History Film / TrickRTreat

''Trick 'r Treat'' is an {{anthology}} horror movie that was [[ScrewedByTheNetwork Screwed by the Studio]]. It was 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.

* "Opening": A young couple is divided by his (Creator/TahmohPenikett) love and her (Creator/LeslieBibb) hatred of Halloween.

** Sam is strongly implied to be short for Samhain, the Celtic god of death and the harvest. Samhain is actually [[ItIsPronouncedTroPAY pronounced something akin to 'sah-win']], but given that Rhonda uses the proper pronunciation, they most likely took ArtisticLicense with the nickname.

** Based on their conversation in the costume shop, the werewolf pack always dress to a specific theme. This year they are fairytale characters, with Laurie as Red Riding Hood (as is apparently tradition for a werewolf getting her first kill, apparently for the {{Irony}}).
** 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.

* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler: Rhonda]] survives [[spoiler: what could have been a DeadlyPrank]], but is left almost catatonic for the rest of the movie, from the trauma of the incident.

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* FanDisservice: Laurie's friends disrobe before... [[spoiler:removing their skin and sprouting hair]].

* AlphaBitch: Macy and Danielle, though Danielle does genuinely care about her sister Laurie.

* BusFullOfInocents: 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.

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Compare any semi-major non-supernatural characters aside from Rhonda, Emma and her husband, and the recurring clown boys, and compare them to the supernatural characters. [[spoiler:Laurie and her friends are werewolves who lure unsuspecting men to their deaths, but as a different species, their morals may be more akin to actual wolves rather than humans; Sam only kills because he's the personification of Halloween; and the zombies only kill a group of bullies and the man who killed them in the first place. Compare and contrast the human villains

** Based on their conversation in the costume shop, the werewolf pack always dress to a specific theme. This year they are fairytale characters, with Laurie as Red Riding Hood (as is apparently tradition for a werewolf getting her first kill, apparently for the {{Irony}}.

* 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.

** Another would be Sam's razor-embedded chocolate bar; it's the same one he snatched from Mr. Wilkin's pail when he went to his house earlier on in the film. See RazorApples, above.

'''Maria:''' So what, she had a nice ass! [[spoiler:(''muttering'')[[ImAHumanitarian It all tastes the same to me anyway...]]]]

'''Maria:''' So what, she had a nice ass! [[spoiler:[[ImAHumanitarian It all tastes the same to me anyway...]]]]

-->'''Danielle:''' Open the door, or we'll huff, and we'll puff...

-->'''Janet:''' She's a big girl. She can take care of herself.\\

** And what costume is Laurie wearing? Little Red Riding Hood.

* SuburbanGothic: Warren Valley, Ohio has many dark secrets to hide, including a high school principle who is a serial killer, a coven of werewolves, and the ghosts of a group of disable children whose parents arranged their murder.

* PocketProtector: When Sam tries to stab Mr. Kreeg with a sharpened lollipop, the lollipop impales a candy bar that had fallen on his chest. Sam takes this as an offering and leaves Kreeg alive.

* 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.

** Another would be Sam's razor embedded chocolate bar; it's the same one he snatched from Mr. Wilkin's pail when he went to his house earlier on in the film. He knew exactly what was in it.

* ScaryScarecrows: Sam's mask, as well as the ornaments on Henry and Emma's lawn.

** Creator/RochelleAytes' character is dressed as WesternAnimation/{{Snow White|AndTheSevenDwarfs}}. [[VisualPun Rochelle Aytes is black.]] It looks great on her, though.

** Rochelle Aytes' character is dressed as WesternAnimation/{{Snow White|AndTheSevenDwarfs}}. [[VisualPun Rochelle Aytes is black.]] It looks great on her, though.

** Another would be Sam's razor embedded chocolate bar; it's the same one he snatched from Mr. Wilkin's pale when he went to his house earlier on in the film. He knew exactly what was in it.

* 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, there odds for this aren't that good, especially considering the later presence of the zombies [[spoiler:at Mr. Kreeg's house]].

** Another would be the Sam's razor embedded chocolate bar; it's the same one he snatched from Mr. Wilkin's pale when he went to his house earlier on in the film. He knew exactly what was in it.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Remember to always be nice to your friends [[spoiler: or else they'll leave you to die]].
* 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.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Macy. She pretends to befriend Rhonda, only to play a cruel prank on her. [[spoiler: Although there are more literal examples elsewhere...]]

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Sam enforces the rules of Halloween, [[DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu passively 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.]]
* 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, there odds for this aren't that good, especially considering the later presence of the zombies [[spoiler: at Mr. Kreeg's house]]

* 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.]]
* 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.]]

* 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.]]

* ChekhovsGun: The candy bar Mr. Keeg 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]].
* 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]].]]

* 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.]]
* CoversAlwaysLie: Inverted with the UsefulNotes/BluRay release as it clearly shows [[spoiler: Sam's true face]].
* CreativeClosingCredits: The closing credits depict [[spoiler:the zombies getting revenge in Mr. Kreeg for drowning them.]]

** [[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.]]
* CurbStompBattle: Wilkins is a pretty clever serial killer [[spoiler: but he is no match for a pack of werewolves.]]
* 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 inverted, when the real school bus kids show up and kill the pranksters.]]
* 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.

* 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 lead to the movie's underhyped, direct-to-DVD release.
* 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.]]

* DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu: Once [[spoiler: Sam's]] true nature is revealed, every time in which a character interacts peacefully with him comes across as this.

* 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.]]

** The vampire's mask is removed to reveal that [[spoiler: he's actually Steven, a [[ScoobyDooHoax mundane and non-supernatural]] SerialKiller.]]
** At the climax of the movie, Mr. Kreeg pulls off Sam's mask to reveal that [[spoiler: he's a PumpkinPerson!]]

** [[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.]]
* EvilTeacher: Steven Wilkins. School principal, serial killer, and [[spoiler: wanna-be vampire]].

* 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.]]
* 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 based... though as the movie itself acknowledges, it's actually pronounced more like "Saw-wen".]]

* "Opening": A young couple is divided by his (Creator/TahmohPenikett) love and her (Leslie Bibb) hatred of Halloween.

%%* CreativeClosingCredits

* {{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]].

* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler: The child-killing principal is [[AlwaysABiggerFish devoured by werewolves]].]]

%%* BadassNormal: Mr. Kreeg.%%How?%%

* DeadStarWalking: [[spoiler: Leslie Bibb]] dies ''very'' early on in the film.