Hey folks, Harry here with a test screening review of the final cut of Michael Dougherty's TRICK R TREAT!!! It's one of the jewels at this year's FANTASTIC FEST - and one that I can not wait to get a look at. So let's see what Johnny has to say, shall we?
Hey Guys, I'm not sure who I should send this to so I'll just CC it to a few and see where it goes from there... Tonight I was lucky enough to catch a supposedly final cut of Trick R' Treat. I've had a few White Russians tonight and I've been looking forward to this film for a while so I know my opinions are biased but I thought my ideas on the film still might be worth sharing. This film is fun from start to finish. It never takes itself to seriously or gets to silly. It's solid with just the right amount of scares and humor balanced with enough suspense to make me want to shit. What the film really has going for it is Dougherty's attention to detail. And when I say detail I mean how he's constructed these elaborate sets that culminate into this legendary Halloween night. The streets are all clogged with brown decaying leaves, the moon is blood red, Jack-O-Lanterns are in every shot and everyone is in costume drinking. He seriously creates this world where the perfect Halloween exists and the entire time you are watching this film you never leave that world. Now I'll just get to the meat and will run down what I thought was the Great, Good, and Bad. The Great: Dylan fucking Baker. This guy is just perfect for this role. He steals the movie in every scene he stars in and some of the most suspenseful parts of the film are with him. He reminds me of something I heard Bernie Wrightson say about horror where you imagine a business man on a street dressed in a suit waiting for a cab and there on his perfectly polished shoe you see a tiny drop of blood. I know I probably butchered that but it really nails his character and how effective he is as the every-man with something to hide. This move is worth seeing solely on his performance. I hope and pray that he gets some major roles in the near future. The Good: Brian fucking Cox as the bitter old man Mr. Kreeg. I mean he is Brian Cox, he is pretty much gold in whatever he is in. I first saw him chill me to the bone as Hannibal Lecter and he's continued to deliver ever since. He is really restricted in what he can do with this character but he milks the shit out of it by being a complete asshole for 15 minutes. And his story isn't bad either. We've all seen a movie where some angry old man gets what he deserves from some supernatural force(think Creepshow) and there will always be a place in my heart for that. And The Bad: The musical score. I had to look up on IMDB who was responsible for this and it was a guy who is new to the game named Douglas Pipes. I guess I can't hold it against him. His only other big title is Monster House and I can't remember if that was decent or not but whatever he did with this film he fucked it up. I was glad that after the first five minutes the movie was so engaging that I forgot about the soundtrack. Maybe horror just isn't his strong suit. Either way it doesn't work. Another bad would have to be Anna Paquin's story. Not to say she's a bad actress, in fact her character is completely adorable in this film, it's just her story in the movie is the weakest. All in all I feel it was more of an excuse to get some T&A in an otherwise ass-less film. And T&A isn't bad at all but c'mon, this isn't a fucking Troma film. It stands good on it's own without an excuse to have some ass in it. Well that's about it. It was a very very decent film, I'd go as far as saying amazing if you're in the right atmosphere. I hope they stick with the early October release date because this movie would kill with an entire month to eat away at. If you're a fan of this time of year, or horror, or of just having a fun time at the movies I doubt you'll be disappointed. If you use this please call me Johnny From The House On Haunted Hill.
