Trick 'r Treat 2007

  In 1996 Michael Dougherty created an animated short about a little boy who is murdered on Halloween night titled Season's Greetings.  That short two minute cartoon would be the precursor to 2007's Trick 'r Treat.  The five short interwoven stories that comprise the film stars Dylan Baker, Brian Cox, Leslie Bibb, and Anna Paquin.  While considered an anthology the film does not follow the normal anthology layout in that instead of one story following another and a wrap around connecting them all here the stories are told together each with a common theme (besides Halloween that is as the film happens on Halloween night) running through them.  That common theme being Sam, the little boy from Season's Greetings who is now a sort of demonic enforcer of the old rules of Halloween.

The best reason to love this movie as a horror movie is because it really isn't scary nor is it very gory.  What this movie is though, is it IS Halloween.  It's all the themes and stories about Halloween that scared us as little kids through the years and how those stories evolve into something that can frighten the next generation of kids going through the rites of passage that is Halloween.  If you love Halloween and you love horror movies (the two go hand in hand essentially) then this movie is meant for you.  The film does have a sprinkling of humor and while it is at times bloody it does a good job of maintaining a good balance that keeps it from going into the realm of gory. 

While this one isn't for the young'ens I could see some teens being able to handle the scares here.  It's funny that in the US this was rated R and the recommended age was 17.  Across the globe it varies and does that say something about the cultures of each area?  For instance in Germany it's not recommended for anyone under the age of 18 but go to Sweden and it's fine, in fact it's fine as long as the child is over the age of 11 and even I think this is a little more than an 11 year old could handle.  Mostly I say this because the best part about this movie is it all seems so real like this could happen.  I know that seems far fetched but the horror is realistic as well as the gore that's what makes it feel plausible and is what makes this movie a horror movie of the best type.  Everything just works so well here and the stories are "knitted" together so well that this is as close to a perfect Halloween movie that you can get.  I give it 4 Burlap Bags out of 5 while Denise the Horror Honey has not been as big of fan of it as I have over the years (we've seen it about a half a dozen times) but still gives it 3 and a half.