She has a knack for carving some wickedly cool pumpkins (her entire front lawn is littered with them) and knowing the history of Samhain.Īfter Macy regales the tale about the school bus massacre, in which a bus-full of society’s outcasts are driven over a cliff to their deaths, Macy and her friends play a sick practical joke on Rhonda by pretending to be the reanimated corpses of the dead kids. Much like Sam, Rhonda is a certified weirdo, obsessed with all things spooky.

In “Halloween School Bus Massacre,” Macy (Britt McKillip), Sara (Isabelle Deluce), Schrader (Jean-Luc Bilodeau), and Chip (Alberto Ghisi) learn that bullying and othering a girl named Rhonda (Samm Todd) comes with equally-severe consequences. Charlie may have been a kid but his ignorance and naivety were his own undoing. Wilkins then drags Charlie’s lifeless body inside, lobs off his head, and helps his son Billy (Connor Levins) carve out the eyes. Another tradition, Wilkins points out, is you never forget to check your candy. Charlie rolls his eyes… and abruptly pukes his guts out all over the front steps. “All these traditions一jack o’lanterns, putting on costumes, handing out treats一they were started to protect us, but nowadays no one really cares.” A wistfulness glistens in his eyes, and he stops for a moment from carving a fresh pumpkin.

“My dad taught me tonight is about respecting the dead,” Mr Wilkins tells Charlie. He proceeds to climb upon Wilkins porch and snag every single candy bar in the hollowed out pumpkin. Wilkins’ (Dylan Baker) segment, a young boy named Charlie (Brett Kelly) topples numerous pumpkins from their perch, sending them crashing into and scattering across the ground. And Sam watches from afar, a voyeur to the sick and twisted 一 even though the characters deserve what’s coming to them. There’s plenty of violence and gore, of course, befitting a slasher flick that causes “oh my god” and “ew” reactions in the audience.įour intertwining stories depict lives uprooted and destroyed from callous, reckless actions and blatant disregard for All Hallow’s Eve. Courtesy of cinematographer Glen MacPherson, the film drips with shadows and mood, always playing on the unseen eye to send chills down your spine. With the long-awaited theatrical run this October, Michael Dougherty’s Trick ‘r Treat remains an emblem for great anthologies everywhere and perfectly captures spooky season in all its glory 一 with Sam as its devoted icon. It’s a gnarly image that drives home the film’s central theme: Halloween is sacred and should be treated as such. Sam might be tiny, but he suffers no fools when it comes to the beloved holiday. Her head is chopped off and her limbs hung with rope in the trees, a pumpkin lollipop shoved into her gaping mouth. Moments later, she gets her comeuppance and becomes bloody and artsy décor on the front lawn. She blows out the lone jack o’lantern and whines to her husband Henry (Tahmoh Penikett) about taking down the decorations on Halloween night. “I hate Halloween,” says Emma (Leslie Bibb) in the opening scene. If I’ve learned anything from Trick ‘r Treat, it’s that you don’t disrespect Halloween.

Sam trick r treat story