MONSTERZERO NJ’S MOVIE MEMORIES: TRICK ‘R TREAT FINALLY GETS A THEATRICAL RELEASE!

TRICK ‘R TREAT FINALLY GETS A THEATRICAL RELEASE!

After 15 years, cult classic Trick ‘r Treat finally gets a theatrical release in time for Halloween!

Trick ‘r Treat was released direct to home media by Warner Bros in 2009 after first showing at a Texas film festival two years earlier and then some sporadic festival showings over the next two years. Like everyone else, I discovered this great Halloween movie on DVD. Since then, it’s become a beloved holiday classic. Now fifteen years after its festival only showings, Michael Dougherty’s cult favorite has finally gotten a theatrical release at AMC theaters right in time for All Hallows Eve. One of my favorite spooky season flicks, I took in a showing tonight and it was magical seeing it on the big screen for the first time…even though I have watched it dozens of times by now.

Ticket was only five dollars to start! It was a good print with vibrant colors and great sound bringing the lush Halloween visuals and spooky screams to vivid life as never before. Don’t care how boss your home theater system is, there is nothing like seeing it on the big screen with an appreciative audience. Everyone was quite during the showing, save for the appropriate laughs or gasps, depending on the goings on. Seeing Sam and company larger than life was a great experience tonight and one I am so thankful that the folks at AMC provided. Better late than never! A great Halloween movie now getting its proper due! Was like seeing the film for the first time and I’m so glad I went! 

-MonsterZero NJ

Photos: Warner Bros/Legendary

 

MONSTERZERO NJ’S 31 HORROR FLICKS FOR THE 31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN 2021!

While I watch dozens of horror films during the month of October…these are a mix of classic favorites and recent horrors that I feel are especially perfect to watch during the Halloween season!

(Click on the titles below the movie poster gallery to get to our reviews!)

 

Harper (Katie Stevens) and friends visit the wrong Halloween haunt on Halloween night!

-MonsterZero NJ

MONSTERZERO NJ’S 31 HORROR FLICKS FOR THE 31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN!

While I watch dozens of horror films during the month of October…these are a mix of classic favorites and recent horrors that I feel are especially perfect to watch during the Halloween season!

(Click on the titles below the movie poster gallery to get to our reviews!)

 

Click on the titles here to go to the review page for the corresponding movie!

1. HALLOWEEN
2. TRICK ‘r’ TREAT
3. PHANTASM
4. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
5. THE FOG
6. ANY (OR ALL) OF THE UNIVERSAL CLASSIC B/W HORRORS!
7. PUMPKINHEAD
8. EVIL DEAD
9. A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
10. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE
11. ZOMBIE
12. THE THING
13. THE HOWLING
14. THE FLY
15. HORROR HOTEL
16. DAWN OF THE DEAD
17. DAY OF THE DEAD
18. FRIDAY THE 13th
19. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
20. HALLOWEEN II
21. HALLOWEEN III
22. THE VIY
23. WRONG TURN
24. THE OLD DARK HOUSE
25. THE DESCENT
26. HELLIONS
27. TALES OF HALLOWEEN
28. THE HOUSES OCTOBER BUILT
29. HOUSE OF THE DEVIL
30. HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES
31. THE HILLS RUN RED

-MonsterZero NJ

MONSTERZERO NJ’S 31 HORROR FLICKS FOR THE 31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN!

While I watch dozens of horror films during the month of October…these are a mix of classic favorites and recent horrors that I feel are especially perfect to watch during the Halloween season!

(Click on the titles below the movie poster gallery to get to our reviews!)

 

Click on the titles here to go to the review page for the corresponding movie!

1. HALLOWEEN
2. TRICK ‘r’ TREAT
3. PHANTASM
4. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
5. THE FOG
6. ANY (OR ALL) OF THE UNIVERSAL CLASSIC B/W HORRORS!
7. PUMPKINHEAD
8. EVIL DEAD
9. A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
10. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE
11. ZOMBIE
12. THE THING
13. THE HOWLING
14. THE FLY
15. HORROR HOTEL
16. DAWN OF THE DEAD
17. DAY OF THE DEAD
18. FRIDAY THE 13th
19. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
20. HALLOWEEN II
21. HALLOWEEN III
22. THE VIY
23. WRONG TURN
24. THE OLD DARK HOUSE
25. THE DESCENT
26. HELLIONS
27. TALES OF HALLOWEEN
28. THE HOUSES OCTOBER BUILT
29. HOUSE OF THE DEVIL
30. HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES
31. THE HILLS RUN RED

MONSTERZERO NJ’S 25 MUST WATCH HORROR FLICKS FOR THE HALLOWEEN SEASON

While I watch dozens of horror films during the month of October… these are 25 favorite horror flicks that I feel are absolute musts to watch during the Halloween season!

(Click on the titles below the movie poster gallery to get to our reviews!)

 

Click on the titles here to go to the review page for the corresponding movie!

1. HALLOWEEN
2. TRICK ‘r’ TREAT
3. PHANTASM
4. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
5. THE FOG
6. ANY (OR ALL) OF THE UNIVERSAL CLASSIC B/W HORRORS!
7. PUMPKINHEAD
8. EVIL DEAD
9. A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
10. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE
11. ZOMBIE
12. THE THING
13. THE HOWLING
14. THE FLY
15. HORROR HOTEL
16. DAWN OF THE DEAD
17. DAY OF THE DEAD
18. FRIDAY THE 13th
19. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
20. HALLOWEEN II
21. HALLOWEEN III
22. THE VIY
23. WRONG TURN
24. THE OLD DARK HOUSE
25. THE DESCENT

HALLOWEEN FAVORITES: TRICK ‘R TREAT (2007)

TRICK ‘R TREAT (2007)

Trick ‘r Treat has already become an instant cult classic and it makes it’s rather odd release by Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures all the more a mystery. The film was originally supposed to come out in October 2007 for Halloween, but a major release never happened and it was only shown at a few film festivals and then was finally dumped direct to DVD two years later in October 2009, despite favorable reviews and good word of mouth. But the movie has been discovered by horror fans and has quickly become a Halloween favorite for many… it’s definitely one of mine. So, not sure what the studios problem was with this great little Halloween flick, but at least it is finally getting the attention it deserves and has earned a well respected status in the genre.

Trick ‘r Treat is a ghoulishly entertaining anthology that tells a group of stories that are unleashed upon it’s audience in a Pulp Fiction-like narrative structure that goes back and forth in time linking them all together and they are all presided over by spooky new horror icon Sam, who watches from a distance or becomes directly involved as in the first and final tales. We get the story of a young husband and wife (Tahmoh Penikett and Leslie Bibb) who find out certain Halloween traditions are there for a reason, the tale of a school principal (Dylan Baker) with a gruesome Halloween hobby that may come back to bite him, a group of kids investigating an urban legend about the murder of a busload of Special Ed. students with horrifying results, Anna Paquin playing a young woman about to lose her virginity in blood curdling fashion and the final tale about a grumpy and mean old man (Brian Cox) who is tricked and treated on Halloween night by Sam himself.

Written and directed by Michael Dougherty we get a movie that understands that Halloween should be spooky, scary and ghoulish fun…and Trick R Treat is all those things, a movie that embodies the spirit of Halloween as few others apart from John Carpenter’s classic have. The film is thick with atmosphere, stunning cinematography by Glen MacPherson, top notch gore and make-up FX and plenty of frights and delights. The cast all take their parts seriously and play them with exactly the right tone needed in the context of their story, making it all work perefectly in the Halloween spirit it is intended and evil little imp Sam is the spooky icing on the ghoulish cake.

A real Halloween treat if ever there was one. Trick ‘r Treat is now part of my Halloween watching tradition alongside Carpenter’s legendary fright fest and one of my all time favorite Halloween season films!

4 spooky Sams!