TALES OF HALLOWEEN (2015)

Studio:       Epic Pictures
Director:    Dave Parker, Darren Lynn Bousman, Adam Gierasch, Paul Solet, Axelle Carolyn, Lucky McKee, Andrew Kasch, John Skipp, Mike Mendez, Ryan Schifrin, Neil Marshall
Writer:       Clint Sears, Greg Commons, Molly Millions
Producer:  Mike Mendez, Axelle Carolyn, Patrick Ewald, Shaked Berenson
Stars:     Various

Review Score:

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Summary:

Ten tales taking place on Halloween night include stories of murderous madmen, an insidious imp, a killer jack o’ lantern, and urban legends come to life.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Sweet Tooth (David Parker) – Mikey goes through his Halloween candy while Kyle, the boyfriend of Mikey’s babysitter Lizzy, tells him the urban legend of “Sweet Tooth.” 15 years earlier in the same town, Timmy Blake was a boy whose parents refused to let him eat candy brought home from trick or treating. One Halloween, Timmy sneaked downstairs to find that his parents secretly ate his candy as an aphrodisiac. Timmy killed his parents and his first taste of candy gave him an insatiable sweet tooth. Still craving more candy after eating what remained, Timmy cut open his parents and ate the candy from their stomachs. Timmy’s evil spirit now returns as “Sweet Tooth” to take candy on Halloween night, even if it is already eaten. To ward off Sweet Tooth, Mikey puts a candy bar on the floor of his room before going to bed. Downstairs, Sweet Tooth appears, kills Kyle and Lizzy, and tears out their stomachs. Mikey hides under his bed as Sweet Tooth comes to take the candy bar. Lt. Brandt-Mathis and her husband Alex come home to the carnage and Mikey tells them that Sweet Tooth is responsible.

The Night Billy Raised Hell (Darren Lynn Bousman) – Dressed as a masked devil, Billy Thompson is coerced by his older sister Britney’s boyfriend Todd to throw an egg at Mr. Abbadon’s house. Abbadon catches Billy in the act, pulls him inside the house, and vows to teach him what a true Halloween prank is. Abbadon and Billy go out that night and mercilessly torment the town. Upon returning home, it is revealed that Abbadon actually left Billy tied up and went with a diminutive devil named Mordecai in Billy’s place. Billy is released and confronted at gunpoint by police holding him responsible for Mordecai’s crimes.

Trick (Adam Gierasch) – James, Maria, Catlyn, and Nelson watch “Night of the Living Dead” on TV while trick-or-treaters visit. A young girl dressed as a witch comes to the door and suddenly stabs Nelson. Maria is murdered by a swarm of children when she goes to get the car. James is set on fire and forced to choke on poison. Catlyn hides in another room where a young girl is tied to a table with her eye torn out. Pictures on Catlyn’s phone reveal that Catlyn and her friends had been torturing the girl. The other children enter, free the captive girl, and finally take their revenge on Catlyn.

The Weak and the Wicked (Paul Solet) – Alice, Isaac, and Bart torment a boy dressed as a cowboy in an alleyway. A stranger dressed as a demon intervenes, claiming that he represents a creature that spills the blood of the wicked who harm the weak. The bullying trio chases the stranger. Alice realizes that the stranger is actually Jimmy Henson, whose parents the bullies intentionally burned to death when they were all children. Alice, Isaac, and Bart begin beating Jimmy, but the real Demon of All Hallow’s Eve is summoned to kill the bullying trio.

Grim Grinning Ghost (Axelle Carolyn) – At her mother’s Halloween party, Lynn hears the legend of Mary Bailey, a bullied and disfigured woman who returns from the dead to taunt the living behind their backs on Halloween. Lynn is forced to walk home alone when her car loses power and she begins racing from an apparition of Mary Bailey. Lynn makes it to seeming safety inside her home until Mary Bailey suddenly appears sitting next to her on the couch.

Ding Dong (Lucky McKee) – Frustrated with her inability to bear children, a demon possesses Bobbie and she lashes out at her subservient husband Jack for dressing their dog as Gretel on Halloween. The following year, Bobbie forces Jack to greet trick-or-treaters as Hansel. Fearful of his wife’s dangerous obsession, Jack stops Bobbie from abducting a young boy named Toby. When Jack later admits that he secretly had a vasectomy because he didn’t believe his wife was stable enough for a child, Bobbie becomes possessed again and puts Jack into the oven. While Jack burns, Bobbie cries and her demon form melts.

This Means War (Andrew Kasch and John Skipp) – Boris and his new neighbor Dante enter into an escalating war over who can create the most impressive decorative yard display. Onlookers gather as their battle turns into a fistfight on Halloween night. As cops arrive at the scene, Boris and Dante stumble and accidentally impale each other on a broken wooden post.

Friday the 31st (Mike Mendez) – A woman dressed as Dorothy is chased by a deformed maniac who catches and kills her. Suddenly, a UFO appears overhead and a tiny alien beams down to trick or treat. The killer steps on the alien and it transforms into goo that possesses Dorothy’s body. Dorothy reanimates and has a limb-severing showdown with the killer that ends when they decapitate each other. The alien reemerges from Dorothy’s severed head and beams back aboard its UFO, taking the killer’s head with it.

The Ransom of Rusty Rex (Ryan Schifrin) – Bank robbers Hank and Dutch kidnap millionaire Jebediah Rex’s son Rusty. With Rusty tied up in a warehouse, Hank calls Jebediah with a ransom demand only to discover that Jebediah refuses to take Rusty back. Rusty turns out to be a monstrous imp who escapes his restraints and attacks Hank and Dutch. The duo recaptures Rusty and dumps him in a swamp, but the imp follows them back to their hideout. Hank calls Jebediah again and learns that Rusty is not the man’s son. Rusty showed up trick or treating five years earlier and has held Jebediah hostage ever since. Hank and Dutch set the imp on fire and drive away. Hank exits a gas station some time later and when he returns to the car, he finds Rusty in the back seat with Dutch’s severed head.

Bad Seed (Neil Marshall) – Ellen Bishop watches in horror as her husband Ray is eaten by a sentient jack o’ lantern that Ray carved. The pumpkin sprouts tentacles and slithers away. A trick-or-treater named Kevin is killed next. Police captain J.G. Zimmerman assigns Detective McNally to investigate. With the pumpkin causing mayhem in the streets, McNally finally confronts and kills it when forensic analyst Bob arrives with a shotgun. After seeing the label on the pumpkin, McNally and Bob visit Clover Corp where the Super Pumpkins are grown. McNally and Bob realize there is a much bigger problem when Professor Milo Gottlieb shows them a warehouse filled with thousands of similar Super Pumpkins.

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Review:

Set fire to your copies of “Trick ‘r Treat,” throw your “Creepshow” collection in the trash, and prepare to herald “Tales of Halloween” as the new flag-bearer for horror movie anthologies!  Definitely do not do those first two things, that was hyperbole for dramatic effect.  “Tales of Halloween” doesn’t supplant those titles, but it certainly supplements them, and it is anything but exaggeration to say that this movie qualifies as a Halloween dream come true for any and every horror film fan.

Ten tales of 10-31 feature so many recognizable names on both sides of the camera that if you were to write a list of movies each actor and filmmaker ties to, it would comprise at least half the entirety of every genre film released in the 21st century.  Ten years is probably how long it would take to compile a list of every nod, callback, homage, inclusion, or in-joke referencing those films, too.

From Adrienne Barbeau sneakily reprising her role as DJ Stevie Wayne from “The Fog” to Greg Grunberg and Clare Kramer doing the same with their “Big Ass Spider” characters, “Tales of Halloween” is fit to burst with Easter egg winks both disguised and overt.  A candy bar brand is named Carpenter.  A cardboard tombstone honors Max Schreck.  Even poster art master Drew Struzan appears as a police sketch artist sarcastically referred to as “Rembrandt.”  There may not be anyone appearing in the movie who isn’t a genre entertainment personality of some sort.

Beyond being a cornucopia of cameos, “Tales of Halloween” is a terrifically balanced blend of scares, slapstick, and surprises.  Despite having eleven directors at its helm, delivering differently styled stories to boot, the rhythm remains remarkably cohesive as a unified whole.  Even with seven unique cinematographers, the look stays consistent as well, tying each thread together with a visual tone that fits no matter the material.

As chapter one, Dave Parker’s “Sweet Tooth” sets the stage for virtually everything to come.  An urban legend come to life in the EC Comics angles and lighting that “Creepshow” emulated so well strikes just the right note for the film to start strong.

“The Night Billy Raised Hell” sees Darren Lynn Bousman favoring the cheeky vibe of his “The Devil’s Carnival” films over his “Saw” sequels for a slickly sick mash of snark and terror.  Of particular note amongst its parade of horribly harmful Halloween pranks is an inventive take on the old flaming bag gag.

Just when it looks like Adam Gierasch’s “Trick” is on track to be a lazy torture fest of trick-or-treaters tormenting a quad of hipster adults, the story pulls out a wickedly evil twist that morphs into one of the movie’s most memorable moments.

For “The Weak and the Wicked,” Paul Solet pilfers a pair of actors from “Some Kind of Hate” and one apiece from “He Never Died” and “It Follows” for its fable of bullies begging to receive their comeuppance.  Other than everyone in costume and the date on the calendar, Solet’s short is the one least related to the holiday at hand.

“Tales of Halloween” creator Axelle Carolyn offers her own entry with “Grim Ginning Ghost,” which is less a story and more a setup for “Starry Eyes” actress Alexandra Essoe to be spooked by noises from behind and false scares in front as she walks home alone on a dark road.  Similarly, Andrew Kasch and John Skipp’s “This Means War” is basically an extended prelude to arrive at a punchline that pops the first time, yet doesn’t have depth to retain repeated satisfaction.  Both shorts are acted and directed well, though “Grim Grinning Ghost” in particular could benefit from additional substance filling in contextual blanks.

As one might expect of Lucky McKee, the writer/director’s “Ding Dong” is assured the top spot as the most polarizing piece in the lot.  Like McKee’s features, “Ding Dong” is easily labeled as “not for everyone” with its inherent aversion to narrative convention.  Although those turned off by a lack of broad appeal must still concede that Pollyanna McIntosh is as effervescent as ever, even while playing a woman wallowing in woe.

Mike Mendez’s “Friday the 31st” is the most bizarre of the bunch, yet so offbeat that it is zany fun, flipping expectations at every opportunity and demanding one out loud laugh at a minimum.

Ryan Schifrin’s “The Ransom of Rusty Rex” features a predictable plot that is nevertheless a gory good time.  Its telegraphed turn is inconsequential to the expert execution of how the story plays out with sadistic humor when two hapless crooks kidnap a trick-or-treater from Hell.

“Bad Seed” bookends the back of “Tales of Halloween” as well as “Sweet Tooth” does the front.  Neil Marshall’s story of a sentient jack o’ lantern prowling a small town marks a fitting conclusion for a film as focused on black comedy as it is on blacker carnage.

A few of the shorts contain thinner content than others, though none ramble on past their runtime.  Some are goofy and some are gory, yet all have the same tinge of macabre darkness coming across as connective tissue, even with disparate hooks and themes.  Every element of the film including duration, star power, and impact feels evenly distributed and properly paced across the board.

Others can debate how far up the ladder “Tales of Halloween” rates were it to go up against the Amicus oeuvre or any preferred anthology of choice.  Regardless of perceived rank or subjective quality judgments, the project’s creators earn beaucoup points for creating a heartfelt tribute to horror filmmakers and horror film fans by celebrating everything frightful and everything fun about the Halloween holiday and the horror genre as a whole.

Review Score:  90

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