10/31

Good little mindless horror film. Definitely worth a watch.

There really isnt a lot to recommend in this movie.

There are 5 stories, none of which are compelling, or even well written. In fact, the only reason I gave it a 3 was because it was at least competently shot and edited.

These stories do not have a resolution. It's just some evil monster or person killing a victim or two with no motivation or back story. There isn't any tension and I didn't have sympathy for any of the victims. In fact, by the 3rd story, I was actually cheering for the characters to be killed, but not even this was very satisfying.

The only reason Im writing the review is to try to spare horror fans the regret I felt.

I could not wait for it to end.

I'm a sucker for this kind of low budget anthology and really wanted to enjoy this more than I actually did. There's some decent enough ideas here and the occasional effective moment. It also does do a good job capturing the holiday spirit. Overall though, the film can't get away from the feeling of cheapness and amateurishness. This is especially evident with most of the performances which range from decent to hilariously unconvincing. That can work for some films in an endearing sort of way but here it's more distracting than anything. The makers clearly have a love for the holiday and it shows. Hopefully they keep improving and make a better one in the future.

For every decent actor here they are paired up with someone stiff and bland. The script in these segments could maybe have had some critical notes by their peers. The mask they use are straight outta horror cons. They're not Spirit Halloween bad but I feel like if you've been to a con you've seen these on display at booths. Since every segment was done by different people the color grading is kinda everywhere. This is something I find common with these mixed director anthologies. With all this being said, I've seen far worse anthologies. Overall the sound design is decent and the dialogue sound isn't all over the place. If you're looking for something fun to watch on Halloween, stick to Trick R Treat, as this really gives off 0 Halloween vibes even tho every story is on 10/31.

A fellow horror fan recommended this on a forum I frequent and when I saw it was on Prime, I figured "why not?" I'm also a sucker for Halloween themed horror films. I was impressed by "The Old Hag,","Trespassers" and "Killing the Dance" despite their budget limitations. The namesake character in Old Hag was indeed "creepy"! Also the wraparound hottie horror host was serviceable, though some more could've been added to the wrap around "ending".

What hurts this movie from being great are the final 2 stories, "Halloween Blizzard '91" and "Samhain Slasher"...these looked REALLY cheap and the story and direction seemed rushed and unpolished compared to the first 3 stories. April in the 'Blizzard" sequence was easy on the eyes though! Yummy! Sadly no nudity.

I would've given this a 5/10, but since I enjoyed 3 out of 5 of the stories, I figured I'd give it an above average rating. If you're in the mood for a decent Halloween anthology, I recommend 10/31