When you watch a movie and think that you are going to watch it ever Halloween from now on you know that this is a special movie.  This is what I’ve discovered Trick ‘r Treat to be.  Not since The Creepshow has a compilation of horror stories been made into one movie so well.

At its base elements Trick ‘r Treat is everything Halloween should be.  It’s about pumpkins, mythical creatures, gore and scares.  Four stories all interwoven together are presented to the watcher with many plot lines started and seemingly not finished.  By the time you end watching you realise that every plot has been brought to its conclusion and every character from all of the stories have had their own little parts to play in each other’s story.  Yes, it’s that complex but done so expertly that you are never confused and are always pointing out somebody or something that connected with the previous story you just saw.  Through the use of urban legends both created for the stories and based on “true” urban legends in the real world we are taken through a fun fair ride of gruesome fables.  Also, don’t expect these stories to fit the usual stereotypes.  This movie has been written smartly and you won’t see most of the elements coming (or you will but still love the conclusions that are given.

Parts of the strength of this film are the actors that have been chosen to star.  These are recognisable actors from the likes of Anna Paquin, and Brian Cox, also Dylan Baker who plays his role just perfectly.  He’s one of those actors who always seem to be on top form even though he’s not really a huge Hollywood star.  In fact this movie is not full of Hollywood stars per say, just recognisable people who seem to actually want to give their time and create believable characters which helps this movie a lot.

I’d say this movie walks a fine line between failure and success and that’s probably why it was side-lined for so long.  Hollwood probably took one look at the structure and did not see a sell ability where movies like Saw can be churned out and just from the name make them millions.  It seems to be the way movies are released now.  It’s all about the mighty dollar not about the movie fan that would just lap this up.  Of course as True Blood took off and Anna Paquin stars in this movie (that makes her hot property) it’s not surprise that a small release is given.  This of course gives we the horror fans exactly what we want and we get to see this excellent movie.  So we all win out in the end.  Just a shame it took so long for them to get off their asses and let it be released.

If anybody has not seen this movie yet I highly recommend you get off your asses and buy it.  It should be on everybody’s list of movies to see at Halloween and should become a tradition.  It is rare that we get horror movies like this that is so well written and well produced, so let’s enjoy it while we have it.

9/10