Runtime:
92 minutes
Release
Date: October 16,2015
Rating:
R
Director:
Lots!
Tales of
Halloween is an anthology flick that weaves together 10 different
stories that take place over the course of Halloween. Packed with
cameos from writers, directors, and actors featured in other horror
films, it's entertaining for those who love 70s and 80s slasher and
horror films.
Adrienne
Barbeau, who any horror fan will remember from films like The Fog,
plays a DJ at the beginning of the film. She does a great job of
introducing each segment and wrapping up the movie in the end. Her
smooth and sultry voice definitely creates a setting that will make
you feel like you're back in the glory days of the drive through
watching all your favorites.
On first
glance, Tales of Halloween seems like one of those movies that only
has one or two good stories. When describing it to my roommate, it
started telling him about my favorite anthology story, then
remembered another one I liked, then another, and wound up telling
him to just watch the damn thing. While some stories are definitely
stronger than others, there really aren't a lot of bad stories.
The best
might be The Ransom of Rusty Rex. Two men decide to kidnap the child
of a rich man, one of who is played by Sam Witwer of Being Human, as
he goes trick or treating by himself. When they call his father,
played by the amazing John Landis, he laughs and tells them to keep
the kid. They quickly learn that this little boy is actually a demon
and that once he latches on, he never lets go.
Friday
the 31st is a close second. This story opens with a girl
dressed as Dorothy running for her life through the woods with a
deformed slasher, a la Jason, on her tails. After he catches and
kills her though, a space ship appears in the sky, and drops an
adorable little claymation alien on the ground. When he denies the
alien's wish to trick or treat, the alien takes over the woman's body
and chases the killer around. While it may not sound like much, it
got the most laughs out of me, especially when the slasher wound up
losing his arm and later his head because of his own tools of death.
Trick is
probably the one that has the best ending, though it takes awhile to
get going. Two couples kick back on Halloween night as they have a
few drinks and smoke. A girl dressed up as a witch shows up to trick
or treat and then brutally murders the man who answers the front
door. Several other kids then show up and chase the adults through
the house, killing them one by one. In the end, we learn that the
adults had a little fun of their own mutilating and killing children.
I was
also a fan of The Night Billy Raised Hell. Billy is stuck trick or
treating with his slutty teenage sister and her boyfriend. The
boyfriend convinces poor Billy to play a prank on a man living in one
specific house. It turns out that the man is actually the Devil,
played by the awesome Barry Bostwick, who promises to show Billy some
new tricks. They then set out on a night of mischief filled with
robbing convenience stores and murdering people. When the cops show
up to arrest poor Billy though, it turns out that the Devil left him
tied up and stole his costume for one of his minions, leaving Billy
to take the wrap.
Keep
your eyes peeled for cameos from Lin Shaye, Barbara Crampton, John
Savage, and Joe Dante just to name a few. Tales of Halloween is
currently streaming on Netflix and is more than a fun way to waste 93
minutes.
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