Brains, Blood, Boomsticks, & Broods

After a little haitus we returned to schlock night with Trick r Treat. Rue Morgue had an extensive write up a couple of months ago reviewing, touting, and really pushing this timely Halloween release. After seeing Trick r Treat it was pretty easy to understand why. Buildup in these scenarios usually leads to a let down, however in this case it was well founded.

Unfortunately we had a small audience (just 2), but as the appetite for schlock waned we still had a good time. This was due in no small part by what the director chose to leave out. Trick r Treat doesn’t fall into the pitfalls and traps that normally drag potential horror greats down. In fact one of the most bizarre aspects of the movie is the lack of explanation, and it works oh so well.

How many times do you leave a movie thinking to yourself “why did they tell/show me that”? Not here. In fact you’re more likely to leaving going “who the fuck was that?!”. There were no rules to this movie and no explanations. Michael Dougherty has obviously been paying attention to all those times that the audience groans and his 80s horror lore. On top of that he interwove the four tales really well. It’s nothing new in that respect, but as Jake and I sat back afterwards we couldn’t think of any loose ends. Albeit we didn’t try that hard as the image of a demonic pumpkin with  a burlap head kept intervening.

It’s got it all: Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies, Ghosts, Beheadings, dismemberment, dead children, dead adults, sexy death, alcoholic infused haze death, backyard burials, dead puppies, dangerous candy, demented authority figures, vomit (chocolate and bloody), some really nice special effects, and a town that is going to have a lot of houses for sale

That said it’s missing: cheesy plot wrap ups, happy endings, Frankenstein, Count Chocula, a lot of gore (oh but the vomit will get you), context, any semblance of overexplanation, or a reason not to see it

Just thinking about it I want to go watch it again, because I’m thinking of things that I didn’t connect the first time around. Go see this homage, pop some popcorn, a couple of brews and have a good time.

4/5 carved eyes (they’re the hardest part you know)

This entry was posted on 12/10/2009 at 12:29 and is filed under 4 Brains with tags American Horror, Apocalyptic, B-Grade, Blood, Campbell, Campy, Chainsaws, Cheesy, Comedy, Demons, Directors, Flies, Fucked up, Fulci, Fun, Gore, Graphic, Grave Digger, Guns, Guts, Headless Corpse, Horror, Japanese Horror, Knives, Machetes, Massacre, Monsters, Movie Reviews, Movies, Nightmares, Raimi, Romero, Schlock, Sex, Silly, Special Effects, Strippers, Tequila, Transgender, Troma, Undead, Vampires, Virgins, Zombies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.