Patron Saints of Witching Wells

Trick 'r Treat (2008)
directed by Michael Dougherty
rating: 3 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix

There was enough of a gap in the door between the spirit world and our own this soon after Halloween to leave the atmosphere of Trick ‘r Treat little diluted by November. That is essential to the movie; although I’ve just made a case for watching scary movies whenever you feel like it, Halloween movies deserve to be watched in their season. Dougherty does what Carpenter promised but the producers of Halloween only expounded upon once, in Season of the Witch: an omnibus of smaller stories with the holiday – and not Michael Myers – to connect them. They vary in success – there are four in Trick ‘r Treat - but convey a real love for jack o’ lanterns, ghosts, and costumes. Non-believers are dealt a heretic’s end, tales of injustice are revived in foggy fields, and Anna Paquin assumes the necessary confidence for brutality that Sookie Stackhouse – in the first season, anyway – happily deferred to Bill. For those of you who haven’t seen Trick ‘r Treat, allow me to recommend it as your first film next October.