Trick 'r Treat - All About It

Halloween, the spookiest time of the year and in my opinion the best holiday, is right around the corner. It is a time when horror fans really get to come out of their shells, and the world joins us in our celebration of terror.

The holiday has also spawned its own subgenre of spooky movies, centered around the season itself. Any horror movie could be watched for Halloween, but it is so much more satisfying to watch one that takes place on Halloween. So, check your candy and keep those jack-o-lanterns lit, because it’s time to cover the 2007 film Trick ’r Treat!

As usual, there will be a spoiler-free review covering the film. This will be followed by a spoiler-filled, in-depth review complete with some fun facts. Before you read the spoiler section, I recommend that you see the movie for yourself! You currently can watch it with a subscription on Max, but you also can always rent it as well. Alright, let’s dig into Trick ’r Treat.

Trick ’r Treat is a wonderful movie to watch during the Halloween season. It is an anthology that takes place on Halloween. Each segment has its own special charm, and nothing about it feels rushed. Sometimes when you have an anthology, there are one or two segments that feel significantly weaker than others, but that is not the case here.

Some standout performances include Dylan Baker as Steven and Brian Cox as his neighbor Mr. Kreeg. Everybody’s performance is pretty good in this film. I feel like the story does a good job of connecting all these characters and their respective segments in a way that makes sense.

There are also some pretty good payoffs. We see glimpses of or references to the other segments intertwined with each other. It’s the kind of thing that makes you say, “Oh cool! That’s what happened” or “So, that’s how they connect.”

Nothing in this movie feels forced, and it is a great film that really captures the spirit of Halloween. I highly recommend it for your Halloween horror of choice!

Spoilers Ahead!

Now that the general review is over, let’s get buried deep in Trick ’r Treat!

The movie opens with an old-fashioned public service announcement detailing the rules that trick or treaters should follow to stay safe on Halloween. This was not initially planned. This short was created by editor Bill Neil for the trailer, and director Mike Dougherty loved it so much that he put it in the film. It is a nice way to set up the tone for the film. It feels nostalgic, even though that kind of thing was before my time. While the video doesn’t list the movie’s specific rules, it does still present the idea that there are rules you should follow on Halloween.

The movie then cuts to the intro scene. A couple arrives home from a Halloween party. One of them, Emma (Leslie Bibb), can only be described as the Ebenezer Scrooge of Halloween. She decides that they must take down their decorations on Halloween night. The first rules of Trick ’r Treat are introduced in this scene: Don’t take down your decorations early and don’t blow out your jack-o-lanterns. This second rule becomes a huge part of the lore moving forward in the film.

The first segment follows Charlie (Brett Kelly) as he journeys across the neighborhood on Halloween night. We see that he is a troublemaker, smashing jack-o-lanterns and taking more than one piece of candy from those houses with “take one” written above their candy bowls. His behavior gets him punished. Steven Wilkins (Dylan Baker) approaches and offers him some candy. It is in this moment that we learn another rule of the Trick ’r Treat universe: Always check your candy. In a rather disgusting sequence, Charlie proceeds to projectile vomit chocolatey blood. A fun fact about this blood is that it had a chocolatey mint flavor, and according to Dougherty, it “actually tasted pretty good.”

We then see Wilkins hide the body by burying poor Charlie in his backyard. He also has his son join him in carving a jack-o-lantern out of Charlie’s head. Yes, the kid was a bit of a menace, but he didn’t deserve this fate.

So far, we’ve learned 3 rules: Always check your candy, don’t take down your decorations early, and keep your jack-o-lanterns lit. As I said, the jack-o-lantern one is important, and we see it again in this next segment.

Four kids—Macy, Sara, Schrader, and Chip, played by Britt McKillip, Isabelle Deluce, Jean-Luc Bilodeau, and Alberto Ghisi respectively—are collecting jack-o-lanterns. They recruit the help of Rhonda (Samm Todd) who has a yard filled with them. They then take the lanterns to an old, abandoned rock quarry.

Macy tells the story of a bus full of kids that, on one fateful day, plummeted off the edge of the quarry and led the children to an untimely demise. Macy explains to the group that they are there to pay their respects to those children by bringing them jack-o-lanterns. So, the kids take the old elevator down to the bottom.

It is then that, in a cruel prank, the other four lead Rhonda to believe that the bus full of kids have become zombies and are hunting her down. I would just like to say that this was not deserved. Rhonda was so sweet. She even comforted Chip, the one who was leading her into the trap, believing that he was scared.

Even more infuriating is the character Macy. While all the others feel bad for what they had done, realizing that they had gone too far, Macy shows no compassion. She even goes so far as to kick the last lit jack-o-lantern into the water. This was a big mistake. Turns out, the zombie children are real, and while Rhonda rides the elevator to safety with her lit jack-o-lanterns, Macy, Sara, Schrader, and Chip are left to a gruesome fate at the hands of the zombie children.

As Rhonda leaves with her wagon of jack-o-lanterns, we see the spirit of Halloween, Sam, watching from afar. I feel it is important to mention that little Sam, played by Quinn Lord, is the through line in Trick ’r Treat. He is the spirit of Halloween, connecting all these stories to one another.

The next segment follows a group of women headed to a party. They are attempting to get dates for this party, but we find out that they are werewolves and actually just need victims for their Lycan ritual. In this segment, we see Steve Wilkins receive justice. He has been hunting women while dressed as a vampire, but he picked the wrong woman to prey on. Once again, we see little Sam lurking in the shadows as all of this takes place.

I want to talk about just how great this segment is. First, we see a reference to the classic rivalry between vampires and werewolves, but what I really find interesting is the fact that these werewolves are women. Dougherty believed that there weren’t enough female werewolves in media. “Why should guys get to have all the fun?” he posted on X. We also get to see a reference to the classic tale of “Little Red Riding Hood” as our main werewolf, Laurie, played by Anna Paquin, is wearing a “Little Red Riding Hood” costume.

In the final tale we get to see Sam in action. We also learn the final rule of Trick ’r Treat: Always hand out candy. Mr. Kreeg (Brian Cox) is an old man who does not embody the spirit of Halloween. Instead of handing out candy, he scares away the children. Sam does not like this.

We get a wonderful sequence, maybe the best, of little Sam terrorizing Mr. Kreeg. He writes “Trick or Treat” everywhere, crawls on the walls and ceiling, all the while coming for Mr. Kreeg with a razor blade. Only when Sam goes for the kill does he see the chocolate bar on Kreeg’s lap. He stabs it instead and leaves, now content that he has received candy. The rest of the night, Mr. Kreeg hands out candy to all the kids.

At the very end, it is revealed that Mr. Kreeg is the bus driver from the previous story involving the rock quarry. The zombie children arrive at his door, and the movie ends.

Overall, Trick ’r Treat is quite a good time. It’s a great film for Halloween, and I highly recommend that you watch it. Hopefully, you’ve seen it already if you’ve read this far, but if you haven’t, then what are you waiting for?

I hope you enjoyed reading this post! If you want more fun facts, visit The Nerdist, which is the source for my fun facts in this post. Stay spooky, everyone!