Movie: Trick 'r Treat

This is the second of two posts about movies that were not given a theatrical release, but are still managing to find an audience.

With smaller, experimental movies (like last week's Ink), it's not hard to understand why a film was not picked up for distribution. The movie business is a *business* after all and investment is weighed against risk. A film by a new director, featuring unknown actors, and questionable plot accessibility is quite a risk.

Horror films are regarded as easy money. Their budgets are reasonable, as are their returns. Fear, it would seem, is the ultimate in accessible. When a horror film like Trick 'r Treat with a known director (Michael Dougherty, X2, Superman Returns) and name actors (Anna Paquin (the X-Men movies, True Blood) and Brian Cox (Deadwood, the first two Bourne movies)), is shelved, it's curious.



Trick 'r Treat is a homage to horror comics, and the horror anthology movies (Creepshow) and TV shows (Tales from the Crypt, Fear Itself) they spawned. The film is a collection of four stories mildly interwoven and containing a loose wrap-around. As horror movies go, it's mildly gory, fairly suspenseful, and full of "fun" scares. So, why wasn't it released theatrically?

Trick 'r Treat's R rating might have been some of the problem. While the target demographic for horror films is teenagers and films such the Saw franchise and Rob Zombie's recent movies haven't suffered from the rating, Trick 'r Treat doesn't look like R-rated horror. It's not torture porn and there are no grungy psycho-killers. Instead, Trick 'r Treat filled with wicked little stories with twist endings. Again, it's scary, somewhat gory, fun. It just happened to be in the R category according to the MPAA and may not have been available to what was perceived to be its target audience.

The hardcore horror competition, especially in October, probably also contributed to Trick 'r Treat's shelving. The film was originally slated for release in October of 2007. This release date would have put it against Saw IV and Rob Zombie's Halloween remake, as well as 30 Days of Night. Tough competition for the over age-17 dollar. A 2008 release would have had a similar problem: a Saw film and an R-rated remake (Quarantine). Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures finally released the film on DVD in October of 2009. It is available through all major retailers and rental services. And I don't think you need to wait until October to give it a look.