Tuesday 22 October 2024

Trick 'r Treat (2007)



Before he directed 2019's GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS (and 2015's KRAMPUS) Michael Dougherty gave us TRICK 'R TREAT, an anthology film which is now getting a whistles and bells release in a limited edition from Arrow on 4K UHD.



The opening titles promise us four stories, although there actually appear to be five, all of which take place on Halloween night and involve characters who are all, at at least one point in the film, on the same street of the town in which the film is set.



Whereas most anthology films stack their stories so we get one after the other, TRICK 'R TREAT manages to circumvent the main problem with the format (some stories will be weaker, and the stronger stories will show them up) by interweaving its tales so that at times you're not sure which story you're in, plus some characters do feature prominently in stories other than just the one that's about them.



The result is a brief (82 minutes) entertaining piece with some familiar faces (Brian Cox, Anna Paquin) and that bouncy sense of fun and dress up that Americans attach to that particular day of the year.

Arrow's release is packed with extras. There's a new commentary by Dougherty to go along with an archival one that features him, composer Douglas Pipes and two of the conceptual artists who worked on the film.



Other new extras include a stack of interviews including Quinn Cord (who plays the little boy who figures prominently in the poster art), designer Mark Freeborn (12 minutes), Director of Photography Glen MacPherson (17 minutes), costume designer Trish Keating (15 minutes), creature designer Patrick Tatopoulos (9 minutes).




Archival material includes 54 minutes of interviews all of which include Michael Dougherty with various members of the crew. Seasons Greeting is the original four minute short film that inspired the movie & comes with optional commentary. Brian Cox narrates a 28 minute documentary about Halloween, there's a minute of school bus VFX, four minutes of amusing promos from FEARnet and a stills gallery that includes a Monster Mash comic book inspired by the film.



Michael Dougherty' TRICK 'R TREAT is out in a limited edition on 4K UHD on Monday 28th October 2024

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