31 Nights of Halloween Horror - Night 31 - Trick r Treat

This is it, we made it to the end.  Here is a recap of what we have watched.

1) The Wizard of Gore - HG Lewis remake
2) Wakewood - Hammer makes a come back
3) The Banana Splits Movie - Piece of shit
4) 30 Days of Night - Vampires in Alaska
5) Tonight She Comes - WTF and a lot of blood
6) Beyond the Darkness - D'Amato classic
7) Abominable - Bigfoot madness
8) Castle of the Walking Dead - Gothic horror at its finest
9) The Rift - Sea Monsters galore
10) Shrew's Nest - Recommended
11) Dead & Breakfast - Horror comedy
12) Itsy Bitsy - Giant Spider
13) Hiruko the Goblin - Japanese insanity
14) Fragile - Haunted children's hospital, recommended
15) 3 From Hell - New Rob Zombie
16) Jungle Holocaust - Italian Cannibals
17) The Ghost - Barbara Steele classic
18) The Monster Club - Horror anthology
19) Blood Fest - Shit fest
20) The Nightshifter - Recommended
21) Opera - Argento classic
22) Satan's Slaves - Recommended
23) Return of the Evil Dead - Second Blind Dead film
24) Terrified - Best movie of the month
25) Candy Corn - Boring
26) Shutter - Ghosts from Thailand
27) Unfriended: The Dark Web - Never trust the internet
28) Them! - Giant ants
29) Don't Leave Home - Artsy movie of the month
30) Wer - Werewolf? There wolf
31)

Of these 31 movies I had previously seen nine of them (30 Days of Night, Beyond the Darkness, Castle of the Walking Dead, Dead & Breakfast, Jungle Holocaust, Opera, Return of the Evil Dead, Shutter, Them! and Wer.  Most those I watched on a blu ray upgrade.)  So that is 22 new movies this month.  Of those five them were great that I would definitely recommend.  We covered a pretty big gambit of the genre from more recent films, to Italian gore classics, to gothic horror, new films, foreign horror from Japan, Spain, Argentina and more and a black and white classic thrown in for good measure.  Our genre has plenty to offer everyone.  Stop watching the same old movies over and over again, I know we love them, but there is also so much more to explore.  You will never find the next Evil Dead if you don't watch something new.  Yes grant it we need to sift through a lot of bad stuff, more bad then good to find what is worth while, but that can also be half the fun.  Out of 31 films, while all of them are not great and some don't need repeat viewings, I would say only like 2 or 3 really sucked that I would say to avoid.  So let's end this years 31 Nights of Halloween Horror with...

Trick r Treat
82 mins.
Dir. Michael Dougherty
2007/USA

Here is my issue with Halloween themed movies, most of them just seem to take place on Halloween but do not capture the essence of the holiday.  Does it really matter what day of the year Michael Myers kills people?  Would it effect the movie that much, I mean it originally was going to be called The Baby Sitter Murders anyway.  Well that all changed when Trick r Treat was released.  Finally a movie about the holiday itself, it captures all the magic and everything we love about the holiday as well as gives us a new iconic character in the wrap around, Sam.

Trick r Treat is a successful anthology in a genre where anthologies can make or break a movie.  Sometimes they work, lots of times they don't.  But what Trick r Treat does so successfully is intertwines all the stories together, so they are all related in the same world and I think that is where one of its strengths lies.  Also instead of having their "host" just tell the stories, he is part of the stories.  Another smart move.  I am sure most of you have seen this film, and if you have not, I am not going to ruin the story by revealing anything here.  Just watch it.



Trick r Treat is the Halloween movie we have been needing and has now become a staple amongst the holiday.  Quite possibly the ultimate Halloween movie like Christmas Vacation is the ultimate Christmas movie.  And to think all the problems this movie had in getting released.  Having been filmed in 2007 the movie sat on the shelf for two years.  No theatrical run, it went straight to DVD.  This is the genius of movie studios.  They release the shit and shelve the good stuff.  Now I am not saying this is a perfect movie, it has its flaws.  But for something that encompasses the holiday so well this is the best we got.  Until the sequel comes along, which yes it has been announced and threatened for 6 years now, but still nothing.  So we shall wait and see.  If it never happens I am fine with that.  It is always hard to recreate and capture the same magic.

So come over this Halloween night, we are watching Trick r Treat.  Thanks for joining me, hope you appreciated the pain staking task of staying up late at times and cramming in a movie a day, sometimes two and writing about them (even though sometimes it would get like 8 views out of a 1000+ friends list ha ha).  I love watching movies and hope you got to check out a few of these too.  And even though October has ended, I will still be watching a horror film come Nov. 1st and all through out the year as well and you should too.  There is so much more to discover.  Watch horror films and keep America strong.

Happy Halloween
Damien