Revealing mistake: After Steven Wilkins disguised as a vampire kills the unnamed woman he closes her eyelids to make it look like she's asleep. Just before his hand contacts her eyelids you see her almost blink, revealing she's very much alive.
Trick 'r Treat (2007)
Plot summary
Directed by: Michael Dougherty
Starring: Dylan Baker, Lauren Lee Smith, Quinn Lord, Rochelle Aytes
On Halloween night, a child-like trick-or-treating demon named Sam (Quinn Lord) arrives in a town to enforce Halloween tradition rules. Sam wears an orange pajama-like costume with a burlap mask with black button eyes and carries a sack in which he stores blades, jack o'lantern lollipops, and other candy. Sam's rules include: hand out candy to trick-or-treaters, always check the candy, keep the jack o'lanterns lit before midnight, and respect the dead. Sam kills people who ignore or don't follow the rules.
Emma (Leslie Bibb) turns off a lit jack o'lantern before midnight, angering Sam. While Emma takes down some Halloween decorations, an enraged Sam attacks and kills her with a partially bitten jack o'lantern lollipop. Emma's body is discovered by her horrified boyfriend Henry. Principal Steven Wilkins (Dylan Baker) catches a boy named Charlie taking candy from an unattended bowl and, in retaliation, gives him a poisoned chocolate bar, killing him. Steven is actually an evil serial killer. Before burying Charlie in his backyard, Steven hands out candy to Macy (Britt McKillip), Sara, and Chip. Sam also takes a chocolate bar and walks down the steps to the street. Macy, Sara, Chip, and Schrader are collecting several jack o'lanterns on their way to a rock quarry.
By the rock quarry's lake, Macy, Sara, Chip, and Schrader play a prank on a girl named Rhonda (Samm Todd) by disguising themselves as dead zombie children. Mr. Kreeg (Brian Cox) had driven a school bus with trick-or-treaters into the lake when he was younger. Kreeg escaped while the children drowned. The terrified Rhonda nearly dies after Macy and the others play their prank, but Rhonda manages to get inside an elevator. Sam, having witnessed the prank, resurrects the dead zombie children to get revenge on these bullies. Sara is killed by the dead children when they grab her chains and drag her backward. Macy, Chip, and Schrader beg Rhonda to let them inside the elevator, but she pushes the button to make the elevator rise, leaving the bullies to get killed by the zombie children. Macy screams as the dead children kill and dismember the three of them. Rhonda sees Sam and gives him a respectful look.
Laurie (Anna Paquin) is walking through a forest to join her sister and other girls when Wilkins attacks and bites her. However, Laurie is able to attack him, capture him, and bring him to her sister and the other girls, who have all killed their dates. Steven Wilkins is horrified when Laurie and the other girls reveal themselves to be werewolves, ripping off their human disguises and showing their true werewolf forms. Laurie bites and kills Steven while the other werewolves howl. Sam watches them all feast on their dead dates.
Sam visits and battles Mr. Kreeg, who has been scaring off trick-or-treaters with his dog and keeping their candy for himself. Sam opens the candy bar he took from Wilkins, and Kreeg is horrified to see a razor blade sticking out of the chocolate bar. Sam slashes Kreeg's leg, and Kreeg eventually falls down the stairs, spilling all of his candy. When Kreeg attempts to escape out the front door, Sam climbs up to the ceiling and jumps on Kreeg and fights him. Kreeg slams Sam against the wall, but Sam attacks him again. Kreeg starts pulling Sam's mask off, ripping the mouth stitches open. Sam's true pumpkin-like demon face is revealed. Sam bites Kreeg's wounded leg.
Kreeg shoots Sam across the room and attempts to call the cops, but Sam puts his mask back on and gets back up. Sam takes a jack o'lantern lollipop from his sack, partially bites it, breaks Kreeg's arm, and stabs a chocolate bar on Kreeg's chest. Sam bites the candy bar and spares Kreeg's life because he has "handed" Sam a candy bar. Sam takes one last look at Kreeg before walking out the front door, which opens and closes by itself. Kreeg then hands out candy to kids while Sam watches him by the street.
Rhonda crosses the street and nearly gets run over by Laurie and her friends. Sam witnesses Emma from the beginning of the film blowing out the lit jack o'lantern and prepares to kill her with his partially bitten jack o'lantern lollipop. Kreeg is visited by the zombie children and, despite being spared by Sam, Kreeg is killed by the vengeful zombie children. Sam presumably witnesses Kreeg's death. Sam also presumably continues to make sure others are following his Samhain/Halloween tradition rules.
Billy: Let's carve a scary face this time.
Trivia: The movie was originally scheduled to be released in theaters in October, 2007. Its trailer was even attached to several films. However, the studio pulled its release at the last moment with no explanation. It was finally released direct-to-video with little advertisements or notice two years later. Ironically, despite being dumped onto home-video with little fanfare, the film garnered excellent reviews and won several awards, and built enough of an audience through word-of-mouth alone that director Michael Dougherty confirmed a sequel will be made.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.