Greetings, and welcome back to October Horror Fest! After the absolute madness that was the last two days, I decided to head back to a good old, cult classic horror film that I am so surprised I haven’t had the pleasure of watching yet. This movie was absolutely terrific. Everything connected, and it was just, wow. It was so good! Stay with me, as we venture into the world of Trick ‘r Treat. Without further ado, sit back, relax, turn off the lights, grab some Candy and Popcorn, and let’s review…

Trick ‘r Treat

Our film starts with a girl named Emma, and her husband Henry. Emma begins to take off her costume once they reach their house, eager to end Halloween night. Henry is more enthusiastic about the holiday, and is upset by this. However, Emma doesn’t care. She blows out the Jack-o-Lantern on the ground, and walks through the gate. However, someone is watching them. In a shot extremely reminiscent of the opening POV shot of Halloween 1978, this masked assailant gets closer and closer to the residence. Henry heads inside the house, following Emma’s instructions, and falls asleep. In a very tense scene, she slowly takes down all the Halloween decorations. She gets to the final one, and the masked murderer jumps out at her. They struggle within a ghost cloth sheet, until we see a Pumpkin lollipop with a bite taken out of it. It has a sharp edge, and the murderer uses it. They slice down, and blood flies everywhere, soaking the sheet. Trick or Treaters run away from the scene. Henry wakes up hours later, and goes outside. He notices Emma’s severed, bloody arm hanging from a tree, as he notices a cloth behind him. He takes it off, and screams as he finds Emma’s body merged into a cross. Her face was bloodied and broken with the cross’s upper half inside of it…

From here, we split off into our four different stories, which I will be covering here separately just to make it easier for you guys, and to make some payoffs more rewarding. The opening credits show different comic books with different stories. We see a boy walking with a bag of candy, smashing Jack-o-Lanterns as he walks. The credits continue, and our stories begin…

We start our story in a massive parade. We watch a news reporter report on the scene, as we go into the Halloween store. There, four girls are getting ready for a party, wearing some unnecessarily flashy clothes. Laurie (of course) is our main girl. Her sister Danielle and her friends Maria and Janet are all there with her. The girls go as princesses, whereas Laurie goes as Little Red Riding Hood. She misses trick or treating, and her friends pick on her for this. She is devoted to the art of Halloween. The girls go out on the town, and get dates for the party they are going to. Laurie is the only one without a date. But remember the girls, they come up later…

Now begins the story of the Principal. We learn that the boy is named Charlie, and he comes up to another house, smashing Jack-o-Lanterns as he goes. This house belongs to Principal Steven Wilkins, and he catches Charlie trying to steal candy from his house’s basket. He sits with Charlie, and talks about the origins of Halloween. He stabs a pumpkin, as Charlie bites into a candy bar. Wilkins looks at him, laughs, and tells him a rule of Halloween. You always have to check your candy. Charlie begins to throw up blood, and falls to the ground, dead. Wilkins is insane. As Wilkins drags Charlie’s body into the house, a group of Trick or Treaters shows up. Wilkins opens the door, his shirt covered in blood. The Trick or Treaters ask if they can borrow a Jack-o-Lantern. As they leave, Sam appears. Sam seems to be a child, with a bag over his head. We will learn more about him soon. Wilkins heads to the backyard, buries Charlie along with other children he has murdered, and has an argument with his neighbor as Wilkin’s son yells from upstairs. Wilkins is put in a horrible spot, and has to kill one of the children in the pit that was not dead. He goes indoors, as his neighbor begs for help, just a few seconds after cursing Wilkins out. Wilkins goes inside, as someone attacks his neighbor. Downstairs, he takes his son, and a knife. His son wants to carve a Jack-o-Lantern, and Wilkins agrees. He takes a knife, and plunges it down. We think it’s his son, but no. The camera rotates, as we see Wilkins and his son admiring Charlie’s severed head on a rotating table…

Now, we begin the most important story. The Halloween School Bus Massacre. The Trick or Treaters from earlier are back. Their names are Macy, Chip, Schrader, and Sara. They are still on a mission to get Jack-o-Lanterns, saying a different story every time someone asks. They find the house of devout Halloweenist Rhonda, who is bullied in school. She has Jack-o-Lanterns, and the squad convinces her to come with them. The group heads to an abandoned, flooded quarry, and Macy tells the story of the massacre. BUT, before we continue, we flash to the parade. We see a man getting intimate with a girl. A sight seen all the time in this movie, but this is different. The man is completely cloaked in darkness, and has vampire teeth. He attacks the girl, and she runs, bumping into Emma and Henry before the events of the opening took place. She dies, and the man disappears into the crowd. Back to the story at hand. Macy tells the tale in horrific detail. 30 years prior (1977), the parents of eight devilish school children hired their bus driver to end their lives. He chains them all up, as they all wear their Halloween masks. However, one of the children is able to escape. He runs to the front of the bus, and presses on the gas. The bus falls into the quarry. Each one of the children drowned, and the driver was never heard from again. In the flashback, we see the bus drive past Sam before it falls into the lake. The kid’s plan now goes into effect. Macy wants to leave eight Jack-O-Lanterns at the bottom of the quarry for the departed souls. Schrader, Macy, and Sarah take an old elevator down, as Chip waits with Rhonda.

As the elevator goes down, we cut to another overlap. Laurie walks through the lit up town, still feeling down about not being able to find a date. We watch as the Cloaked Man from earlier watches her, and she starts feeling very scared. She gets on the phone with her sister, who tells her to head to the party. We hear the sound of werewolves howling, as we cut to Rhonda and Chip, the elevator coming back up to them. They venture downwards, and as they do, the kids are attacked. The Jack-o-Lanterns of Schrader, Sarah, and Macy all go out, as they scream. Rhonda reaches the bottom, and goes to find everyone, while Chip waits in the elevator. Rhonda is out looking for everyone, when ghoulish figures appear out of the dirt to come kill her. She finds the corpse of Chip, his insides being eaten by one of the zombies. They corner her, and she falls into a hole. She hits her head, and we hear the zombies panic. It was a prank. The children are all safe. Schrader, the nicest of the group, tries to comfort Rhonda after the prank. Macy, Chip, and Sarah all make their way back to the lake, where they find the bus, and the masks of the children. Schrader comes running over as he hears them scream. They hear voices coming from the bus, and the actual ghosts of the children come from the lake, and begin to chase the kids. Sarah is caught, but the kids make it back to the elevator, where Rhonda is sitting. She uses it, leaving the kids behind as we hear sounds of flesh tearing and screams. Once she reaches the top, she takes the last remaining Jack-o-Lantern, and puts it in a wagon. She looks around, and Sam is there. He stares, and the two exchange a nod. Rhonda walks into the night…

We begin the climax of our film, as we find Laurie walking down a Jack-o-Lantern lit path. Suddenly, the Cloaked Man jumps out of the forest. He attacks Laurie, biting into her neck. We cut to the party, as we see the girls worried about Laurie. Suddenly, the Cloaked Man is thrown into the forest, where the party is taking place. He is wrapped in Laurie’s cloak, and is begging for mercy. He is injured and scared. Laurie walks in. One of the girls walks to the Cloaked Man, taking off his mask. It’s Wilkins! He is still alive, and as he looks around, he sees what happened to the other men at the party. They’ve all been killed. Remember those werewolf sounds we heard earlier? They’re about to get a lot more real. The girls shred their clothes, turning into werewolves. Laurie attacks Wilkins, biting into his neck, and he screams and screams. We see the bloody scene unfolding, as Sam sits on a log, and watches.

Suddenly, we are at Wilkin’s neighbor’s house, and it all begins to come together. He is an old man, but still has a fight left in him. He watches the news report from all the way in the beginning on his T.V., as we see the argument between him and Wilkins play out from his perspective. He steps back inside the house, and sees what is happening. His dog gets upset, and runs to the front door. He steps outside, and his entire house and yard are covered in Jack-o-Lanterns. Sam is coming. He goes back inside, goes into his upstairs where he hears sounds, and enters his bedroom. In a truly frightening scene, a Jack-o-Lantern lights ablaze instantly, lighting up the room. Scrawled all over the room in blood are the lyrics to the classic song. They are crazy writings, but the lyrics can be made out. “Trick or Treat. Trick or Treat. Give me something good to eat…” Sam comes out from beneath the neighbor’s bed, and stabs him. The two begin a fight, and at the end, the neighbor (named Kreeg, who is a Halloween Hater), fires shots into Sam, unmasking him. We see who he truly is. He is a demonic pumpkin. It’s hard to describe, but he is disgusting. After Sam is shot, he collapses. Kreeg falls to the floor, out of ammo. Sam comes back to life, and Kreeg runs. Sam puts on his mask once more, and corners Kreeg. Sam takes a Pumpkin Lollipop, bites into it, forming a sharp edge, and goes to stab Kreeg. Sam does stab Kreeg, but he looks down, and he’s still alive. Sam stabbed the chocolate bar on his lap. While doing this, Kreeg accidentally gives Sam candy, carrying on the classic Halloween tradition. Sam is satisfied, and leaves. Sam is a protector of Halloween tradition. We go through the man’s house, and find a photograph, taken thirty years earlier. It’s of the children and their driver. We focus on the driver’s face. The driver was Kreeg all along…

It’s now the end, and it all comes together. A bandaged Kreeg steps outside, and gives candy to trick or treaters, keeping the tradition alive. Wilkin’s son Billy sits on his porch, looking exactly like his father, with his button down suit covered in blood. He gives out candy, and has a good time. Rhonda walks through the street, holding her wagon full of Jack-o-Lanterns. Laurie and the girls pull up in their car, laughing to themselves. Sam stares at Kreeg, but leaves him alone. He turns around, as Emma and Henry get home. I told you it would all come together! Emma extinguishes the Jack-o-Lantern, and Sam steps forward. He was the Masked Assailant, and we get the same shot from the beginning of the movie. He holds his lollipop weapon, and runs to Emma. Kreeg closes the door, but not before it is knocked on again. He opens it, and the ghost children from the bus are there. Vengeance is here for him. They stare, as the movie ends on Kreeg being brutally ripped apart by the children he let die…

Guys, Trick ‘r Treat was absolutely amazing. I cannot say this enough. It. Was. Amazing. Like, wow. Just wow. I am so happy I was able to finally see this amazing movie. It truly did all come together at the end. I had my jaw to the floor when I saw those final few minutes. Thank you all so much for watching! And, as we go through Horror Fest, I want you all to know one thing when we get to the 31st. Remember your traditions…