I have seen Trick ‘r Treat on a number of different horror movie top-ten lists as a favorite watch for Halloween. Yet, up until now, I had never seen the film. Finally, with the time and opportunity to watch it, I saw it for myself and it was not exactly what I expected. I knew it was an anthology film. I knew that there were supernatural shenanigans. I knew that the little pumpkin head kid was a special diabolical spirit. I just wasn’t quite prepared for what I saw.

Pros

Some good comedic moments
Practical effects, puppetry, makeup are all pretty good
Not too long of a movie
Some stories are not as predictable as others
Anthology nature of it is slightly different and makes for a more unique experience

Cons

Stories that take place aren’t that interesting with a few exceptions
Predictable stories are very predictable
Doesn’t do much to make you care about most of the characters; stories are too short or segmented
Feels less cohesive than watching a series of Tales from the Crypt episodes

Plot & Thoughts

On Halloween, spooky things are bound to happen. Some innocent people are sacrificed, and some not-so-innocent people get their just desserts. At the center of it all, or just as a vicarious bystander, is a little creature that people call Sam (at no point in the movie is his name disclosed). He’s the iconic little tyke with a large round head and a sack over it with sewn-on buttons. He’s somewhat mysterious but seems to be a spirit in the nature of Halloween and its enforcer when it comes to the traditions of the holiday. While he’s not always the center of attention, he’s at least loosely involved in the plot that is occurring in one of the various stories that are taking place in Trick ‘r Treat.

So what happens in the movie? Well, a fair amount of things that I can’t really describe without giving much away. There are serial killers, undead, werewolves, etc. I just can’t really go into much detail about each of the stories as I would in a movie like Creepshow—if you want the quick synopsis, you can easily look it up on IMDB. Frankly, each anthology story is pretty short. So there isn’t much time for characters to really develop or for things to build up in a meaningful way that will truly surprise you. This helps make the film less predictable in a lot of ways. However, the stories that do take time to develop can be pretty predictable or boring. Keep in mind, also, that even though it is an anthology horror film, all the stories are loosely connected by the characters and the town in which all these events are taking place.

For everything that I think this movie does right, it does something I don’t like. I would almost call it half-good because of it. I don’t think it’s poorly made or lacks a vision that it couldn’t achieve. I just think the stories themselves aren’t that interesting or entertaining, with the exception of the serial killer segment. It was definitely the story that I felt had the most interesting character and funniest moments that could have gone full slapstick if they wanted to. Had the whole film just been about a serial killer who keeps running into roadblocks and challenges as he tries to hide the bodies, I would have been on board.

The other stories are either too brief to care or somewhat predictable in a way that it doesn’t feel worthwhile. It’s rare for me to say it, but I think this movie could have been better if it was longer, or if some of the less interesting segments were cut to allow for the other stories to build out and flourish more. It’s a weird experience because many of the stories have the complexity of a Goosebumps or Are You Afraid of the Dark? episode, yet the content itself is far too gruesome for a spooky kid’s film. It’s not necessarily a mark against it, objectively speaking, but I definitely should have tempered my expectations a bit because it didn’t help my enjoyment.

TL;DR (Conclusion)

While many may praise Trick ‘r Treat as being a great anthology film for the Halloween holiday, I didn’t enjoy it as much. I think it has some good segments that are entertaining but are surrounded by other less interesting segments. The film does a decent job of making everything connected and takes an interesting approach to the anthology formula. However, I cannot fully recommend it to someone without tempering their expectations first. Watch it if you’re curious, but don’t feel like you’re missing out on much if you skip it.

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