2. Trick R' Treat - Sam
If TRICK R TREAT had been made only a couple of years later, wed probably be neck-deep in a franchise by now. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you view the endless system of sequels that is the horror genre) TRICK R TREAT hit at a point when anthology horror didnt exist in the marketplace anymore, let alone anthology horror with overtones of comedy. Its a shame because TRICK R TREAT is a delight, and one that was
immediately embraced by the online horror community as a new classic. While not on the level of something like John Carpenters Halloween, TRICK R TREAT makes excellent and effective use of the holidays mythology and iconography. While it can occasionally be too clever for its own good, thanks to shifting timelines and character overlap, more often than not writer-director Michael Dougherty knows when to bring the hammer down on his audience and hit them with some red meat. This is best displayed with the films final story, simply titled Sam. It is the story of a very bad man (Brian Cox, because why not) and his very, very bad night at the hands of the child-sized pagan deity he has offended. Watching Cox get beat into a pulp by a little kid is, of course, hilarious, and Dougherty wrings strong splatstick laughs out of the scenario before pulling the rug out from under viewers with bursts of unexpected brutality. Dougherty also under stands pacing, making the rise-and-fall-and-rise-again of Sams assault a roller-coaster ride. Youve hardly finished laughing by the time the next scream gets you.
Runner-up: The School Bus Massacre Revisited runs right up the edge of being in the poorest of bad-taste, but Dougherty understands that we watch horror movies as much for the joy of retribution as we do for the visceral experience of fear, and he brings this story to two separate conclusions that are stand-up-and-cheer inducing as the bullies get their just desserts.