Blu-ray Review: Trick 'r Treat
The online hype machine oversells this decent direct-to-video frightener
I am always wary when the masses of online movie bloggers fall in line for a film. Such was the case for Michael Dougherty's long-delayed Trick 'r Treat, which was slated for a theatrical release as far back as October 2007, but was subsequently shifted to Warner Bros.'s direct-to-DVD label and shuffled onto shelves for a DVD and Blu-ray debut. Of course, when such a scenario takes place the champions of the film cry even louder and a film gets an undeserved hype behind it, or at least a hype the film can't live up to and that's what we have here as the premise of Trick 'r Treat is entertaining enough, but as a film it just doesn't do anything more than make for a decent passing of the time.
Trick 'r Treat, to my knowledge, is the first wholly dedicated Halloween film. I could be wrong, but even Halloween isn't about Halloween per se. This flick has scenes of tricking and moments of treating allowing it to live up to its title as it weaves together four stories involving cranky old men, sexy young ladies, a murderous school principal and a group of pranksters telling old ghost stories that will obviously come to life. All this while a curious little creature pops up in each story before revealing his ugly little face… let's just call him Sam.
If you go into it with little expectation, only hoping for a fun direct-to-DVD quality film you will get exactly what you expect in a film you may look forward to revisiting each Halloween season, but not exactly a title you need to rush out and buy.
The Blu-ray looks like you would expect, but the photography here, outside of a creepy forest lane lit by jack-o-lanterns, isn't exactly awe-inspiring. The features offered are decent including a series of deleted scenes with commentary from Dougherty, an animated "Seasons Greetings" short (also with commentary), a short visual effects comparison and a feature film commentary with Dougherty, concept artist Breehn Burns, storyboard artist Simeon Wilkins and composer Douglas Pipes.
My favorite of the bunch, however, was a slightly overlong, but entertaining look at the origins of Halloween and how things such as trick-or-treating and costumes became a part of the holiday. I did get a kick out of some of the commentary such as one of the young ladies who plays a werewolf in the film saying there is something "sensual and sexual about being a werewolf," which would imply to me she may be insane, but other than that it's a solid little package.
Overall, add this to your Netflix queue for the holidays if you are interested, but save your money as I can't imagine you will be returning to it more than once a year, if that.
RSS Feed
| 3 comments so far 
news feeds