"A
satisfying collection of wickedly funny and bloodthirsty stories.”
Tales of Halloween is
an anthology of ten short films celebrating the holiday, especially its
traditional creepy decorations and trick-and-treating. Created by eleven
filmmakers, it is a mixed bag of different spooky tales involving imps, ghouls,
psychopaths and even extraterrestrial forces. It touches different subgenres of
horror films like slasher, splatter, psychological, monsters and supernatural.
Indeed, there is always something here for every taste. The collection has a
macabre appetite for bloodlust but it also has an amusingly dark sense of
humor, diluting the bloodfest and terror and reaching out more to a wider
audience.
The movie is narrated by a radio DJ (Adrienne Barbeau) as
she keeps track of the madness breaking out all over an unnamed town. Dave
Parker’s Sweet Tooth is the first of
these ten shorts. It introduces a new monster mythology, an urban legend about
a ghoul who punishes those who do not share their holiday candy stash. The
monster is frighteningly outfitted here and some gluttonous babysitters sample
his intestinal-ripping rage.
The Night Billy Raised
Hell (by Darren Lynn Bousman) is deeply disturbing and its violence a
little too inappropriate. With everyone guised as monsters, the Devil (Barry
Boswick) and his elfish cohort spread wicked mischief around town and pit them
all on an innocent tied-up little boy. Boswick is nastily entertaining here and
his series of pranks is well-staged. Similarly, Adam Gierasch’s Trick summons evil from pint-sized
innocents. It is an extreme example of revenge story as a bunch of
trick-or-treating kids become initiators of carnage. Cinematography and
production design is superb but its brutality overrides the fun.
The succeeding three tales put females upfront. The Weak and the Wicked (Paul Solet) is
about a trio of spiteful bullies and their victim’s retribution by calling
forth an evil mercenary. The tale is somewhat anticlimactic but Grace Phipps
carries the sequence with charisma and bad girl vibe. Axelle Carolyn’s Grim Grinning Ghost is the most
forgettable tale in the anthology. After a night of sharing ghost stories, a
girl’s nightmare comes true as she is followed home by a spectre. The material
is too banal and storytelling is too sluggishly paced. Lucky McKee’s Ding Dong is another unfortunate miss
with its too abstract narrative. A woman becomes a witch to her husband after
she losses their child and becomes unable to conceive again. The story does not
jive well with the film’s overall gleeful tone. It becomes over-serious with
its theme of domestic violence.
This Means War (by
John Skipp and Andrew Kasch) is one of the most engaging tales in the movie.
Two neighbors become hostile and antagonistic with one another while competing
for the best Halloween displays. The dialogues are effective, the throw of
lines is absorbing, and the final showdown of gory swan dive is wickedly
satisfying. Friday the 31st
(by Mike Mendez) is another superb creation. It is perhaps the most comedic
tale as it pits a shamelessly perverted masked killer with an adorably tiny,
persistent and predatory alien being. It is a confident slasher spoof with
excessive blood sprays on people’s face and a cute stop-motion animation
sequence.
The last two shorts are unlucky twists for some
Halloweeners. In The Ransom of Rusty Rex (by Ryan
Schifrin), two kidnappers abduct a rich man’s son only to find out that their
catch is not who they think he is. John Landis has a significant cameo here.
Lastly, Neil Marshall’s Bad Seed is
about a pumpkin, after being masterfully craved, eats its owners and goes on a
killing spree. It has an elaborate plot, involving a female detective who discovers the source of the animated human-eater. This finale also
ties up together all of the movie’s previous stories.
The movie is remarkably coherent and cohesive for an
anthology. The opening is rather extended as it identifies the shorts’ titles
and their filmmakers, complete with pop-up cartoons. However, once the first
tale kicks in, the spell begins and a long night filled with bloody terror
awaits a suburban neighborhood.
The film is filled with references and exciting cameos.
Characters can also be seen wandering from one story to another. Most of its
tales are inventive and refreshing and its production and costume designs are
generally outstanding. With its right balance of horror and humor, Tales of Halloween is a satisfying holiday
chiller.
Production companies: Epic Pictures Group,
Film Entertainment Services
Cast: Jose Pablo Cantillo, John Landis,
James Duval, Ben Woolf, Kristina Klebe, Robert Rusler, Grace Phipps, Dana
Gould, Marc Senter, Booboo Stewart, Adrienne Barbeau, Samuel Witwer, Lin Shaye,
Adam Green, Noah Segan, Joe Dante, Alex Essoe, Stuart Gordon, Barbara Crampton
Directors: Darren Lynn Bousman, Axelle
Carolyn, Adam Gierasch, Andrew Kasch, John Skipp, Neil Marshall, Lucky McKee,
Mike Mendez, Dave Parker, Ryan Schifrin, Clint Sears
Screenwriters: Axelle Carolyn, Andrew
Kasch, Neil Marshall, Lucky McKee, Mike Mendez, Dave Parker, Ryan Schifrin,
Clint Sears, John Skipp
Producers: Michael Arter, Shaked Berenson,
Charles Arthur Berg, Axelle Carolyn, Tada Chase, Patrick Ewald, Mike Mendez
Directors of photography: Jan-Michael
Losada, Zoran Popovic, David Tayar, Alex Vendler, Richard J. Vialet, Joseph
White, Scott Winig
Production designers: Krista Gall, Sara
Millan, Anthony Pearce, Jennifer Spence
Costume designer: Rachel Apatoff
Editors: Matthew Barry, Josh Ethier, Andrew
Kasch, Mike Mendez, Dave Parker, Zach Passero
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