A horror anthology featuring five macabre Halloween tales. In the first tale we have Leslie Bibb, her amazingly tight little butt, and that cop dude from “Dollhouse” (Tahmoh Penikett), as they encounter something sinister lurking about. The second features Mr. Stranger Danger himself, Dylan Baker as a school principal who decides to teach obnoxious fat kid Kelly a lesson he sure as hell won’t forget. Third up is the tale of a bunch of mean kids taking an autistic girl to an abandoned quarry where some truly horrid things happened to a busload of intellectually disabled kids long ago. The fourth tale has virginal Anna Paquin and her friends attempting to find suitable dates for a party that is in fact a bizarre ritual and no one is who (or what) they originally seem. In the final tale, crotchety old man Brian Cox hates Halloween and finds good reason to be when menaced by a silent, possibly supernatural killer.
Horror anthologies can be hit or miss, not only in their overall quality, but in the individual stories. This surprisingly nasty flick from writer-director Michael Dougherty (scribe of “X-Men 2” and “Superman Returns”, making his debut as director), is one of the best I’ve seen in years. It’s sick, twisted, darkly funny, and each of the stories is surprisingly solid in quality, even if some are better than others. And yet, it has a troubled history behind it, barely getting released at all after being originally set for an October 2007 (!!) release. Back then it was envisioned to have a theatrical release, but instead it was released direct-to-DVD. Go figure, I thought it was a hoot and definitely captures the spirit of Halloween. How in the hell does something like this have to wait two years for a release but they keep hurling crummy “Saw” films at us in cinemas everywhere?
Unlike most anthologies, which are told sequentially and with a wraparound story, this one has stories playing out at the same time (over one Halloween Night) and occasionally bleeding into one another (especially the character played by Baker who appears in three of the five stories). The second and third tales are definitely the most controversial, and perhaps give a clue as to why the studio was reluctant to release the film. They also happen to be, in my opinion, the best of the tales. In the former, I loved the repugnant little fat kid and Baker was in fine form. Even funnier is Baker’s kid, who cries out ‘Charlie Brown’s an a__hole!’, perhaps my favourite line in a horror movie all year. It’s capped off by a brilliantly disgusting and disturbing punchline. And just when you think the film has gone all-out into daring black humour, we get to the next tale. Holy hell this is some wrong stuff going on here and a million kinds of awesome at the same sicko time. Lots of people will hate it, but I enjoyed this one a lot. It has to be said though, that based on my limited experience with autistic people, this film portrays the condition relatively realistically, with few “Rain Man” tics. We also get a great foggy atmosphere in this segment, even if it’s a bit reliant on blue filters. Best of all, the segment is even a little bit scary. It’s bold and different, if a tad predictable and not at all PC. Naturally, I had a big evil grin on my face throughout it.
As for the Paquin tale, I really ought to have seen the twist coming a mile away, but I only picked a ¼ of it. A familiarity with fairy tales is a slight advantage. This story is most notable for its makeup and FX, which are actually really good. It’s perhaps a little bit slow getting to the point, though. The segment with Cox has its moments too, it reminded me of a Stephen King story crossed with “Pumpkinhead”. Cox is terrific as the crotchety old SOB who probably deserves much of what he gets.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Overall this film really surprised me, it’s good, grisly fun, especially for fans of horror anthologies. The studio definitely dropped the ball on this one, but don’t you miss it!
