Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Always Check Your Candy

After literally years of waiting, I watched Trick 'r Treat last night. Since the blu-ray I purchased hadn't arrived yet, I hit up the local blockbuster and was happy to see that every dvd was already rented out (word-of-mouth is a wonderful thing). Only one blu-ray remained. Pretty impressive since it was only 4 PM. I snatched up the disc and hurried home.
It was strange to finally have something in my hands that we've all been talking about for so long. God knows how many times I've watched the trailer or have studied the promotional art and stills.  I'm very VERY happy to report that it was worth the wait. It's easy to say that Trick 'r Treat is the most visually pleasing Halloween film I've ever seen. Enchanting images that made me wish I lived in that town. It was Halloween overload. Every frame included something I wanted to study, and I look forward to repeated viewings to take it all in - jack o'lanterns, cornfields, scarecrows, Halloween parades, costumes, decorations, and elaborate yard haunts.
Michael Dougherty is a fantastic director and his love for Halloween is everywhere in his film. He's also the film's writer and his anthology's stories flow seamlessly. He's made a film that will be added to the Halloween season's list of required viewing.
Leaves fall like snow in Trick 'r Treat. And it's magic.

17 comments:

Cindy Alderton said...

You've now built my anticipation to even greater heights!
Our local Blockbusters have closed, Redbox doesn't stock it yet, and the local Walmarts and Targets didn't have it in! I will be hitting up other stores 20 miles away today...wish me luck! I'm so jealous ;)

Anonymous said...

Well at least I'm not the only one who could not buy it yet.
Glad to hear it is worth the wait

Rot said...

We were surprised to see that it's available on our local cable tv on-demand.

bean said...

I wanna freeze frame every scene with jack o'lanterns so I can see all their faces.

ShellHawk said...

Amazing movie! I rented it (didn't have the Netflix one yet), watched it almost the second I got home from school, watched all the extras, then watched it again with the commentary.
Stunning visuals and done by someone who loves the holiday as much as we do!

Rot said...

We decided to save the extras for the copy that we purchased...trying to drag this out as long as possible : )

Bob said...

I pre-ordered mine last week and was very surprised to actually get it yesterday. I don't have BlueRay, but the movie still oozed off the HDTV with wonderful Halloween goodness. The DVD has a widescreen version so that helped. I really liked the movie, but I think that it's a movie you have to watch in a dark room full of big Halloween fans. My wife loves Halloween, but more of the crafty/cutesy side of it, so of course she thought it was corny. I think there were some cheesy parts, and I thought the timeline was a little iffy, but overall I really liked it. I agree Rot, I would LOVE to live in that town.
I give it 3 stars our of 4

Rot said...

Dougherty is a neat guy. We've emailed a few times and he's been super kind about my haunt. He once promoted my site as "Halloween done right" and after seeing Trick 'r Treat, man, that's just the most humbling compliment ever.

Pumpkin Jack said...

I watched it three times in a row. Can't get enough. BestBuy had it for $14.99

SPOOKSHOWS.COM said...

Mine didn't arrive in the mail yet either, so I went to Best Buy shortly after they opened. There were only 8 Blu-Ray copies, I bought one, I don't mind having multiples of this film!

I feel exactly the same way as Bean - my yard haunt last year had dozens of jack o'lanterns carved based on stills from this film.

An amazing, beautiful movie, I'm so glad it's finally available to all.

AllHallowSteve said...

As someone who's been talking about this movie for over 2 years, I'm so glad people are seeing it and are enjoying it. I was so worried I was overhyping it on my site.

My copy hasn't yet arrived in the mail, so I had to download it on iTunes. Hey, multiple purchases will help it overall...

JHMDF said...

Such a good movie... got the BlueRay and it was fantastic!!

Grim said...

I went by Wal-Mart as soon as I got off work yesterday morning, not really expecting them to have it out yet, but I had to check. I was excited when I saw it in the glass display case and took off searching for someone to open the case (which is kind of a challenge at 6 a.m.). I finally found somebody after about 5 minutes of walking around frantically and hanging around the counter in the electronics section. I told the irritated looking guy that I needed to get a dvd out of the case, and he huffed and snatched up the keys and followed me to where the Trick 'r Treat movies were. I pointed to the one I wanted and he just opened the case, which turned out to be unlocked the whole time, and handed me one and looked at me like I was the dumbest person alive. Feeling like the dumbest person alive, I just said "thanks" and took off to pay for it.
I was very impressed with everything in the movie, and couldn't believe it was even better than I had imagined!

M & J said...

I loved it too! It was a little different than I expected, but I agree that you really need to love Halloween to love this movie. People who don't love it as much, will probably think it's corny.

I didn't know what to do once I had it! I had been looking forward to it for so long that it was kind of like a shock when I actually had it!! I didn't want all the excitement to leave, so we didn't watch all the special features yet.

I'm looking forward to using the $25 to Sideshow toys that came with the Blu-ray to buy the Sam doll!! :)

Black Friday said...

I bought the dvd the first day it came out at Best Buy and like others have mentioned copies were going pretty fast. While I was there a couple other people were actually looking at copies while I picked mine up. As soon as I got home I just had to watch it after waiting for over 2 years lol. This movie was simply AMAZING. Easily my favorite "Halloween" film and probably one of my favorite horror films of all time. Last year I purchased the book that came out to promote the movie and if you don't have it it's a MUST buy! The year before that I got the 15 inch Sam doll for my birthday and he now proudly stands on my bureau. I will most likely be purchasing the comic and soundtrack once they're released later this month.

The Gill-Man said...

I'm so pleased that, after several years of waiting, this movie actually SURPASSED my expectations! (a rarity, for sure). Easily the best Halloween themed film since Carpenter's 1978 masterpiece!

Shotgun_Mario said...

I just got back from a week long vacation to find my copy waiting for me. After nearly an hour of debating, I decided that I was too tired to truly enjoy the movie, so I'm planning on watching it later tonight. I can't wait. So excited!



Also, I hear that Dougherty is planning out a sequel already. :P

He's thinking about Halloween in different eras, with Sam being the connecting theme between them.

Sounds like a cool idea to me. Hopefully some studio will see how good the DVDs sell/rent, and the next one will be in theaters like this one should have been!