and now the screaming start

  • Subscribe to our RSS feed.
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Facebook
  • Digg

marți, 18 mai 2010

Movies: Turning tricks.

Posted on 04:12 by Roger
Often, it's unclear what's a trick and what's a treat.

When Warner Bros. and Legendary backlisted the Bryan Singer produced, Michael Dougherty helmed antho spookshow film Trick 'r Treat in 2007, the filmmakers must have felt like they were on the business end of one hell of a trick. Not only did the film languish on festival circuit for two years, but planned comic tie-ins were put on hold. Synergy fail.

Though, in retrospect, it may have been the best thing that could have happened to the movie.

With supply restricted, demand grew. Unintentionally, the film added another nostalgic feather to its war bonnet of nostalgic tropes: It became a cult film you actually had to seek out in order to see. Furthermore, it became a genre rally point; its creation of of a rapid critical consensus that the film was a love letter to the genre quickly lead to the widespread perception that the film's backlisting was another us-versus-them sign that the suits just "didn't get horror."

All of this somewhat obscured that fact that Trick 'r Treat is really a middling film. But it is mediocre in an odd way: TrT is an odd experiment in testing whether a film's saving graces will allow the viewer the forgive its weakest bits. Or do the highs and lows cancel each other out, leaving you with a fairly unimpressive flatline?

Depending on how you count, TrT intertwines four to six slender plots into a single movie that clocks in at about 70 minutes. Comic book "animated" segments and the occasional narration boxes serve to orient the view and connect the film to is genre ancestors. (In a happy accident, the film's delay squelched the planned media blitz that was to accompany the flick, so the other obvious function of these segments - to make a little extra cash by pushing the comic tie-in - barely registers on the viewer.)

The script cleverly manipulates the film's timeline to prevent the feeling that we're just watching a handful of cobbled together plots, but ultimately the antho format is the film's greatest limitation. The focus on short narrative segments keeps things pleasingly taut, but also prevents the film from doing anything other than becoming an efficient plot engine. And, to that end, most of the plot's are fairly mundane: two of the main plots are victim reversal stories and one is an extended fight sequence. Only the first extended story line, a nicely Coen Brotherish darkly sly take on the efforts of a suburban serial killer to dispose of a body contains a richer emotional plate, genuine laughs, and some real suspense. Though even that story line suffers greatly from the narrative demands of the anthology format. In a Hitchcock movie or a Coen Brother's film, that scene would have been a real nerve rattling set piece. But without the time to develop the characters or the plot, the scene feels devoid of consequence. It never really matters to the viewer what happens.

The acting suffers the same fate. TrT contains one fine performance (Dylan Baker), one fair one (Brian Cox), one unfortunate one (Anna "Oscared Too Soon" Paquin), and a slew of passable ones. But all of them, even the best, feel vaguely phoned in. The puzzle piece script gives them little to do but hit their marks and say their lines. Occasionally their sole function is to walk through a scene and remind us of how cleverly the film is put together. Ironically, this might have actually been better if the performances were uniformly crappy. In a lesser film, this self-conscious plotting would be a welcome distraction. Here, however, it feels invasive and overtly contrived.

This isn't to say that film is a disaster. The production values are slick and the film's visual inspirations extend to include sources such as Diane Arbus. For the thinness of the plot, the film is never dull. Easily accessible pleasures are found in abundance. Still, the overall result reminds one of a dog on leash: whenever the film threatens to stray or get into something interesting, there's a quick tug and the film is yanked back to a more familiar, regular direction.
Trimiteți prin e-mail Postați pe blog!Trimiteți pe XDistribuiți pe Facebook
Posted in dougherty, halloween, movies, trick r treat | No comments
Postare mai nouă Postare mai veche Pagina de pornire

0 comentarii:

Trimiteți un comentariu

Abonați-vă la: Postare comentarii (Atom)

Popular Posts

  • Music: Meat the Beatles.
    Today's link is flagrantly, flamboyantly NSFW – in the truest and most sincere meaning of the acronym. The Gigwise music site presents ...
  • "The lesson for everyone else: Never attempt to engage in any kind of outdoor physical activity, because traps are everywhere."
      As a horror blogger, I don't get a lot of opportunity to link to Gawker , but said site has taken a break from its normal flow of ...
  • Music: The Wolfgangs, "Cannibal Family"
    So for the past month or so, I've been working on a entry pondering just how many people a cannibal clan would need to kill just to get ...
  • Movies: Half-way through the morning of the fourth day of the week after the 6-month anniversary of the second Tuesday after the Day of the Woman.
    I Spit On Your Grave , the 1978 revanchist rape exploiter that also traffics under the somewhat deceptive label Day of the Woman , reads bet...
  • Movies: Like a little lump of coal for your hoilday horror film stocking.
      What actress reads a script that dispatches her by rape/murder-by-snowman's-nose-carrot and thinks, "All right! This is a film a ...
  • Movies: The second worst thing Bin Laden has ever done to us?
    What hath Kickstarter wrought? It's possible that you were tiring of the zombie craze. Perhaps you've got no more energy for a fast ...
  • Movies: The best worst plan in horror bad guy history.
    Shark Night 3D contains more than one shark and takes place over the course of more than one single night. That's really the only sense ...
  • Guest Blogger: Zoe on gas mask art.
    Screamers and Screamettes, I've asked blogger Zoe Blue, surrealism guru and art fancier, to curate this month's gas mask display. En...
  • Stuff: Bedeck thyself.
    Threadless is having a big ol' $10 t-shirt sale. You can snag this bad boy, Alex Solis's "Battle of the Giants," and a ...
  • Movies: How to build a shark.
    I don't have any particular insights to share about the images below. I just thought they were spiffy and should be shared. From the Hol...

Categories

  • 10 Rillington Place
  • 16 horsepower
  • 2001 Maniacs
  • 2012
  • 2UN
  • a dark matter
  • a reliable wife
  • A-bones
  • abby
  • abrams
  • abu tubar
  • ackerman
  • ackroyd
  • aesop rock
  • africa
  • after dark films
  • Aja
  • aliens
  • all american werewolves
  • Alligator
  • alvin sputnik under sea explorer
  • american psycho
  • american werewolf in london
  • amish
  • anatomy of fear
  • anderson
  • animation
  • antosca
  • apocalypse
  • area 51
  • Argento
  • art
  • arthur
  • as in free you cheap bastards
  • Attenborough
  • Attery Squash
  • Audition
  • audrey's door
  • austen
  • Avatar
  • award
  • Aykroyd
  • babysitter wanted
  • Bacall
  • bacon
  • bad dog
  • baget
  • Balaguero
  • ball peen hammer
  • bara
  • Barker
  • barnes
  • bateman
  • bathory
  • bats
  • Battle Royale
  • Battle Royale 2
  • bauhaus
  • Bava
  • bear in heaven
  • Beatles
  • bed bugs
  • bedbugs
  • bergen street comics
  • Big Alligator River
  • bigfoot
  • bilal
  • biology
  • bitch slap
  • black death
  • black heart procession
  • black history month
  • black moth super rainbow
  • black swan
  • Blackhawk
  • blacula
  • Blitzen Trapper
  • blood creek
  • blood monkey
  • bonnie and clyde versus dracula
  • books
  • Bowie
  • boy detective
  • bradbury
  • breathers
  • Brooklyn
  • Brooklyn Industries
  • brooks
  • Browning
  • Burroughs
  • Burton
  • cabin fever 2 spring fever
  • cabinet of dr. caligari
  • cabrini-green
  • cadence weapon
  • cameron
  • Canada
  • candyman
  • Cannibal Holocaust
  • cannibals
  • captain chaos
  • captivity
  • Carpenter
  • Carroll
  • carter
  • casebook of victor frankenstein
  • castle
  • Castle in Transyvania
  • Castle of the Devil
  • cave
  • Chaney
  • children of the corn
  • chilton
  • chinsang
  • CIA
  • civil war
  • clair
  • clark
  • class of 1984
  • class of 1999
  • clothes
  • Cloverfield
  • cody
  • Cohen
  • combat garters
  • comics
  • Coney Island
  • contest
  • cooper
  • Corman
  • cornered
  • cornish
  • Count Chocula
  • courtesans
  • crap
  • Craven
  • crawford
  • crazy ray
  • creature feature
  • Creature from the Black Lagoon
  • creepy old people
  • crocodile
  • crosley
  • crothers
  • crowley
  • cryptids
  • Cthulhu
  • Cunningham
  • curtis
  • cuthbert
  • D and D
  • d-war
  • Dante
  • danzig
  • Darabont
  • darbont
  • Dark Horse
  • darnielle
  • david
  • dawn of the dead
  • de Védrines
  • Dead Alive
  • deadgirl
  • death ship
  • debbie gibson
  • deed
  • del Toro
  • deluise
  • demon
  • Department of Crazy Crap You Didn't Even Know You Had to Fear
  • depp
  • descent
  • descent 2
  • devil
  • Devo
  • dexter
  • dexter by design
  • dexter is delicious
  • diablo swing orchestra
  • Diary of the Dead
  • dinosaurs
  • documentary
  • doghouse
  • dolphin people
  • dougherty
  • douglas
  • dowdle
  • Dracula
  • Dracula 3000
  • dracula pages from a virgins diary
  • drag me to hell
  • dragons
  • drive-by truckers
  • dungeons and dragons
  • Ebert
  • economics
  • eel
  • el-hai
  • el-p
  • elliott
  • ellis
  • Elvira
  • emerson
  • endo is the bomb
  • evenson
  • evil children
  • evil corporations
  • evil mind museum
  • Exorcist
  • famous monsters of filmland
  • fanaka
  • fashion
  • fear response
  • feminine hygiene
  • ferguson
  • fessenden
  • fever ray
  • fillbach brothers
  • Fleischer
  • flimes
  • food
  • fox
  • francis
  • Franco
  • Frankenberry
  • Frankenstein
  • freaks
  • free stuff
  • Freud
  • freund
  • Friday the 13th
  • fright night
  • from here to eternity
  • Frontier(s)
  • fugue state
  • Fukasaku
  • funerals
  • furlong
  • future of the left
  • Gaiman
  • ganja and hess
  • gas masks
  • gay for johnny depp
  • gay marriage
  • gein
  • genie
  • george washington
  • Ghastly Ones
  • ghost
  • Ghostbusters
  • Ghoul a-Go-Go
  • GI Joe
  • giant monster
  • giant robots
  • gibson
  • Gierasch
  • girly
  • gladfelter
  • glass
  • glover
  • Godzilla
  • Godzilla Raids Again
  • goolrick
  • gorsuch
  • goth
  • gothic
  • grace
  • Grahame-Smith
  • grant
  • Greutert
  • grier
  • grover
  • guest blogger
  • guitar wolf
  • gunn
  • guru
  • guttenberg
  • ha ha tonka
  • Hall
  • halloween
  • hallucinations
  • handsome furs
  • Harel
  • Haring
  • harmon
  • harold and the purple crayon
  • harpes
  • harpoon
  • harrington
  • harryhausen
  • hauer
  • haunt of fear
  • haunted house ride
  • haunted spooks
  • haunted vagina
  • hayward
  • Hellraiser
  • Henseigh
  • hickenlooper
  • high plains invaders
  • high tension
  • Hill
  • Hills Have Eyes 2
  • history
  • hitcher
  • hoax
  • hodag
  • Homecoming
  • Hooper
  • Horn
  • horns
  • Hostel
  • Hostel 2
  • houdini
  • hough
  • house of silent scream
  • house of the devil
  • howard
  • howell
  • hunchback of notre dame
  • Hurt
  • hypnosis
  • I Am Legend
  • I Love Horror
  • i sell the dead
  • i walked with a zombie
  • imp of the perverse
  • improv everywhere
  • Inglourious Basterds
  • insects
  • inside
  • iraq
  • J-horror
  • jack the ripper
  • Jackson
  • Jacobson
  • Jaws
  • jennifers body
  • jigsaw
  • jim carroll
  • joffe
  • johnson
  • Jonah Hex
  • Jones
  • joy division
  • Jung
  • kafka
  • keach
  • kemp
  • kidman
  • Killenger
  • kim
  • King
  • King Kong
  • Kitamura
  • kraken
  • krol
  • kubba
  • kubrick
  • kusama
  • laid to rest
  • lake mungo
  • lampshade
  • land
  • landis
  • Lang
  • Langan
  • Lansdale
  • Last House on the Left
  • Last Winter
  • laugier
  • laymon
  • League of Tana Tea Drinkers
  • lecter
  • led zepplin
  • lee
  • legend of hell house
  • lennon
  • lester
  • let the right one in
  • Lewis
  • lindsay
  • link
  • link proliferation
  • liquid television
  • lliadis
  • lloyd
  • local natives
  • loch ness
  • London
  • London After Midnight
  • Lovecraft
  • lucha
  • mabuse the gambler
  • mad science
  • mad science; hunger; hentges; cannibals
  • maddin
  • magazine
  • magic
  • manasseri
  • manson
  • marebito
  • Mareva
  • Martino
  • martyrs
  • Marvel
  • masque of the red death
  • Mastandrea
  • Masters of Horror
  • mata hari
  • math
  • Matheson
  • maze
  • mcdowell
  • McEwen
  • mcgee
  • mclaren
  • mcquiad
  • medak
  • medean events
  • mega shark versus giant octopus
  • melville
  • mermaid heather
  • meta
  • meteor
  • metropolis
  • Meyer
  • Meyers
  • michael jackson
  • midnight meat train
  • midnight picnic
  • Miéville
  • miike
  • Miss Bugs
  • miss derringer
  • mixel pixel
  • monae
  • money
  • mongolian death worm
  • monkeys
  • monster mash
  • monster squad
  • monte
  • Moore
  • moreland
  • morrison
  • Morrow
  • movie
  • movie news
  • movie posters
  • movies
  • Mulholland
  • Mum and Dad
  • Mummies
  • mummy
  • murakami
  • murderabilia
  • Murnau
  • murphy
  • museum of death
  • music
  • My Barbarian
  • My Bloody Valentine
  • myrick
  • mystery team
  • nanotech
  • Nazi
  • Neanderthal
  • Neanderthals
  • neville
  • news
  • nick cave and the bad seeds
  • night of the demons
  • night of the living dead
  • Nightmare on Elm Street
  • nightmares
  • Nightwatch
  • nine inch nails
  • ninjas
  • Noe
  • nosferatu
  • nova
  • noxon
  • numan
  • NYC Comic Con
  • o'connor
  • obama
  • obamacare
  • Offspring
  • Opera
  • Ott
  • outbreak horror
  • outpost
  • over there
  • paranormal activity
  • park
  • parker
  • peli
  • pengin homosexuality
  • perlman
  • petty
  • Peyo
  • phifer
  • pigeons from hell
  • pink noise
  • piranha
  • pirates
  • pissing blood
  • plague
  • plan 9 from outer space
  • planet of the vampires
  • play
  • Plaza
  • plimptons
  • plum island
  • Plumtree
  • pod cast
  • Poe
  • poetry
  • porter
  • predator
  • predator 2
  • prehistory
  • pride and prejudice and zombies
  • Primeval
  • psychic
  • pulp fiction
  • punishment park
  • pym
  • quarantine
  • radio horror
  • raimi
  • randian
  • random picture
  • rapp
  • raw meat
  • real estate
  • rec
  • red dawn
  • red sands
  • red. del toro
  • religion
  • renfroe
  • rescued from an eagles nest
  • resident evil
  • reynolds
  • reznor
  • richards
  • rines
  • Ring
  • Ring II
  • RIP
  • ripley's believe or not
  • rival schools
  • Rob Zombie
  • robots
  • Rodriguez
  • romance novels
  • Romero
  • rose
  • Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead
  • Roth
  • run for your lives
  • RZA
  • sagoes
  • sala
  • sales
  • sand serpents
  • Sandman
  • santa muerte
  • santigold
  • Santo
  • Santo and the Border of Terror
  • Sariento
  • Sasquatch
  • satanism
  • Saw
  • saw 3D
  • saw 6
  • schorr
  • schrader
  • schumacher
  • sci-fi
  • scream
  • Screamin' Lord Sutch
  • scrotum
  • sea monster
  • sea wolf
  • seabrook
  • sendak
  • serial killers
  • Serrador
  • sex
  • sex pistols
  • shady
  • Shambling Towards Hiroshima
  • shark
  • sharktopus
  • Shimizu
  • shower
  • shutter island
  • Shwarzenegger
  • silence of the lambs
  • silent film
  • silent scream series
  • Simmons
  • sims
  • siouxsie and the banshees
  • Siouxsie Sioux
  • six string samurai
  • skeletons
  • skeptic
  • slang
  • slasher
  • slashers
  • Smith
  • smurfs
  • snuff
  • solet
  • solomon
  • Solomon Kane
  • Sondheim
  • soule
  • Southern Gothic
  • speed
  • Spotnicks
  • springsteen
  • stelarc
  • stewart
  • stick figure theater
  • Stine
  • stink ape
  • stocker
  • stockwell
  • stoker
  • strahm
  • straub
  • Stuff
  • Suicide Girls Must Die
  • sullivan
  • super 8
  • surf rock
  • survival of the dead
  • sweat
  • Sweeney Todd
  • t-shirts
  • Takami
  • Takeuchi
  • Tarantino
  • television
  • terminator
  • terri
  • Texas Chainsaw Massacre
  • the blaft anthology of tamil pulp fiction
  • the burrowers
  • the butcher
  • the cramps
  • the devil's daughter
  • the final
  • the fright biz
  • The Great Slasher Research Project of '10
  • the hills run red
  • the impaler
  • the mist
  • the new kids
  • The Number: 73304-23-4153-6-96-8
  • the objective
  • the roberts
  • The Ruins
  • the sadist
  • the screwfly solution
  • the shining
  • the South will sit tight again
  • the sprites
  • The Thing
  • the ugly
  • the walking dead
  • the washingtonians
  • the woods are dark
  • them
  • these united states
  • Thirst
  • tiger
  • time travel
  • to kill a mockingbird
  • torture
  • torture porn
  • Tourneur
  • Toxic Avenger
  • triangle
  • trick r treat
  • trigger man
  • troggs
  • troop
  • tru blood
  • true blood
  • true crime
  • true horror stories
  • turistas
  • Turner
  • Twilight
  • Unbelievable
  • uncanny
  • Uncle Strangley's Dark Mansion of Big Crap Scares
  • under-utilized nightmares
  • Unity Post
  • vamp
  • vampire
  • verne
  • Ving Rhames for Secretary of Pussy
  • vonnegut
  • voodoo
  • watchmen
  • waters
  • watt
  • we will bury you
  • welcome home brother charles
  • welcome to the jungle
  • weller
  • wereshark
  • werewolf
  • werewolves on the moon versus vampires
  • west
  • what horror movie are we today
  • where the wild things are
  • white
  • white denim
  • who can kill a child
  • wild zero
  • Williams
  • winters
  • witches
  • women in prison
  • won
  • woolite
  • World War Z
  • wrestlemaniac
  • wright
  • wrightson
  • x-mas
  • yeah yeah yeahs
  • yeti
  • you say party we say die
  • young
  • yuck
  • zombie strippers
  • zombie survival guide recorded attacks
  • zombieland
  • zombies

Blog Archive

  • ►  2013 (1)
    • ►  ianuarie (1)
  • ►  2012 (5)
    • ►  decembrie (1)
    • ►  iulie (1)
    • ►  aprilie (2)
    • ►  februarie (1)
  • ►  2011 (53)
    • ►  decembrie (1)
    • ►  noiembrie (2)
    • ►  octombrie (4)
    • ►  septembrie (1)
    • ►  august (5)
    • ►  iulie (7)
    • ►  iunie (5)
    • ►  aprilie (4)
    • ►  martie (11)
    • ►  februarie (8)
    • ►  ianuarie (5)
  • ▼  2010 (172)
    • ►  decembrie (4)
    • ►  noiembrie (6)
    • ►  octombrie (11)
    • ►  septembrie (7)
    • ►  august (12)
    • ►  iulie (14)
    • ►  iunie (16)
    • ▼  mai (20)
      • Stuff: The Jess List
      • Contest: Because other blog fandoms are Tokyo and ...
      • Stuff: George Romero pulls an evil Captain Kirk fr...
      • Movies: Don't worry, you play the German doctor guy.
      • Stuff: “Scaled, forked-tongued Lizarde Men from th...
      • Movies: Ain't no sin in Cincinnati.
      • Books: The lion, the witch, and the uncanny.
      • Comics: All aboard that's going aboard.
      • Stuff: Bustin' still makes them feel good . . .
      • Movies: Turning tricks.
      • Movies: That funky monkey.
      • Stuff: "Dig down far enough into this oogly-googly...
      • Movies: 1) Collect dead, 2) ?, 3) profit.
      • Stuff: Sympathy for the poor devil.
      • Real estate: Looking for a place to wait out the z...
      • Comics: My mash-up pitch? I'm going to put vampire...
      • Music: Lux and Ivy's Favorites
      • Movies: The one I would save.
      • Stuff: Praying to death.
      • Movies: "B" average.
    • ►  aprilie (20)
    • ►  martie (14)
    • ►  februarie (27)
    • ►  ianuarie (21)
  • ►  2009 (269)
    • ►  decembrie (17)
    • ►  noiembrie (21)
    • ►  octombrie (28)
    • ►  septembrie (26)
    • ►  august (33)
    • ►  iulie (23)
    • ►  iunie (23)
    • ►  mai (28)
    • ►  aprilie (31)
    • ►  martie (27)
    • ►  februarie (12)
Un produs Blogger.

Despre mine

Roger
Vizualizați profilul meu complet