Trick 'R Treat


It’s Halloween and what better way to welcome that day of the dead than to watch Trick ‘R Treat?  I watched it for the fifth time or so today, as part of my now yearly ritual of watching Trick ‘R Treat and Halloween.

Trick ‘R Treat is a movie with interweaving stories all related to the day of Halloween.  It features such actors and actresses as Leslie Bibb, Brian Cox, Dylan Baker, and Anna Paquin.  It was written and directed by Michael Dougherty.  And it had the misfortune of being direct to video.

It seems odd to me that this is a direct to video movie.  Do you want to know why?  I think everyone would love to hear my opinion.  My very very opinionated opinion.  It had a good overall story, it was well directed, it looked good, the acting was good...these are all things that I have yet to see a direct to video movie nail.  Until I first watched Trick ‘R Treat.  Everything is there.

If I remember correctly, the studios were afraid of a movie with interwoven stories which is why whatever studio had this movie passed on a theatrical release.  As much as I’d have liked it to have a theatrical release I can see exactly where they are coming from.  When was the last time that a multiple story horror film was actually a hit in the theatres?  Anybody?  Creepshow maybe?  Perhaps not.  I wasn’t around for Creepshow in theatres.

It might actually be better than Trick ‘R Treat went direct to video.  It helped in terms of word of mouth.  Had it gone to theatres, it probably would have been taken out about three weeks later.  That’s not enough time to get some good word of mouth going.  However, since it was released direct to video, the word of mouth can better help the movie to succeed at what it has set out to do, sell DVDs.  Yep, that’s my justification here and it is extremely flawed.

If you haven’t yet checked out Trick ‘R Treat, which I am sure most of you have by this point, seek it out and watch it.  It’s a Halloween classic that will be a part of my Halloween nights for the foreseeable future.

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