Summary:
An anthology film that interweaves five stories about Halloween.
My Thoughts:
I remember being excited for this film before it even came out; that was over a decade ago now (wow, time flies), but this film is still rather dear to my heart. Strangely enough, this film had a hard time getting off the ground. I remembered reading internet whispers about how great this movie was months before I heard that it wasn’t going to receive a theatrical release (I can’t remember the exact reasoning why). Nevertheless, I was so excited for the film that when it hit DVD I remember buying it the day of and showing it to my friends multiple times over the next year. Sam, the most iconic person (creature?) in this film, quickly became one of my favorite Halloween ghouls, right up there with Freddy Kruger. This is a nigh perfect Halloween Film- (I wont go so far as to call it a perfect movie, but for a Halloween flick it’s pretty darn great).
“Don’t forget to help me with the eyes!”
In a small festive town on the night of Halloween, five different events take place, all of them woven together through tenuous connections. There’s the story of a high school principal that moonlights as a serial killer (Dylan Baker, “Happiness”), a college virgin being pressured by her friends to have sex (Anna Paquin, “The Piano”), a group of teenagers messing around with a socially awkward teen, an elderly cantankerous man dealing with trick’r treaters (Brian Cox, “X2: X-Men United”), and a happy couple winding down from the festivities. As the stories play out on screen, devilish tricks will be played, and murderous intentions will come to light.
So, first and foremost, the reason that I really like this movie is that it’s a horror movie about Halloween that completely captures the spirit of the holiday. On our podcast, we recently had a discussion about our favorite Halloween movies, and in that episode I stated that there was a difference between straight horror films (like “The Omen” or “The Exorcist”) and true Halloween horror films (like “Halloween” or this film). The film does have some creepy parts, but it also has a lot of very dark humor throughout, and as a result it provides a balanced horror movie. It doesn’t make the experience too terrifying for non-horror fans, but it does provide a good amount of creepy moments for people that are looking for thrills. This is a movie that I think most people could probably enjoy, regardless of their prior opinions on horror movies. I personally could probably watch once a year because it so perfectly works around Halloweentime.
The other thing that really sticks out about this film is the writing. I love the way that Dougherty works in all sorts of lore and backstory about the town and the people in it in such a short amount of time. The film is just over an hour and twenty minutes long, but in that time we’re given an interesting portrait of the town and the dark history that dwells beneath the surface. Also, there are plenty of connections throughout the storylines, from little connections like seeing characters in the backgrounds of different storylines, to larger connections that give insights into the character’s and their backstories. The way that the stories play out are nonlinear too, so we have some scenes that come back around again from different perspectives. Really, the film feels like a Halloween version of “Pulp Fiction”- and for that reason alone I like it even more.
Verdict:
Dark humor, clever writing, memorable characters and some truly fun twists make this movie an amazing Halloween treat. I wont make claims saying this is the best Halloween movie ever made or anything like that, but as far as capturing the spirit of the holiday, this movie does far better than most horror flicks. It’s a fun ride with enough tricks up its sleeve to make you want to come back again.
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