Trick R Treat Limited Edition Steelbook HD

10 reviews for Trick R Treat Limited Edition Steelbook HD

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Brittannie Collins – August 6, 2025

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   Perff

   Happy with purchase and speedy delivery 😀
2. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Joker – August 6, 2025

   4.0 out of 5 stars

   Pretty good movie with great Halloween atmosphere

   Trick ‘r Treat (2008) is a horror movie that was completed in 2007 but never had a theatrical release. Instead, it went straight to DVD two years later, in October 2009. The reason why it was never released in theaters was because the critics felt it wasn’t worthy of it and perhaps because the movie contains some disturbing scenes. I usually find a lot of movie critics to be wrong when it comes to rating movies. The critics are not right all the time. They are WRONG so much of the time. I don’t know if I agree with the critics on this one.Based on the reviews, it seems that the general public generally likes this movie. I also generally like it. I think it was a good effort and a refreshing change from the typical slasher movies of today. There are actually four stories taking place at the same time that tie together. It reminds me of how George Lucas approaches movie making, such as in the Star Wars movies. A strong point of this movie is that it deals with the traditions amongst kids on Halloween night. Also, there is a brief mention of the Celtic origins of Halloween in ancient Ireland. I don’t think there has been a movie since Halloween III (1982) that has dealt with this subject matter. Another thing – this movie’s late-October-in-the-Midwest autumn/Halloween atmosphere can’t be beat. The movie takes place in a town in Ohio. This movie has the Midwest autumn atmosphere that John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978) lacked for the most part. When Carpenter’s Halloween was filmed in May 1978, it was filmed in southern California. Palm trees appear on the screen every once in a while, along with mountains in the background (when Dr. Sam Loomis is in the phone booth). Flowers are blooming in the backyard of the Wallace house. I could go on and on, but you get the picture. Carpenter did the best he could to create an autumn atmosphere in May in southern California. Hampered by a small budget, it prevented him from shooting the movie in the Midwest in the fall. Trick ‘r Treat has everything that is Halloween in the Midwest – dry leaves falling from trees, the characters can see their breath (it almost looks like CGI breath), dampness, coldness, fog, tons of jack-o-lanterns and Halloween decorations, etc.This movie features four stories that play out simultaneously. I found that the jumping around from story to story made the movie somewhat hard to follow the first time I watched it. I have since watched it a few more times and I don’t find it as hard to follow. One flaw with this movie is that these four stories occur during a very short movie (only 82 minutes). Not nearly enough time is allowed for each individual story to play out with character development and connect to the other stories in any meaningful way. As a result, the characters come across as shallow and thin and the overall plot suffers from a lack of development and direction. By the time all the characters are introduced in each individual story, you barely have time for a plot. I think it would have been better if this movie was a single story or two stories at the most. If it would have been, for example, two stories, the plot would have been better developed, characters would have more depth to them, and if there’s a sequel in the future, the two unused stories can be used. I found that I never really got to know the characters or even cared about them. Near the beginning of the movie there are some ditzy girls in their early twenties who are trying on Halloween costumes at a Halloween costume store. They end up walking out of the store wearing the costumes they had just tried on and it appears that they might not have paid for them. These are shallow characters that I never cared about (though they were nice to look at). But in John Carpenter’s Halloween, for example, I found that I cared for Laurie and Annie and Linda, etc. This was not the case with most of the characters in Trick ‘r Treat. They’re just sort of there. They’re mostly teenagers and adults in their early twenties, along with lots of little kids trick-or-treating. The movie is called Trick ‘r Treat, so naturally there is going to be lots of kids. But I think overall this movie was geared toward a teen audience. Now when it comes to my favorite characters, they were Rhonda (played by Samm Todd) and Laurie (played by Anna Paquin). Why???? It’s because these two characters were the only ones with any depth to them. Rhonda is a nerdy type who dresses up as a witch and knew about the Celtic origins of Halloween in ancient Ireland. Laurie was a suppressed and innocent 22-year old dressed as Little Red Riding Hood.One more thing about the stories – I thought the stories themselves were somewhat on the weak side. The best story and the one with the best atmosphere was the one about the school bus. The worst one was the school principal who moonlights as a serial killer. That was just plain SICK. He’s basically teaching his son how to be a murderer – kind of “showing him the ropes”. And apparently the guy doesn’t think the cops will ever see the hole he has dug in his backyard. The story involving the hermit was unique and reasonably effective. The one involving the transformation of the girls into vampires and werewolves was quite weird, though I did enjoy it visually.Overall, I don’t think the movie was that scary. It had a few moments, but it seemed like a lot was predictable, like I’ve seen this sort of stuff play out in countless other horror movies over the years. We’ve all seen so many horror movies over the years that feature, for example, teenagers who are set up to die, but you never get to know the characters leading up to their demise. I put this movie into that category. This movie was also a little on the campy side. This diluted some of the scariness. I think this movie tries to be too many things at once jam packed into 78 minutes (82 minutes if you include the credits). It’s a gorey slasher film at times, it’s a comedy at times, it’s a children’s story at times, it’s a teenager movie at times, it’s an adult movie with nudity and sexual overtones, etc. John Carpenter’s Halloween has all of these elements as well (Michael Myers is the killer stalker, PJ Soles provides comic relief, little kids have babysitters, teenagers are partying and sleeping together), but the difference is that Halloween was much scarier than Trick ‘r Treat. This movie is rated G, PG, PG-13, R, and X all in one. Certain scenes have that Steven Spielberg feel to it, kind of like Poltergeist, while other scenes are like John Carpenter’s Halloween or Friday The 13th.The musical score is pretty decent, but I don’t find it really memorable. It’s definitely not in the same category as John Carpenter’s Halloween theme or The Exorcist theme, for example.I noticed that the woman in the beginning of the movie was taking down the Halloween decorations in the front yard right in the middle of trick-or-treating. Huh?Another thing I didn’t care for was the foul language used by really young kids – I mean, some of these kids were 10, 11, 12 years old and they’re dropping the “F” bomb like it’s nothing. They’re also making references to sexual acts. It shows how kids and society as a whole have changed dramatically in a short period of time. Now if these kids were teenagers who were 17, 18, 19 years old, that would be different. But it was shocking to hear this vulgar language come out of the mouths of such young kids.It’s amazing – Halloween’s popularity is at an all-time high, but it seems the horror movies of today can’t hold a candle to the horror movies of decades ago. The horror movies of today seem to be either slasher movies or terrible remakes of classics. I give the makers of Trick ‘r Treat tons of credit for coming up with something a little different with a great Halloween atmosphere. It’s a good movie, but not a great movie. It suffers from being a short 82 minutes long, some predictability, and lack of character and plot development. I know this movie is destined to have a cult following, but I don’t know if it’s a classic. It’s not scary enough and the score isn’t memorable enough, in my opinion. At least right now, it’s a hot fad. Just like when it comes to music, fads come and go. There was disco. There was punk. There was new wave. There were the metal hair bands. There was grunge. But I find that I always go back to the classic stuff. I’ll listen to Black Sabbath instead of Cinderella any day. When it comes to horror movies, I’ll watch The Haunting (1963) instead of Halloween Resurrection (2002) any day. Get what I mean?I guess I agree with Trick ‘r Treat being called “The Best Halloween Film Of The Last 30 Years.” In other words, the best Halloween-themed movie SINCE John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978). Take this movie’s outstanding Midwest autumn/Halloween atmosphere and couple it with a stronger and scarier SINGLE story with a memorable soundtrack and it might have been able to claim the title of greatest Halloween-themed movie of all time. The way I see it, the door continues to be left open for somebody out there to step in and put it all together and make THE definitive Halloween movie of ALL TIME, which would de-throne John Carpenter’s Halloween. Can it be done?

   22 people found this helpful
3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Addicted2Amazon! – August 6, 2025

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   Best. Halloween. Movie. EVER.

   It was just by pure luck that I happened across this film. And that is a shame, because that means it’s relatively obscure. And this movie is waay too clever/creepy/funny/disturbing/well-written/unique/pretty (yes, pretty) to be obscure.Michael Dougherty (I’ve never knowingly encountered his name before) serves as both the writer and director, and what a talent he is. I wil definitely be aware of his work in the future.When I initially viewed this movie, I thought it was just another B horror movie. A friend of mine said that he enjoyed it, and I assumed by that he meant it was decently scary. Being a horror movie fan, I watched it, hoping for a few jumps and a bit of gore, just enough to pass the time. But this movie was not a horror movie. It is a mirror and a love letter to Halloween as we know it in 21st-century America…with a definite horrific/darkly comedic slant.First of all, the film is beautifully shot. It takes place in a midwestern town with deep autumn in its glory. The naked, skeletal trees, the leave-strewn ground, the frosty air, the costumed festivity, the wind whipping the golden leaves about…gorgeous. Hollywood A-grade.Then we have the story. The director/writer has chosen as his story-telling method the “Creepshow/Tales from the Crypt” avenue, that is, an anthology of several stories. They are also done uniquely, non-linear and intertwined. And it works beautifully. Pretty much every Halloween myth, urban legend and real-life experience is tackled here: poison candy, Halloween massacres, cruel emotionally scarring preteen pranks,hard-partying vamps in sexy costumes, harder-partying middle-aged adults in even scantier costumes, and…the original, primitive, all-powerful use behind Halloween’s eternal (and presently watered down) symbol, the jack-o-lantern.The film is such an entertaining mixture of horror (there are some genuinely creepy, gory and horrific moments) and comedy (witty, sharp dialog all around; and never before have I heard Charlie Brown referred to as an @$$hole, HA!!) with a generous dash of sex appeal (love those Disney princesses!). Dylan Baker, an actor of whose name I’ve never heard of, was incredibly sinister/campy/geeky/hilarious in his twisted portrayal of Principal Wilkins. I hope I see more of him in movies to come. In this film, we have monsters and ghosts and costumed temptresses and blood and chocolate vomit and severed body parts and evil little trick-or-treaters….It’s just soo much fun!If you like the macabre, you like to laugh (even if it’s at very dark horror-humor), and – most importantly – you love Halloween (and candy! WHO doesn’t love candy??), you’ve got to check this one out. (Did I mention it also has Anna Paquin…AKA Sookie of “True Blood”? 🙂 ) I hope in another 10-20 years, it’ll be the “A Christmas Story” of Halloween. In my opinion, it deserves no less.

   16 people found this helpful
4. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Nikki Bradburn – August 6, 2025

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   Great Halloween movie!

   I absolutely love this movie anthology! I stumbled across it around Halloween a few years ago. This past Halloween I finally broke down and purchased it. I’m glad I did. I have watched it multiple times since then. It’s a creepy movie but not too scary.
5. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Terry Mesnard – August 6, 2025

   4.0 out of 5 stars

   Entertaining and inventive

   The story behind Trick ‘r Treat is almost as interesting as the movie itself. After being filmed in 2007, it was shelved by Warner Bros. Over the past two years, it’s been shown at a variety of horror-themed festivals and other genre conventions. Fans in those specific circles have heard about this film for the last two years, just like with another recently released horror film (Paranormal Activity). Unlike Paranormal Activity, on the surface it’s hard to figure out exactly why it was shelved. It had some A-list help, with Bryan Singer (X-Men, The Usual Suspects) acting as producer and writer/director Michael Dougherty (writer of X-Men and Superman Returns) taking the helm. Then there’s the acting talent, which has both some well known actors (Brian Cox, Anna Paquin), some lesser known but still recognizable talent (Dylan Baker, Leslie Bibb) and then the oddball that some fans will recognize (like Tahmoh Penikett, AKA Helo from Battlestar Galactica). And yet, shelved it was…until now where it was dumped straight to DVD/Blu Ray. So…was the wait worth it?I’ve heard Trick ‘r Treat compared to anthology films like Tales from the Darkside and Creepshow. That comparison is apt, especially when you see the opening credits with their EC horror comic-inspired design and setup. Also like those films and the comics, the characters are broadly drawn and lack much in the way of character development. After all, when you’re cramming four stories into less than 90 minutes, character development is an easy victim to time constraints. Also, like those comics, characters meet grisly, oftentimes ironic and just demises. However, I think Trick ‘r Treat has even more in common with films like Go, in which the stories overlap, intersect and involve a specific set of characters.The four stories involve a principal who thinks Halloween is a great time for manslaughter, a small troup of tweens whose joke involving an urban legend goes too far, a very smart and inventive take on the Little Red Riding Hood fairytale and a final story involving an old hermit who gets more than he bargained for with a little trick ‘r treatin’ devil. Like Go, the stories are told out of order, with the time moving forward and back to suit the story. Each of these stories takes place in the same town, on Halloween night where everyone is celebrating the horror. Each story takes a page from Halloween traditions: wearing costumes to blend in, checking candy, not blowing out the jack-o-lantern, etc. At the center of the story, and serving as another connector is the character of Sam, the little kid-like character you see plastered on all of the DVDs and posters. Sam is a devilish character who flits through each story and his importance is probably easily guessed because of his name. The ways the stories feed into and inspire each other is interesting and I love the pacing of the film. I’ve watched it twice and the second time I had much greater appreciation for the way in which Michael Dougherty foreshadowed certain events and how he tied everything together.And while I was amazed at how intricately plotted it actually was, I was surprised because Trick ‘r Treat isn’t necessarily a scary film. There’s no real “BOO!” moments and the violence, considering the “R” rating and other recent horror films, isn’t too bad. It’s just a fun, smartly written and expertly filmed horror film that was a robbed a theatrical viewing. It’s quickly become a go-to horror film that I will probably watch, year after year, around Halloween. Definitely recommend it to fill your Halloween movie-watching.

   5 people found this helpful
6. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   jonathan menezes – August 6, 2025

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   A Homage to the most wonderous of festivals – Halloween

   Trick ‘r Treat lifts your hearts and ignites in your souls the passion and macabre of the Halloween festival. With mini tales woven into a complete 90-minute feature film, this one does wonders in teaching us the nitty-gritties with the dos and don’ts during this most eerie time of the year. An impactful feature that completes and complements this favorite holiday of all!
7. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Kevin Dudley – August 6, 2025

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   This review pertains to the Scream Factory collector’s edition blu-ray

   The 2007 horror anthology “Trick ‘r Treat” is a great film and a lot of ghoulish fun. Originally intended for a theatrical release around Halloween in 2007, Warner Brothers got cold feet and decided to shelve the movie. What caused them to make this decision? Well the fact that 14 children meet their demise throughout the R-rated 88 minute film made them uneasy. However after some notable festival screenings in 2008 and pressure from critics and fans alike, it finally got a DVD and blu-ray release around October 2009. The movie is never mean spirited but a lot of fun which you would not expect from reading a plot synopsis of each of the four stories which are all linked together in a clever fashion similar at times to Pulp Fiction’s non linear approach. Heavily inspired by classic horror anthologies such as “Creepshow” along with the similar tone of “Tales from the Crypt”, horror fans as well as fans of Halloween itself should love it.The 2009 blu-ray by Warner Brothers presented the film in a quite good VC-1 encoded transfer that topped out at about 25 mbps during busy sections along with a decent selection of extras. Scream Factory in 2018 would give the film some collector’s edition attention with a fully loaded disc that stands as the definitive release of this fine film.A new 2K transfer transfer from original film elements was completed by Scream Factory and approved by the writer/director. The new disc features an AVC encode averaging 35 mbps throughout. While the improvement is not a night and day difference compared to the old disc, colors look better and more saturated, contrast and black levels are improved and film grain is better resolved. There is also a bit more picture information visible around the frame. I did direct comparisons with the 2009 disc and there is a noticeable uptick in picture quality overall. Audio is presented in punchy 5.1 lossless sound with English subtitles being included.Full technical specs are as follows pulled directly from Scream Factory’s site:NEW 2K Scan Of The Original Film Elements Supervised And Approved By Director Michael DoughertyNEW Tales Of Folklore & Fright: Creating Trick ‘r Treat – Including Interviews With Writer/Director Michael Dougherty, Conceptual Artist Breehn Burns, And Storyboard Artist Simeon WilkinsNEW Tales Of Mischief & Mayhem: Filming Trick ‘r Treat – In-depth Interview With Michael Dougherty On The Making Of The FilmNEW Sounds Of Shock & Superstition: Scoring Trick ‘r Treat – Including Interviews With Michael Dougherty And Composer Douglas PipesNEW Tales Of Dread And Despair: Releasing Trick ‘r Treat – A Look At The Release And Fandom With Michael Dougherty And Writer Rob GalluzzoNEW 2K Scan Of The Original 16mm Elements of Season’s Greetings – A Short Film By Michael Dougherty With Optional Commentary By DoughertyNEW Storyboard And Conceptual Artwork GalleryNEW Behind The Scenes Still GalleryNEW Monster Mash – A Story From The Trick ‘r Treat Graphic NovelNEW FEARnet.com ShortsAudio Commentary With Director Michael DoughertyTrick ‘r Treat: The Lore And Legends Of Halloween FeaturetteDeleted And Alternate Scenes With Optional Commentary By Director Michael DoughertySchool Bus FX ComparisonTheatrical TrailerAll of the new extra content is very well done and informative. Add in all of the extras from the original disc along with the improved transfer and fans can feel confident in upgrading from the 2009 disc to Scream Factory’s edition. You can also flip around the sleeve to have different alternative poster art but I have to admit that the newly commissioned artwork is spectacular.Scream Factory delivers the goods once again. Highly recommend!

   108 people found this helpful
8. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Sierra Spencer – August 6, 2025

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   Favorite Horror Movie!

   This is a really delicious treat for a horror film.Summary:It’s Halloween night in a little town and everyone is into it. Unbeknownst to them, a little “demon” is loose and his name is Sam. He masquerades as a trick-or-treater and so, goes mostly unseen. It opens with a couple returning home from the Halloween festivities downtown and the wife is pretty tired of the holiday. This story soon transitions into another tale taking place in the same town- a murderous school principal is showing his distaste for trick-or-treaters. This story leads into one featuring some school kids, out on Halloween, who are trying to play a prank on a young girl named Rhonda (myself being high-functioning autistic, I really thing Rhonda is one, too). Another story features out murderous principal again, but this time, he encounters werewolves. The final story (or not?) is where our little Sam “haunts” the house of a very grouchy old man.Note: Sam only attacks those who break his rules on Halloween.Pros: (Some light spoiler may be hidden here, but I will list it last) :1. Great effects2. Interesting story-telling3. VERY interesting killer4. Leaves room for hardcore fans to have fun filling in small blanks (they’re not even noticeable IF you’re not a hardcore fan)LASTLY! (5.) Rhonda gets to have her revenge, even if it’s not a very pretty oneCons:1. Some may disagree with having a “cute” killer and think that that ruins things2. Some may think it should be unnecessary to have to watch twice to understand the whole story3. Has a somewhat campy feel (If you don’t like campy at all, don’t watch)My thoughts:Ultimately my favorite horror movie. Although, as I said before when referring to Rhonda, I am an autist. This means I can be highly obsessive over things most people wouldn’t even blink at. This is one of my favorite movies for a reason- I have an obsession with Halloween. (EXTREMELY SMALL SPOILER WARNING!) In one scene, one of the children says to Rhonda, “Boy, you must really love Halloween.”. Rhonda replies to him with something like, “You mean, Samhain?”. He asks, “What?”. So she responds with “Samhain, also known as All Hallow’s Eve, also known as Halloween. Pre-dating Christianity, the Celtic holiday was celebrated on the one night between autumn and winter when the barrier between the living and the dead was thinnest and often involved rituals that included human sacrifice.” (END OF SMALL SPOILER) In this scene, I tend to get worked up, but I know it’s just me. I have a large database of knowledge about Halloween that most people don’t have access to (I can name over 16 different books I own on the subject if needed). I just want to clarify, for the few that may care, that the information about Halloween presented by Rhonda in this movie has not all been proven to be true. Mostly the bit about human sacrifice being a ritual involved and the part about lumping with belief in the dead spirits with the Celts. I will repeat, I know that most won’t care about this, so this is more of a heads-up for anyone else out there who is into these kinds of details.But overall, this is an amazing movie and I hear tell that a sequel is in the works. A photo from the production of the sequel was released, showing Sam without his mask and instead of his usual childlike outfit, he was wearing long, flowing, pitch black magic robes. I neglected to mention something the movie never points out to the viewers- Sam is not just any little monster. In case you haven’t guessed it from the original name of Halloween, “Samhain” and the fact his name is Sam, Sam is actually the force behind the holiday. In other words, he IS the holiday. This is why he attacks when his rules are broken. You hurt him, he hurts back. He goes with “an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth”.Final words? Most unique, cute little monster I’ve ever seen in a horror movie. Really neat way of telling the stories, too. Do not skip it over if you like horror films (unless campy stuff bugs you to the extreme).

   12 people found this helpful
9. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Amazon Customer – August 6, 2025

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   Absolutely awesome Halloween flick

   don’t believe the low ratings I don’t know where those people come from but this is one of the greatest Halloween movies yes, you will wanna watch it every year maybe more than onceIt’s cleverly done with four story plots that interact with each other if you’re smart enough to catch that. And people who cannot stand to watch kids in horror movies shouldn’t have bought it in the first place. It shows kids on the cover hello?? it is a Halloween show and it is a dang good one . It’s complicated to explain because of the four different stories that interact but if you don’t get it the first time you watch it watch it a second time and you will we all thought it was awesome, but we are all in on everything Halloween and was pleased to see a new Halloween themed movie finally come out since the original Halloween. not comparing this one to the original Halloween. They are nothing alike. but it was an awesome enjoyable movie you won’t be disappointed unless you just don’t like Halloween.

   3 people found this helpful
10. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    MacDhai – August 6, 2025

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    This is Halloween! A great “kids’ movie” for adults

    After seeing the amazing trailer and reading all the glowing reviews, I was all set to buy this. Then I read the bad reviews and decided maybe I should rent it first…and now I wish I’d put the $5 rental fee toward purchasing it, because this is a GREAT Halloween movie.First, let’s consider what constitutes a Halloween movie. It’s a matter of opinion, but for me it’s a movie that is either about Halloween or takes place on Halloween. Beyond that, everything else is just a horror movie (though I do pull out the classic monster movies for Halloween…e.g. vampires, werewolves, zombies, witches, etc.). So through that lens, there really aren’t many true Halloween movies that are any good, and even fewer that are also horror movies. There are some great kids’ movies (“Hocus Pocus,” “Monster House,” Tim Burton’s stop-motion collection), but until now John Carpenter’s “Halloween” was really about it.Then along comes “Trick ‘r Treat” and the Halloween movie may never be the same! It is true to its title in every way. A treat for anyone who loves Halloween, and quite a trick because this is basically a kids’ movie for adults. It tells the kind of scary stories that kids would tell each other (like “Better stay away from old lady Jensen’s house…she’s eaten three kids but never been caught!”), but adults usually shy away from telling stories where kids are as likely to be victims as the grown-ups. Not so with “Trick ‘r Treat.” Anyone and everyone is fair game, but it’s done in a playful urban legend kind of way. The content itself might be disturbing, but it’s presented in a way that’s no more offensive than the stories your big brother told you when you were 8 to try and scare you.The overlapping timelines of the four stories (five if you count the opening sequence) and the shifts back and forth to different points in the evening works great…though I confess I’ve been trying to figure out how the four stories line up and for the life of me I can’t seem to get the Halloween School Bus Massacre to fit. But ultimately that hardly matters. Putting all the pieces together that interlink the stories is part of the fun. And that’s really what this movie is. It’s not terribly scary, not terribly gory. It is a little creepy, oozes Halloween atmosphere, and ultimately is just a lot of fun.*** SPOILER ALERT — IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE MOVIE, SKIP TO THE LAST PARAGRAPH ***Every story plays on the four rules of Halloween: 1) Wear a costume, 2) never blow out a jack-o-lantern before midnight, 3) hand out treats, and 4) always check your candy!The opening sequence with the woman who hates Halloween is excellent and starts the movie with a bang. My wife and I laughed because the couple seemed to embody everybody we know, including us. Husbands tend to love Halloween, wives not as much. My wife puts up with my Halloween shenanigans, but I can tell you she won’t be blowing out any Jack-o-lanterns before midnight after what Sam (the trick-or-treater on the cover) did to the woman in the movie!The Principle Wilkins story is probably the most disturbing with the most blood (or was that chocolate spewing out of Charlie’s mouth?), gore, piles of dead kids and, of course, his serial-killer-in-training son. But Dylan Baker plays the part perfectly. He’s demented, yet very casual about it. And funny. Michael Dougherty does a great job directing to make us feel okay with laughing at this guy when in any other movie we might have been too revolted to laugh. And it doesn’t hurt that Wilkins ultimately gets what he deserves at the hands of the werewolves. But junior’s waiting in the wings, sitting on his front porch dressed like his daddy, complete with bloody shirt and glasses!The Wilkins story line overlaps most with the story of Laurie (Anna Paquin) and the girls trolling for dates, ultimately looking for the guy who will be Laurie’s “first.” The least engaging of the stories, but still fun to witness the hunted becoming the hunter.I’ve read complaints that the Halloween School Bus Massacre was the least realistic and the least sensitive of the stories because how could 8 sets of parents all decide to murder their mentally challenged children? A horrifying prospect to be sure, and highly unlikely in the real world, but once you’ve suspended disbelief for the rest of the movie, this wasn’t such a leap. This story of a practical joke gone wrong is adequately creepy though fairly predictable. The high point is Rhonda, the idiot savant channeling Velma from the Scooby-doo movies. She’s a hoot and I hope we see her in a sequel one day.Finally, we have the story of Mr. Kreeg, the school bus driver who was to kill the 8 kids from the previous story so many years ago. Played perfectly by the wonderful Brian Cox, he’s now a crotchety old man who chases away trick-or-treaters with his costumed dog and steals their candy. And little Sam’s not too happy about that! The fact that Sam was played by a child makes everything about him that much more creepy as he stalks Kreeg through his house. I was a little disappointed the first viewing when Kreeg pulled off Sam’s mask and we saw that he was sort of a skull-faced pumpkin demon (actually, he’s the embodiment of Halloween, aka Samhain). It felt a little too B-movie, but after subsequent viewings he’s growing on me, though he’ll always be most effective in his mask.*** END SPOILERS ***So final word is this is an excellent Halloween movie (though arguably not as strong if you judge it purely as a horror movie). But if you love Halloween, no movie to date has embodied the essence of the holiday for adults as well as “Trick ‘r Treat.” Highly recommended!

    29 people found this helpful