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Frightfest UK: Another Raving ‘Trick ‘r Treat’ Review
If you raving review posted here a few years back wasn’t good enough for ya, beyond the break you’ll find Phil Wheat’s thoughts on Michael Dougherty’s forthcoming Trick ‘r Treat, which finally arrives on DVD and Blu-ray October 6 from Warner Premiere.
After Midnight, Creepshow, Twilight Zone: The Movie – the horror anthology took it’s last dying cinematic breath in the 1980’s and whilst the tradition lived on for a little longer on televison thanks to the success of Tales From The Crypt, the genre had all but died in cinema. But now the rotting corpse of the horror anthology is brought back to re-animated life with Michaels Dougherty’s Halloween offering, Trick ‘r Treat.
Trick ‘r Treat interweaves four tales of terror featuring all the classic creepies – vampires, werewolves, and monsters, including those of the human kind. Tying the stories together is Sam (Quinn Lord) our diminutive burlap sack-headed guide to the macabre who appears briefly in each story and like the cryptkeeper did in the HBO Tales From the Crypt episode ‘Lower Berth’, takes centre stage in the final story, seeking vengeance on a reclusive Brian Cox. Much like Creephow, the film takes it’s visual cues from the original EC horror comics of the 50’s and the stories feel like they could have been taken from their very pages – a woman who hates the trappings of Halloween, a sinister school principal who has a plan for this years trick or treaters, a young virgin worried about her first time who gives in to peer pressure, a group of children intrigued about a local urban legend, and a tortured recluse who recieves a unwelcome Halloween visitor.
It’s credit to Michael Dougherty’s writing skills that the stories in Trick ‘r Treat seems both fresh yet comfortably familiar and that he manages to so successfully intertwine the stories and not stick to the traditional chapter-style anthology storytelling. With standout performances from Anna Paquin as a virginal plain jane with an undercurrent of smouldering sexuality, Dylan Baker as the high school principal with a secret, and Brian Cox as the reclusive neighbour who carries a huge burden on his shoudlers, Trick ‘r Treat was virtually guaranteed to be a huge Halloween box-office success. Baker’s performance in particular was a revelation, starting out in his stereotypical funny nice guy ‘routine’ before turning the character on it’s head and suprising everyone with his depth and range. It’s staggering to see such a well-rounded and uniformally excellent cast in what is essentially a DTV horror film. I may sound like a broken record, but why this, like The Hills Run Red, hasn’t been released in cinemas – at least on a limited run – beggars belief. To steal a quote from Beware the Moon director Paul Davis, Trick ‘r Treat ‘is like watching Creepshow on the big screen for the very first time’. I’m sure that years down the line Trick ‘r Treat will be remember just as fondly.
Check out Blogomatic3000.com and Screenjabber.com for full coverage of FrightFest 2009.
It was almost one year ago that Warner Bros. brought the entire original A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise to 4K in one massive 7-movie collection, with the limited edition SteelBook version of the set quickly selling out and becoming highly sought after. But we’re happy to report tonight that the SteelBook set is currently back in stock over on Amazon!
While supplies last, grab the Elm Street SteelBook collection for $154.99 right now!!
Orders placed for this re-release are scheduled to begin shipping out September 15, 2026.
[Related] Freddy’s Back: New ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ Movie in the Works at Paramount
From New Line Cinema, the collection includes the original seven films – A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985), A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988), A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989), Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), and Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994) – along with the uncut versions of A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Dream Child.
Two BRAND NEW SPECIAL FEATURES for this set include:
- Boiler Room Confessional: The king of slashers, Robert Englund, takes us on a journey through the dream world, sharing what inspired Freddy Krueger, his rise as a cultural icon, and the legacy of A Nightmare on Elm Street, plus his favorite kills, scenes, and more.
- Freddy’s Footnotes: Robert Englund and original A Nightmare on Elm Street filmmakers revisit iconic scenes, revealing the movie magic and chaos behind our favorite nightmares. Pull back the curtain and relive epic moments through the eyes of those who made them.
Here’s the full breakdown of included Special Features for each movie…
A Nightmare on Elm Street
· Ready Freddy Focus Points
· Commentary with Wes Craven, Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Ronee Blakley, Robert Shaye, and Sara Risher
· Commentary with Wes Craven, Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, and Jacques Haitkin
· Alternate Endings – Scary Ending, Happy Ending, Freddy Ending
· The House that Freddy Built: The Legacy of New Line Horror
· Never Sleep Again: The Making of A Nightmare on Elm Street
· Night Terrors: The Origins of Wes Craven’s Nightmares
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge
· Freddy on 8th Street
· Heroes and Villains
· The Male Witch
· Psychosexual Circus
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
· Behind the Story: Burnout
· Behind the Story: Fan Mail
· Behind the Story: The House that Freddy Built
· Behind the Story: Onward Christian Soldiers
· Behind the Story: Snakes and Ladders
· Behind the Story: That’s Showbiz
· Behind the Story: Trading 8’s
· Dokken Dream Warriors Music Video
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
· The Finnish Line
· Krueger, Freddy Krueger
· Hopeless Chest
· Let’s Makeup
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
· Behind the Story: Womb Raiders
· Behind the Story: The Sticky Floor
· Behind the Story: Take the Stairs
· Behind the Story: Hopkins Directs
· Behind the Story: A Slight Miscalculation
Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare
· 86’D
· Hellraiser
· Rachel’s Dream
· 3D Demise
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
· Commentary with Wes Craven
· NEW – Boiler Room Confessional
· NEW – Freddy’s Footnotes
· Becoming a Filmmaker
· Filmmaker
· An Insane Troupe
· The Problem with Sequels
· Two Worlds
· Welcome to Prime Time: It Really Happened
· Welcome to Prime Time: A Childhood Memory
· Welcome to Prime Time: Sometime in the Early 80s
· Welcome to Prime Time: So It Began
· Welcome to Prime Time: Beauty and the Beast
· Welcome to Prime Time: Making the Glove
· Welcome to Prime Time: Shapeshifter
· Welcome to Prime Time: The Shoot
· Welcome to Prime Time: The Revolving Room
· Welcome to Prime Time: All’s Well that Ends Well
· Welcome to Prime Time: Talalay’s Tally
· Welcome to Prime Time: It Couldn’t Have Happened
· Welcome to Prime Time: Alternate Ending Version
· Conclusion: Where Gothic Plots Come From
· Conclusion: Why We Like Gothic
· Conclusion: Sadomasochism
· Conclusion: Freddy vs. Pinhead
· Conclusion: Freddy’s Manic Energy
· Conclusion: Creating Lasting Characters in Horror
· Conclusion: No More Magic Tricks
· Conclusion: Monster with Personality
· Conclusion: Freddy as Sex Machine
· Conclusion: Campfire Stories
The Elm Street collection is available in this collectible SteelBook packaging (exclusive to Amazon) and as a standard 4K collection that’s also available now over on Amazon.
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