| 1 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/trickrtreatposter.png]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:300:[[RazorApples Always check your candy.]]]] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | ->''Poison, drowning, claw, or knife\ |
| 5 | So many ways to take a life.'' |
| 6 | |
| 7 | ''Trick 'r Treat'' is an {{anthology}} horror movie produced by Creator/BryanSinger and directed by Michael Dougherty, and developed from Dougherty's 1996 animated short, ''Season's Greetings''. The conceptual designer was Breehn Burns, co-creator of ''WebAnimation/DrTran''. ''Trick 'r Treat'' was originally slated for a theatrical release in 2007, but was held up until a DVD release in 2009. |
| 8 | |
| 9 | Set over a single [[UsefulNotes/AllHallowsEve Halloween]] night (although there is a flashback set on a Halloween thirty years prior), ''Trick 'r Treat'' is less interested in plot than it is in the holiday itself: the fears, emotions, atmosphere, and the traditions that have coalesced into what people imagine Halloween is about. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | [[AC:Trick 'r Treat has several subplots, loosely connected, that are the focus of this anthology:]] |
| 12 | * "Opening": A young couple (Creator/TahmohPenikett and Creator/LeslieBibb) is divided by his love of and her hatred of Halloween. |
| 13 | * "The Principal": A school principal (Creator/DylanBaker) carries out a double life as a SerialKiller. |
| 14 | * "Surprise Party": A group of college girls go to a Halloween party, where the [[FinalGirl sweet and virginal one]] (Creator/AnnaPaquin), dressed as Literature/LittleRedRidingHood, is hoping to finally meet [[spoiler:(and eat)]] the man of her dreams... |
| 15 | * "The School Bus Massacre Revisited": A group of kids, inspired by the town legend of the "Halloween Schoolbus Massacre", play a prank that [[GoneHorriblyWrong goes horribly wrong]]... |
| 16 | * "Meet Sam": An elderly curmudgeon (Creator/BrianCox) with a DarkAndTroubledPast attempts to get through the night without acknowledging that it is Halloween. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | All these stories frequently overlap and share characters, particularly a mysterious trick 'r treater known as Sam (pictured). |
| 19 | |
| 20 | Not to be mistaken for the similarly named 1986 film ''Film/TrickOrTreat''. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | A sequel has been in development since October 2013, and a comic book with four prequel stories called ''Days of the Dead'' was released in October 2015. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | ---- |
| 25 | !!This movie provides examples of the following: |
| 26 | |
| 27 | * ActorAllusion: Tahmoh Penikett's wife is dressed as a [[Series/BattlestarGalactica2003 shiny, silver robot]]. |
| 28 | * AdaptationExpansion: This live-action film is loosely based on a four-minute animated short by having more characters and stories involved than just Sam. |
| 29 | * AdrenalineMakeover: Laurie's costume gets significantly sexier after [[spoiler: her encounter with Principal Wilkins]]; [[ShakingHerHairLoose her hair comes out of its pigtails]], her neckline falls to expose her shoulders and cleavage (no doubt helped by the [[OfCorsetsSexy corset]]), and part of her skirt rips open. |
| 30 | * AdultsDressedAsChildren: The guy Danielle has lined up to be Laurie's 'first' is an overweight guy dressed as a giant baby. |
| 31 | * AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler: Macy shows some decency before she dies, wanting to try and save Sara when she's dragged off]]. |
| 32 | * AlphaBitch: Macy and Danielle, [[spoiler:(literally, in Danielle's case)]] though Danielle does genuinely care about her sister Laurie. |
| 33 | * AlwaysABiggerFish: [[spoiler:The vampire, revealed to be a mundane SerialKiller, is nothing more than a whimpering victim before a pack of werewolves.]] |
| 34 | * AnachronicOrder: The opening scene is, chronologically, the very last event in the film. After this scene, it tells three stories that are more or less set simultaneously, before backing up to the beginning with another story, set during a time skip. It ends just before the opening scene. |
| 35 | * AngryGuardDog: Mr. Kreeg's pit bull, [[MeaningfulName Spite]]. |
| 36 | * {{Anthology}}: The film shows several different stories taking place on the same night. It doesn't have an Creator/ECComics-style FramingDevice, and the stories all interconnect, with occasional moments of TwoLinesNoWaiting |
| 37 | * AnthropomorphicPersonification: Sam is heavily implied to be the physical embodiment of Halloween. |
| 38 | * ArtisticLicenseHistory: Rhonda repeats the common misconception that Halloween grew out of the pre-Christian Irish festival of Samhain, which makes for a cool [[RuleOfScary spooky]] story but, sadly, isn't true. The real Samhain probably wasn't also as wild as Rhonda makes it out to be, either, and almost certainly didn't involve HumanSacrifice. She does get points for pronouncing "Samhain" correctly, though. [[ItsPronouncedTropay "Saw-wen"]]. |
| 39 | * AssholeVictim: |
| 40 | ** Almost everyone who gets killed in this film was asking for their death besides [[spoiler:Emma]], who wasn't an asshole--[[spoiler:she just didn't like Halloween]]. Charlie is probably the most standard example, though, since he was smashing pumpkins and stealing candy before he got killed by Principal Wilkins. |
| 41 | ** [[spoiler: Schrader]] is a borderline example; [[spoiler: he did play a mean-spirited prank on Rhonda, but he was clearly sorry for it. The movie does not forgive him.]] |
| 42 | * BadassNormal: Mr. Kreeg is armed only with a shotgun, but manages to fight off Sam quite effectively throughout his segment. When the gun runs out of bullets, he resorts to breaking a nearby bottle to fend him off. [[spoiler: He only survives because he unintentionally gives Sam a piece of candy, thus appeasing him]]. |
| 43 | * BaitAndSwitch: Many. Best used for a humorous effect in the opening when Emma sees a masked man dressed like [[Franchise/{{Halloween}} Michael Myers]] across the street just standing there watching, [[spoiler: and it turns out just to be a guy waiting for his ride.]] |
| 44 | * BaitTheDog: Wilkins seems like a nice enough guy at first, authoritative and worldly. He's sure to educate this chubby imbecile on proper Halloween etiquette, and not poison him to death and carve a pumpkin out of his severed head... |
| 45 | * BedsheetGhost: Sam wears a white bedsheet over his head to scare and kill Emma before he slits her throat and dismembers her. |
| 46 | * BewareTheNiceOnes: Remember to always be nice to your classmates [[spoiler:or else they'll leave you to die]]. |
| 47 | * BigBadEnsemble: There are several antagonists in the film. Sam, [[spoiler:the spirit of Halloween enforcing its rules]]. Mr. Kreeg, a Halloween-hating cranky old man [[spoiler:who is responsible for the deaths of a number of children]]. And Steven Wilkins, a SerialKiller who was terrorizing trick-or-treaters throughout the film. |
| 48 | * BitchInSheepsClothing: Macy. She pretends to befriend Rhonda, only to play a cruel prank on her. [[spoiler:Although there are more literal examples elsewhere...]] |
| 49 | * BlackComedy: The film definitely has a dark sense of humor. A good example would be the scenes of Stephen trying to bury the bodies of his victims, which are paced like some kind of wacky sitcom shenanigans. |
| 50 | * BlindWithoutEm: Rhonda can't see well without her glasses. |
| 51 | * BlueAndOrangeMorality: Sam enforces the rules of Halloween, [[DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu silently observing those who obey them]] and [[TheScourgeOfGod targeting those who don't]]. [[spoiler:Kreeg is spared for accidentally complying to the same rule he broke.]] |
| 52 | * BolivianArmyEnding: [[spoiler:Macy, Schrader, and Chip]] aren't actually [[KilledOffscreen seen or explicitly heard]] being killed after being surrounded by [[spoiler:zombies]] at the [[spoiler:bottom of the quarry]], and ''might'' have been able to somehow escape from or placate the zombies (especially if they were only after [[spoiler:Macy]]). That being said, their odds for this aren't that good, especially considering the later presence of the zombies [[spoiler:at Mr. Kreeg's house]]. |
| 53 | * BracesOfOrthodonticOverkill: Sara, one of the four trick-or-treaters, has braces that look ridiculous. |
| 54 | * BrownBagMask: One of the kids killed in the 'Schoolbus Massacre' is wearing an incredibly creepy paper bag mask. Thirty years at the bottom of the pond does nothing to diminish its creepiness. |
| 55 | * BuryYourDisabled: The "disturbed" children were drowned on the school bus. Rhonda, who is implicitly somewhere on the autism spectrum (not considered a disability, but as the film shows, autism is often stigmatized with ableist language nonetheless), [[spoiler:manages to subvert this trope, surviving what was set up to be a DeadlyPrank]]. |
| 56 | * BusFullOfInnocents: In "Halloween School Bus Massacre", a group of trick-or-treaters travels to a local flooded quarry where Macy recalls the urban legend of the "Halloween School Bus Massacre," which claimed the lives of eight children with disabilities in a school bus on Halloween. The driver, who had been paid by their worn-out parents to dispose of them, drove them to that place to kill them. One of them broke free and attempted to escape, but instead wound up sending the bus over the quarry edge with the children shackled inside. The children all perished and the driver was never heard from again. |
| 57 | * CallForward: When the clock rewinds to Mr. Kreeg's misadventure, one of the trick-or-treaters is [[spoiler:wearing the same costume as the boy Wilkins beats to death with a shovel near the start of the movie]]. |
| 58 | * CastingGag: Tahmoh Penikett's wife is wearing a [[Series/BattlestarGalactica2003 silver robot costume]]. |
| 59 | * CheatedDeathDiedAnyway: [[spoiler:Kreeg]] manages to survive the battle with Sam by pure luck, and is then shown [[spoiler:giving children candy, with his Halloween decorations up]]. Sam walks by and gives a meaningful look, acknowledging the lesson learned. [[TakeAMomentToCatchYourDeath After that breather]], however, [[spoiler:he gets killed anyway by the zombie children, avenging their death]]. |
| 60 | * CheerfulChild: Principal Wilkins' son is very happy. "Let's carve a scaaaary pumpkin this time, Daddy!" |
| 61 | * ChekhovsGun: The candy bar Mr. Kreeg takes a single bite out of and tosses away. It later [[spoiler:[[PocketProtector stops Sam from stabbing him]] and becomes an accidental offering to Sam]]. |
| 62 | ** A more literal example, also from Mr. Kreeg, comes in an early scene when he tries to intimidate Steven Wilkins: "I have an NRA membership in my pocket and a shotgun over the fireplace!" That shotgun is indeed fired in the film's third act... [[spoiler: [[ImmuneToBullets not that it does much good.]] ]] |
| 63 | * ChildrenAreInnocent: Only a handful of the children in this film avert the trope of children being devoid of malice and spite. Rather disturbingly played with [[spoiler:Billy Wilkins, who has a childlike sense of innocence about some [[NightmareFuelStationAttendant truly horrifying things]]]]. The nerdy, naive Rhonda is probably the closest thing to a straight example, and she’s portrayed very much as an outlier. |
| 64 | * ComicBookAdaptation: There are two comic book tie-ins to this film. |
| 65 | ** A four-issue miniseries by Creator/{{Wildstorm}} that was originally planned to be released weekly in October 2007 to coincide with the film's original theatrical release before being released as a graphic novel in 2009. |
| 66 | ** ''Trick 'r Treat: Days of the Dead'', a graphic novel published by Legendary Comics that tells new stories. |
| 67 | * CorruptionOfAMinor: [[spoiler:Steven Wilkins is raising Billy to be a SerialKiller [[DaddysLittleVillain like him]], and a few comments about Steven's own father suggest that this is a longstanding family tradition.]] |
| 68 | * CoversAlwaysLie: Inverted with the UsefulNotes/BluRay release as it clearly shows [[spoiler:Sam's true face]]. |
| 69 | * CreativeClosingCredits: The closing credits depict [[spoiler:the zombies getting revenge on Mr. Kreeg for drowning them]]. |
| 70 | * CreepyChild: |
| 71 | ** Sam (who isn't really a child) and the school bus kids. |
| 72 | ** [[spoiler:Billy Wilkins is a surprising example, given how he has no problem with helping his father make a jack-o-lantern from the severed head of a kid his dad killed.]] |
| 73 | * CurbStompBattle: Wilkins is a pretty clever serial killer, [[spoiler:but he’s no match for a pack of werewolves]]. |
| 74 | * DeadlyPrank: [[spoiler:Macy and her friends pretend to be the undead schoolbus kids to scare Rhonda, who panics and cracks her head against a rock. The trope is subverted when it turns out that Rhonda is still alive, and subsequently ''in''verted, when the real school bus kids show up and kill the pranksters.]] |
| 75 | * DeadStarWalking: [[spoiler:Leslie Bibb]] dies ''very'' early on in the film. She does appear a couple more times, thanks to the film's structure, but it's still quite a small role. |
| 76 | * DeathGlare: Danielle shoots one at two of her friends after [[spoiler: Laurie shows up at the party, bringing the masked vampire that attacked her in worse shape than she’s in, and explains why she’s so battered and bloodied.]] |
| 77 | -->'''Danielle:''' [[spoiler:What did he do to you?]]\ |
| 78 | '''Laurie:''' (''glancing at Janet and Maria'') [[spoiler:I listened to their advice and played hard to get. He bit me.]]\ |
| 79 | '''Danielle:''' (''glares at them'') |
| 80 | * DeathOfAChild: The film has several blatant instances of children getting killed. There's a lot of speculation that it was the studio's squeamishness over this that led to the movie's underhyped, direct-to-DVD release. |
| 81 | * DecapitationPresentation: [[spoiler:Sam cuts Emma's head off, sticks a lollipop in her mouth, and makes it into a Halloween decoration for her husband to find.]] |
| 82 | * DeliberatelyCuteChild: Billy Wilkins is absolutely adorable. |
| 83 | * DesperatePleaForHome: In the "Halloween School Bus Massacre" vignette, one of the kids wearing a vampire costume becomes scared when the school bus driver restrains him and the other special needs kids with the intention of [[spoiler: sending them to their deaths]], he breaks out of his restraints and cries "wanna go home". |
| 84 | * {{Determinator}}: Sam is a supernatural example; a relentless force of nature who will not stop coming at you for the crime of disrespecting Halloween until either you've appeased him or he's killed you. Kreeg is a mundane example; a cantankerous old grouch with a bad attitude, a legally-owned shotgun, and enough steel in his balls to fight tooth and nail against the first thing. |
| 85 | * DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu: Once [[spoiler:Sam's]] true nature is revealed, every time in which a character interacts peacefully with him comes across as this. |
| 86 | * DiesWideOpen: The victim of the vampire ([[spoiler:who's actually Steve Wilkins]]) dies with her eyes open. |
| 87 | * DisproportionateRetribution: Those who break the rules of Halloween get horribly killed by Sam. [[spoiler:On the flip side, following the rules even by mistake will get you spared.]] |
| 88 | * DramaticUnmask |
| 89 | ** The vampire's mask is removed to reveal that [[spoiler:he's actually Steven, a [[ScoobyDooHoax mundane and non-supernatural]] SerialKiller]]. |
| 90 | ** At the climax of the movie, Mr. Kreeg pulls off Sam's mask to reveal that [[spoiler:he's a PumpkinPerson]]! |
| 91 | * EdibleBludgeon: Sam attempts to stab Mr. Kreeg with a sharpened lollipop. He later (or, from our perspective, earlier, due to the AnachronicOrder) uses it to murder Emma. |
| 92 | * EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: |
| 93 | ** [[spoiler:The werewolves appear to genuinely care about each other and tend to stick together. Notably, they're all genuinely concerned for Laurie when they find out Wilkins tried to attack her.]] |
| 94 | ** [[spoiler:Surprisingly, Wilkins' threatening comments towards his son were just talk and the two manage to qualify as evil people who care about each other.]] |
| 95 | ** Spite, Mr. Kreeg's dog. |
| 96 | * EvilCostumeSwitch: [[spoiler:Macy, Schrader, and Sara ditch their Halloween costumes for those of rather more scary chained ghouls to scare the living daylights out of Rhonda. Chip simply spruces his pirate costume up with fake gore.]] |
| 97 | * EvilTeacher: Steven Wilkins. School principal, serial killer, and [[spoiler:wanna-be vampire]]. |
| 98 | * ExtremelyShortTimespan: The events unfold over the course of several hours on Halloween night. There's a brief flashback to a Halloween thirty years prior, as well. |
| 99 | * FanDisservice: |
| 100 | ** A woman in a sexy spandex cat costume with cleavage and a see-through midriff? Hot. A heavyset, middle-aged woman wearing that costume? Not so much. When the trick-or-treaters knock on Mrs. Henderson's door and not only see her in that costume but also see a wild sex party going on in the other room, they practically have a PrimalScene reaction. |
| 101 | ** Laurie's friends disrobe before... [[spoiler:removing their skin and sprouting hair]]. |
| 102 | * FinalGirl: Laurie has many aspects of this, being named, as she is, after the FinalGirl in ''Film/{{Halloween 1978}}''. She's even got the Little Red Riding Hood costume, which is, of course, associated with virginity. In the end, however, [[spoiler:she and all her friends survive. And they were never really in any danger at all. She and her friends also kill the SerialKiller terrorizing the town.]] |
| 103 | * FluffyTheTerrible: Sam isn't really the kind of name that invokes terror, [[spoiler:yet he's really a pumpkin-headed monster representing Halloween who will kill whoever breaks the holiday's rules]]. It's implied that his name might be [[spoiler:short for "Samhain", an ancient Celtic harvest festival, on which our modern Halloween is often thought to be based... though as the movie itself acknowledges, it's actually pronounced more like "Saw-wen".]] |
| 104 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: Go back and listen to the conversation of Laurie, Danielle, Maria, and Janet as they're trying on their costumes for the first time, and [[spoiler:[[TheReveal now with the knowledge that they're werewolves]]]] and their conversation [[DoubleEntendre takes on whole new meaning.]] |
| 105 | -->'''Laurie''': I don't know why we drove out here when there are perfectly good guys in the city.\ |
| 106 | '''Janet:''' [[spoiler:Fresh meat]].\ |
| 107 | '''Maria:''' It's what we do every Halloween, Laurie.\ |
| 108 | '''Laurie:''' Whatever happened to Trick or Treating?\ |
| 109 | '''Maria:''' Puberty.\ |
| 110 | '''Janet:''' Last year we were in Tampa.\ |
| 111 | '''Maria:''' And we went as sexy nurses.\ |
| 112 | '''Danielle:''' No, Janet, Tampa was two years ago, I remember because you puked doing a guy in his pickup truck.\ |
| 113 | '''Janet:''' [[spoiler:[[{{Pun}} I ate some bad Mexican]]]], and it was a jeep.\ |
| 114 | '''Danielle:''' Last year was San Diego. We dressed as sailors and ended up with sailors.\ |
| 115 | '''Janet:''' Yeah, and Maria's sailor was a girl.\ |
| 116 | '''Maria:''' So what, she had a nice ass! [[spoiler:(''muttering'') [[ImAHumanitarian It all tastes the same to me anyway...]]]] |
| 117 | ** Also, when Laurie refuses to come out of the dressing room because she's embarrassed of her costume. |
| 118 | --->'''Danielle:''' Open the door, [[Literature/TheThreeLittlePigs or we'll huff, and we'll puff]]... |
| 119 | ** Another example is this exchange between Janet and Danielle while they're at their party and wait for Laurie, who hasn't shown up yet: |
| 120 | --->'''Janet:''' She's a big girl. She can take care of herself.\ |
| 121 | '''Danielle:''' I wish that were true. Mom always said she was the runt of the litter. |
| 122 | ** And what costume is Laurie wearing? Literature/LittleRedRidingHood. |
| 123 | ** The news report at the beginning makes specific reference to [[spoiler:werewolves, zombies, and demons]]; accurately describing Laurie and her friends, the schoolbus kids, and Sam respectively. |
| 124 | * FreezeFrameBonus: If you pause at the exact end of the title montage, you'll see [[spoiler: Sam's real face]]. |
| 125 | * FurAgainstFang: Sort of. The "vampire" who [[spoiler: gets killed by the werewolves was just Principal Wilkins wearing false fangs.]] |
| 126 | * GhostButler: One of them opens and shuts a door for Sam. Or maybe he's just telekinetic. |
| 127 | * GhostlyGoals: The schoolbus kids Kreeg killed want to avenge their own deaths. |
| 128 | * GirlfriendInCanada: In a deleted scene, Laurie claims she’s not a virgin; citing an incident with Dave, an attorney at the law firm in Toronto where she interned. The other girls don't believe it for a moment. [[spoiler:Of course, 'virgin' has a different meaning in this context.]] |
| 129 | * GirlishPigtails: Laurie wears her hair like this to emphasise her position as the virgin of the group. |
| 130 | * GrievousBottleyHarm: Kreeg attempts to kill Sam with a shattered booze bottle. |
| 131 | * GrumpyOldMan: Mr. Kreeg, who spends his days yelling at people and scares trick-or-treaters off to steal their candy because he hates Halloween. |
| 132 | --> '''Steven Wilkins:''' Happy Halloween!\ |
| 133 | '''Mr. Kreeg:''' Screw you! |
| 134 | * HairRaisingHare: During the flashback of the Halloween School Bus Massacre, one of the children evokes this effect by wearing a creepy bunny mask. [[spoiler:And is still wearing it 30 years later, rotted and blackened, when they come out of the lake with the other children to get revenge on the bus driver.]] |
| 135 | * HalloweenCostumeCharacterization: In several of the stories. |
| 136 | ** Based on their conversation in the costume shop, the FourGirlEnsemble always dress to a specific theme. This year they are fairytale characters, with Laurie as Literature/LittleRedRidingHood (as is apparently tradition for [[spoiler:a werewolf getting her first kill]], seemingly for the {{irony}}). |
| 137 | ** Rhonda, who has near-encyclopedic knowledge on the origins of Samhain and is implied to know who or what Sam really is, is dressed as a witch. |
| 138 | ** [[CreepyChild Billy Wilkins]] is dressed as [[SerialKiller his dad]]. |
| 139 | * HalloweenEpisode: Of course, this is a horror film taking place on Halloween. |
| 140 | * HellHound: Invoked by Kreeg, who dresses his rather petite dog, Spite, in black with glowing eyespots and sics him on trick-or-treaters. |
| 141 | * HelpingHands: Sam's hand continues to try to kill Mr. Kreeg after Kreeg has severed it from Sam's body. |
| 142 | * HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler: Rhonda survives what could have been a DeadlyPrank]], but is left almost catatonic from the trauma of the incident for the rest of the movie. |
| 143 | * {{Homage}}: |
| 144 | ** [[spoiler: Sam]] spying on Emma and Henry, via a MurdererPOV, from across the street is one to the opening of ''[[Film/Halloween1978 Halloween]]''. Both sequences even end with a grizzly murder. |
| 145 | ** [[spoiler: Wilkins' date]] running down an alley and screaming for help, only to be drowned out by the sounds of the parade, is nearly identical to a scene from ''Film/IKnowWhatYouDidLastSummer''. |
| 146 | * HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: The events take place over Halloween, naturally. |
| 147 | * HorrorHatesARulebreaker: Sam's mere presence tends to give rise to a lot of supernatural events wherever he goes, giving him a wide variety of ways to kill people who break from Halloween tradition. But as long as people give out candy, stay in costume, don't blow out the jack-o lanterns, and otherwise adhere to the Halloween "rules" until midnight, he'll leave them be. However, [[EvenEvilHasStandards he doesn't take kindly to anyone murdering trick or treaters]] (more specifically, ''kids''), and will go out of his way to kill the culprit, even if they do adhere to the rules. |
| 148 | * HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Most semi-major non-supernatural characters aside from Rhonda, Emma and her husband, the recurring clown boys, and possibly Wilkins' son (although there is still the question of how much he understands of what he's being taught). [[spoiler:Wilkins is a serial killer and one of the only characters supernatural or otherwise who kills more than one person in the movie, something Sam doesn't even do; all of the trick-or-treaters who prank Rhonda are jerks for doing so, but Macy takes the cake for not even feeling sorry for what she did, unlike the others; and Kreeg, who killed all the bus kids. Needless to say they each get a KarmicDeath.]] |
| 149 | * IdiotSavant: Rhonda is stated as such by one of the characters, pointing out she knows a lot about the history of Halloween, but not much about anything else. |
| 150 | * ImprobableWeaponUser: Sam's weapons of choice are a sharpened lollipop and a [[RazorApples candy bar with a razor blade]]. |
| 151 | * InfoDump: Rhonda at one point delivers a lot of exposition on the origins of Halloween/Samhain. The info she gives, however, is SadlyMythtaken. |
| 152 | * InterplayOfSexAndViolence: Those guys the girls are picking up for the party? [[spoiler:[[ImAHumanitarian Yeah, about that...]]]] |
| 153 | * IronicEcho: |
| 154 | ** "Screw you." Mr. Kreeg says it to Principal Wilkins when he wishes him a Happy Halloween. Principal Wilkins later says the same phrase to Kreeg when he's begging for help. |
| 155 | ** As well as "My my, what big eyes you have." First spoken by [[spoiler: Principal Wilkins toward Laurie]], then by [[spoiler: Laurie toward Wilkins as she prepares to kill and eat him]]. |
| 156 | * IronicNurseryTune: ''...give me something good to eat...'' |
| 157 | * {{Jerkass}}: Mr. Kreeg has his dog scare away trick-or-treaters so he can steal their candy. And that's not even getting into how he [[spoiler:killed a busload of schoolchildren]]. |
| 158 | * KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Sam and the werewolves]], assuming their other victims weren't {{asshole|Victim}}s. Also, there's no indication the parents of the school bus kids were punished for orchestrating their deaths, [[spoiler:unless the kids came for them after killing Kreeg]]. |
| 159 | * KarmaHoudiniWarranty: |
| 160 | ** Steven Wilkins gets away with his actions in his own segment, [[spoiler:only to be lured and EatenAlive by Laurie later on]]. |
| 161 | ** [[spoiler:Mr. Kreeg]] wasn't prosecuted for the school bus massacre and isn't [[spoiler:killed by Sam]] either. He gets his comeuppance [[spoiler:just before the closing credits when the zombified school bus kids show up on his doorstep and rip him apart]]. |
| 162 | * KidsAreCruel: Macy and her friends aren't very nice. Charlie also fits, being a pumpkin-smashing vandal who steals candy. |
| 163 | * KissOfTheVampire: The victim of the "vampire" is so pleasured that she doesn't even realize it's happening until she notices her own blood dripping down her arms. |
| 164 | * LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler:The child-killing principal is [[AlwaysABiggerFish devoured by werewolves]].]] |
| 165 | * LettingHerHairDown: Laurie's hair comes out of its pigtails around the time [[spoiler: we discover she's a werewolf who fought off a serial killer]]. |
| 166 | * LiteralManEater: [[spoiler: The werewolves, although Maria made an exception once and ate a lady.]] |
| 167 | * LittleRedFightingHood: [[spoiler: Laurie totally wrecks Principal Wilkins, even before she and her friends eat him]]. |
| 168 | * MaleGaze: The introductions of Laurie's friends have generous shots of cleavage, which play again [[spoiler: for FanDisservice in the werewolf massacre]]. |
| 169 | * MalevolentMaskedMen: Just about everyone wears a mask at some point for obvious reasons, but particular examples include Sam, the vampire, and the schoolbus kids. |
| 170 | * MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: Half the movie has significant things happening in the background to hint how most stories are happening simultaneously. |
| 171 | ** CeilingCling: Sam approaches Mr. Kreeg across the ceiling. |
| 172 | ** Wilkins is unknowingly spectator to Kreeg's fight. |
| 173 | ** The [[spoiler: werewolf]] girls can be seen as Wilkins has a little make-out session. |
| 174 | ** Rhonda is walking in the background with her cart a few times. |
| 175 | ** Sam can occasionally be seen walking somewhere in the background. |
| 176 | ** The three clown teens can be seen on the regular, being the best display to figure out the order of events based on where they are when. |
| 177 | ** [[spoiler: The dead children]] can be seen at the very beginning, going to/coming from Kreeg. |
| 178 | ** Henry and Emma pop up multiple times in the scenes in the town centre. Most notably, [[spoiler:when the vampire's first victim begs them for help, and they think she's drunk]]. |
| 179 | * MeaningfulName: |
| 180 | ** Sam is strongly implied to be short for Samhain, the Celtic harvest festival that is often linked to Halloween in pop culture (see ArtisticLicenceHistory). Samhain is actually pronounced something akin to 'sah-win', but given that Rhonda uses the proper pronunciation, they most likely took ArtisticLicense with the nickname. |
| 181 | ** Kreeg is an obvious homonym for "Krieg", the German word for war or conflict. It's of course Mr. Kreeg that [[spoiler: battles with Sam]]. |
| 182 | ** And his dog is named Spite. |
| 183 | ** Laurie, the modest virgin of the group of college girls, is named after the archetypal FinalGirl from ''{{Film/Halloween 1978}}''. [[spoiler: And while the situation is not as it appears, she does technically fight off a masked serial killer]]. |
| 184 | * {{Mundanger}}: Amongst all the scares in the movie, one moment sticks out as this: the fact that a group of parents grew so sick and tired of taking care of their mentally disabled children that they paid the school bus driver to drive them off a cliff. [[spoiler:And unlike Kreeg, who is eventually torn apart by the now-zombified children, [[KarmaHoudini there's no indication that the parents were punished for doing this]] outside of their cruelty becoming the stuff of local legend. Though the movie ends just after Kreeg was attacked, so they might have gone after their parents after they finished with him]] |
| 185 | * MuggingTheMonster: [[spoiler: Principal Wilkins trying to kill Laurie, a werewolf.]] |
| 186 | * MurdererPOV: The opening and Mr. Kreeg sections have many shots set from Sam's P.O.V., underneath his mask. |
| 187 | * NastyParty: [[spoiler: The college girls throwing a party out in the woods turn out to be werewolves who devour everyone they invited.]] |
| 188 | * NeurodiversityIsSupernatural: Rhonda, who is autistic, seems to have a pretty good grasp of the supernatural rules of the movie's universe, although most of that seems to come from her encyclopedic knowledge of Halloween folklore. It's unclear whether she genuinely expects them to work, or is just going with what she knows in the face of what would otherwise be an OutsideContextProblem. |
| 189 | * NoodleIncident: On one of the [[spoiler:werewolf pack]]'s previous hunts, a chosen victim evidently [[spoiler:turned out to be a woman. And got devoured anyway]]. |
| 190 | * NotInFrontOfTheKid: The conversation recounted above under {{Foreshadowing}}, when the college girls are ''apparently'' reminiscing about their past sexual exploits, is interrupted by an indignant mom telling them "There are ''children'' out here!" and covering up her son's ears. |
| 191 | * NighInvulnerability: Sam is too formidable to kill. |
| 192 | * NightmareFuelStationAttendant / ObliviouslyEvil: [[spoiler: Billy Wilkins doesn't seem to realize that carving up a severed head into a jack-o'-lantern is a pretty messed-up thing to do. That's probably [[CorruptionOfAMinor his dad's influence]].]] |
| 193 | * ObviousStuntDouble: Sam goes from an actual child in a costume to a very obvious adult stunt double when brawling with Mr. Kreeg. They use quick cuts to disguise this as much as they can, but it's pretty obvious if you look for it. |
| 194 | * OffingTheOffspring: |
| 195 | ** [[spoiler: Subverted. For a while, it really looks like Steven is going to knife his son Billy to death. It turns out he was probably never planning to; he was just really excited about carving that "jack o' lantern"...]] |
| 196 | ** Played straight in the story of the Halloween School Bus Massacre, where the parents of eight mentally disabled children hire the bus driver to drown them in the lake. |
| 197 | * OnceIsNotEnough: Averted; Kreeg takes no chances against Sam. [[spoiler:He gets back up anyway, but you have to to give Kreeg that much credit, at least.]] |
| 198 | * OnceMoreWithClarity: |
| 199 | ** The opening sequence is shown again at the end of the movie, and the scenes now make a lot more sense. |
| 200 | ** During Steven's story he briefly sees Mr. Kreeg pounding on his window trying to get his attention, only to mutter "Screw you" and ignore him. In Mr. Kreeg's story we learn ''why'' he was doing so. |
| 201 | * OneCrazyNight: The entire movie takes place on one Halloween night, during which the protagonists encounter werewolves, zombies, serial killers, and other menacing entities. |
| 202 | * OurVampiresAreDifferent: [[spoiler: They're not real vampires, for one thing...]] |
| 203 | * OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: [[spoiler:They're all female, for one, and transform by the rarely-seen, but definitely folkloric, method of tearing off their human skin.]] |
| 204 | * APartyAlsoKnownAsAnOrgy: |
| 205 | ** From the way Danielle and her friends discuss their Halloween party, it is very clear that it's ''that'' kind of party. [[spoiler: Ultimately, however, it turns out to be a [[NastyParty very different kind of party]].]] |
| 206 | ** We get a brief glimpse of the elementary school teachers having some kind of drunken Halloween party that seems to be minutes from descending into an orgy. If you pay careful attention to the costumes, there's a hint that one of the teachers - Coach Schneider - at some point ditched this party for Danielle's party. |
| 207 | * PayEvilUntoEvil: This is [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]] when it comes to the vampire and his final victim. [[spoiler:While Laurie knew the vampire was intending to kill her, she targeted him not out of any moral judgment, but because playing the victim was a means to lure him in, being not only oblivious, but potentially ambivalent to all the other atrocities he committed that night.]] In either case, the victim of this encounter [[AssholeVictim will not missed]]. |
| 208 | * PintSizedPowerhouse: Sam, once again. He's a tiny little guy, portrayed by a child actor, but he is by far the strongest and most dangerous character in the movie. |
| 209 | * PocketProtector: When Sam tries to stab Mr. Kreeg with a sharpened lollipop, the lollipop [[spoiler: impales a particularly chewy candy bar that had fallen on his chest. Sam accepts that, technically, Kreeg has now given out some candy, and leaves him alive.]] |
| 210 | * PokingDeadThingsWithAStick: In the flashback to the "Halloween School Bus Massacre," Sam is seen on the outskirts of town, poking at a dead crow with a stick. This is our first indication that Sam is not just a kid in a weird costume, since this scene is set thirty years before the rest of the movie. |
| 211 | * PoliceAreUseless: When Mr. Kreeg calls the police, he’s put on hold long enough for Sam to cut the line. No one is ever sent out to check on the cause of the call. |
| 212 | * PrecisionFStrike: Used to hilarious effect by Principal Wilkins' young son Billy. |
| 213 | --> '''Principal Wilkins:''' ...go watch Charlie Brown and I'll be in in a minute!\ |
| 214 | '''Billy:''' Charlie Brown's an ASSHOLE! |
| 215 | * PsychosexualHorror: A group of flirtatious girls are shopping for Halloween costumes and picking up dates for a party that night. They have in tow Laurie, who is described by her eldest sister as "the runt of the litter". Laurie doesn't want her sister to help her hook up with someone because she wants her "first" to be "special". She is followed to the party in the woods by [[spoiler: a man dressed as a vampire who had already killed a woman in an alley. He attacks Laurie, and there is a horrific noise that gets the attention of the girls at the party, only for a figure wrapped in Laurie's red cloak to fall from the trees. It's revealed to be Steven Wilkins, the school principal, who's already been shown as a murderer a few times over. He begs for help, as Laurie steps out of the woods snarking that the other girls told her to play hard to get and Wilkins had bitten her for it. It is then quickly revealed that Laurie, her sister, and their friends are all werewolves as they begin to strip down, first their clothes and then their flesh, and the men they'd enticed to join their party are their victims for the night.]] RewatchBonus comes into play as one realizes their earlier conversation at the costume shop was full of hidden clues about what was going on; see {{Foreshadowing}}, above. |
| 216 | * PullingThemselvesTogether: [[spoiler:Sam, after Kreeg dismembers him with buckshot, reattaches his severed hand.]] |
| 217 | * PumpkinPerson: Sam has a pumpkin-like head under his mask. Notably, the face also shares some features with a skull. |
| 218 | * RazorApples: While there's no literal example, Steven uses poison ("Always check your candy!"), and Sam uses a razor blade inside a chocolate bar as a weapon. If you look closely, you'll notice he was given that same chocolate bar ''by Steven'', so it's quite possible that Steven put the blade there - that or Sam just thought holding his knife inside a chocolate bar fit his aesthetic better. Also, as a nod to this trope, [[spoiler:when Mr Kreeg falls down the stairs, they're littered with hypodermic needles, straight pins, shards of glass, razor blades and candy.]] |
| 219 | * RecurringExtra: The three kids dressed as clowns, who can be very helpful in establishing the film's AnachronicOrder. Sam starts out as one of these, too, with a few seemingly-innocuous appearances throughout the film - although the opening montage, and the cover of the movie, will cue you in right away that he's going to be important. |
| 220 | * RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler: After Mr. Kreeg appeases Sam by giving him a chocolate bar, he’s seen giving out candy to other trick 'r treaters and basically doing Halloween right. However, at the end of the night, the schoolbus kids still come for him, since the final scene reveals he was the school bus driver who killed them.]] |
| 221 | * RewatchBonus: On a rewatch, those who pay attention to the dialogue of Laurie's sister and friends will notice that it’s filled with foreshadowing that [[spoiler: they’re all werewolves.]] |
| 222 | ** On a rewatch, it feels almost too obvious that [[spoiler: Mr. Kreeg was the murderous bus driver]], though the first time you watch it, the significance of [[spoiler: his wheezing cough and distinctive ring]] are very easy to miss. |
| 223 | ** Another would be Sam's razor-embedded chocolate bar; it's the same one he snatched from Mr. Wilkins' pail when he went to his house earlier on in the film. See RazorApples, above. |
| 224 | * RoomFullOfCrazy: Sam plasters Mr. Kreeg's room with the lyrics of the IronicNurseryTune in absolutely record time, and festoons his lawn with elaborate jack-o'-lanterns. |
| 225 | * SackheadSlasher: Sam wears a burlap sack with buttons sewn on for eyes and a stitched-on mouth as a trick-or-treater mask. |
| 226 | * ScaryScarecrows: Sam's mask, as well as the ornaments on Henry and Emma's lawn. During the Halloween School Bus Massacre flashback, a quick but atmospheric establishing shot shows a scarecrow in a field of pumpkins on the outskirts of town, as well. |
| 227 | * TheSchlubPubSeductionDeduction: [[spoiler:How the werewolf girls lead unsuspecting men to their feast. Said men are the main course.]] |
| 228 | * TheScourgeOfGod: Well, ''a'' god... Sam is killing unpleasant people on Halloween because [[spoiler:he's the personification of the holiday]]. |
| 229 | * SerialKiller: Steven frequently kills people and tries to cover it up. |
| 230 | * SexAsRiteOfPassage: Laurie is teased by her friends and sister for being a virgin at 22 and wanting her first time to be special. It turns out that [[spoiler:they're not referring to sex at all, but the killing and eating of men]]. |
| 231 | * SexyWhateverOutfit: |
| 232 | ** All of Laurie's friends go out for Halloween dressed in sexy fairytale-inspired costumes. They make fun of Laurie for her comparatively conservative Literature/LittleRedRidingHood costume. |
| 233 | ** Creator/RochelleAytes' character, Maria, is dressed as WesternAnimation/{{Snow White|AndTheSevenDwarfs}}. [[VisualPun Rochelle Aytes is black.]] It looks great on her, though. |
| 234 | * ShaggyDogStory: Kreeg survives his near-fatal encounter with Sam and the harrowing experience inspires him to reverse his disrespectful attitude towards Halloween, giving generously to trick-or-treaters without complaint. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, that's as far as he goes, what with being brutally murdered by the undead kids just before the credits.]] |
| 235 | * ShoutOut: |
| 236 | ** There's a trick 'r treater dressed as Michael Myers from the ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' movies. Also, the character set up as an obvious FinalGirl, as noted above, is named Laurie. |
| 237 | ** Also, a colourized version of the original ''Film/HouseOnHauntedHill1959'' is playing on TV in one scene, along with ''Westernanimation/ScoobyDoo on Zombie Island''. |
| 238 | ** Naming a SerialKiller "Steven" may also be an Music/AliceCooper reference. |
| 239 | ** Mr. Kreeg says "You gotta be fuckin' kidding," while [[spoiler: Sam's severed hand skitters across the floor]], much the same way as Palmer said the exact line in ''Film/TheThing1982'' while [[spoiler: Norris' head ran around the lab on spider legs]]. The same director would homage the scene from ''The Thing'' again in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019''. |
| 240 | * ShovelStrike: When Wilkins realises the body he is burying is NotQuiteDead, he pounds it several times with his shovel to finish the job. All the while, he is trying not to attract Mr. Kreeg's attention. |
| 241 | * SinisterSchnoz: Creator/BrianCox wears a pointy prosthetic nose to play GrumpyOldMan Mr. Kreeg. |
| 242 | * SpiritualSuccessor: ''Film/{{Krampus}}'', which is also written and directed by Dougherty. |
| 243 | * StabTheSalad: A rare example where the "innocent" reveal isn't really much better than the initial assumption. |
| 244 | * StingyJack: Sam's appearance hints at this, [[spoiler: with his [[PumpkinPerson pumpkin-like]] head.]] |
| 245 | * SuburbanGothic: Warren Valley, Ohio has many dark secrets to hide, including a high school principal who’s a serial killer, a pack of werewolves, and the zombies of a group of disabled children whose parents arranged their murders. |
| 246 | * TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: Wilkins looks extremely normal throughout the film. |
| 247 | * TokenMinority: Maria, a friend of Laurie and Danielle, is the only prominent person of colour in the film. |
| 248 | * TransformationExhilaration: [[spoiler: A surprise party of nubile young women turns out to be a gathering for werewolves. They all look beyond ecstatic and moan pleasurably as they sprout fangs, peel off their skins, and reveal the beasts beneath.]] |
| 249 | * TrappedInASinkingCar: The Halloween School Bus Massacre had mentally disabled children drown in a bus. |
| 250 | * TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: In the Halloween School Bus Massacre flashback, Sam is seen on the outskirts of town, [[PokingDeadThingsWithAStick poking at a dead crow with a stick]]. This is our first real indication that he's not an ordinary kid, especially since this scene is set [[OlderThanTheyLook thirty years prior to the main events of the film]]. |
| 251 | * UndeadChild: The school bus kids that drowned come back as zombies to enact their revenge on Mr. Kreeg. |
| 252 | * TheVoiceless: Sam never speaks onscreen, although he makes a sort of hissing noise toward the end, and giggles a little. |
| 253 | * VomitIndiscretionShot: Some [[spoiler: poisoned candy]] provokes a massive display of Charlie vomiting onscreen. |
| 254 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Mr. Kreeg's dog Spite isn't seen again after being attacked by Sam. |
| 255 | * WhisperingGhosts: Starts up the moment Macy extinguishes the last nearby jack-o-lantern. |
| 256 | * WildTeenParty: Danielle and her friends throw a wild college-age party out in the woods, although [[spoiler: it goes from merely "wild" to "feral". Many are killed.]] |
| 257 | * WouldHurtAChild: Resident SerialKiller Steven Wilkins seems to specialize in killing children. This is actually one of the few horror movies where young children are shown being killed. |
| 258 | ---- |
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