soon as I get done with this review.
Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and have a very Happy Halloween. Peace.
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