Tales of Halloween (2015)
Ten stories are woven together by their shared theme of Halloween night in an American suburb, where ghouls, imps, aliens and axe murderers appear for one night only to terrorize unsuspecting residents.
It's impossible not to compare Tales of Halloween to Trick r Treat (2007). However whilst that film works a treat (ahem) the same cannot be said for Tales of Halloween. Not all of it anyway.
After a terrific opening half hour with the short stories hitting you thick and fast it suddenly became a bit of a chore to sit through. So much information attacking your senses. Ten stories in under 90 mins is just too much. It would have worked far more successfully with half that number. I wanted it all to stop or slow down and take it's time. Visually it's excellent with so many references to horror down the years you just don't have chance to take it all in.
Where Trick r' Treat really works for me is the loving way all the stories interconnect with each other and you notice scenes from one story taking place whilst watching another. There's nothing like this here with only a few references thrown in, mainly during the police investigation story at the climax. Some of the ideas used did seem to come from other films such as Jeff Lieberman's Satan's Little Helper (2004), but it was lovely to hear and briefly see Adrienne Barbeau reprise her role of late night witching idea DJ throughout the film. Shame there wasn't much of a role for Tiffany Shepis mind, not that anyone really had much screen time.
Some of the stories amuse, some repulse, a couple i felt didn't work at all. Mostly though Tales of Halloween is a fun and gory spectacle that i think i'll watch in three segments next year.
Finally whoever told me Axelle Carolyn's entry was The Halloween Kid was wrong. If you want to see that you'll still have to buy the Soulmate dvd.
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