FEATURE FILMS

trick 'r treat
superman returns
x-men 2
 

ANIMATION

season's greetings
refrigerator art
crayons
deadtime stories

Hey folks, Harry here... It is outrageous that Warner Brothers never got it together to release a FINISHED film - that even a Weinstein could open in October - that has an amazing one sheet ready for release - and trailers that are screaming to be cut. The friggin' title is the catch phrase - and the line, "THIS HALLOWEEN - WILL YOU TRICK R TREAT?" "WHY SAW, WHEN YOU CAN TRICK R TREAT?" Horror fans, when they see the film, dig the hell out of it. And SIDESHOW is already selling the toys, Mask companies have the costumes and masks... WHY DO THEATERS NOT HAVE THIS MOVIE? The market is STARVING for Horror, the sad thing is... This film would make a mint on its investment in the month of Halloween, due to the title and the visage of the main evil tyke thing. Well... If we're going to see it, I suppose we'll have to wait till October 2009 now. Release willing!

I just got out of a screening of Mike Dougherty's film "Trick R Treat", presented by Fangoria, and the director asked us to try and hype the film up and get the word out so that maybe Warner Brothers would think about releasing it wide. Now I absolutely loved the film, but I can see how they would have trouble advertising for it - it really jumped back and forth between dark, dark, dark, dark, comedy and gory, bloody, creepy horror.

It was a fantastic independent horror film with a tone similar to that of Creepshow or Tales From the Crypt. It easily combined elements of black comedy and fantasy, but kept the gore and creep factors there for the horror fans. Plotwise, the movie was an anthology - it followed four groups of people in a small Ohio town on Halloween night. You had Anna Paquin's character Laurie, the nerdy virgin, and her slutty sister trying to get to a party somewhere in the woods. I don't want to spoil it, but I loved the twist in that plot line! There was another plotline about 4 kids and how they torture the "outcast" girl. The third plotline followed Dylan Baker's character, who was a homicidal principal. The last 15 to 20 minutes focused on Brian Cox's character - the creepy old man that hates Halloween because of a secret in his past. The film jumped back and forth chronologically, but it was very smart and engaging and easily kept my attention even thought I had to stand the entire time because they overbooked the theater. The Dylan Baker scenes were pretty hilarious and got a lot of laughs. He played it really over the top, without overselling it. And that creepy kid/ monster with the burlap sack on it's head skeeved me right the hell out!

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