One of the best elements of Halloween is that you can really pull a lot out of horror material from it, and “Trick or Treat!” is no exception. One of the things I love about “Trick or Treat!” is how inexplicable everything that goes down here is. There are a ton of events that amount to merely hapless people falling victim to the Halloween rituals that many people and beings hold sacred.
On the first Halloween in their new home, married couple Travis and Beth prepares to turn in for the night, but encounter an unexpected trick-or-treater. The trick or treater, donning a skull mask and magician outfit, insists on tricks when he learns Travis doesn’t have treats. There isn’t a ton of exposition on Beth and Travis, only that they don’t really take Halloween all that seriously. Suddenly the epitome of the holiday shows up in the flesh taking the idea of Trick or Treat way too seriously.
Andrew Glessner as the mysterious “Magician” with the skull face is a wonderful horror villain, and I was left with so many questions when the movie ended. Is the magician wearing a mask or is the skull their face? Are they supernatural or just a rabid Halloween follower? Regardless, “Trick or Treat!” thrives on the sadistic and dark humor that compliments the tension and inevitable gruesome violence that follows. I just had a great time, and I love how there’s no other message here beyond “Respect the rituals of Halloween.”
I love short films that feel like episodes from a TV horror anthology, and Wesley Mellott’s “Trick or Treat!” feels like something out of “Tales from the Darkside.”