It’s Halloween again, which means you’ll either be scaring up a tacky fancy dress costume for a party or guarding your front door against a small militant wing of kids, who think they’re entitled to some of your hard-earned candy. I thought they were supposed to avoid strangers with candy!? Well, if it’s the one day of the year kids get to talk to strangers, then you get to watch a scary movie… wait for it… with the lights off.

Muhuahuahua… *clears throat*. One option for the big night in is Trick ‘r Treat, a horror gem that seems to have slipped in under the door. “Trick or Treat” was a slogan for Halloween until it became a movie tradition even more synonymous with the creepy holiday than John Carpenter’s Halloween. That’s right, Trick ‘r Treat is an instant Halloween classic, which will no doubt receive an increase in reruns in the month of October each and every year.

Catch the rest of the review and the trailer after the jump…

Superman Returns and X2 writer, Michael Dougherty, directed Season’s Greetings in 1996, a short Halloween animation around the “Trick or Treat” exploits of Sam (derived from Samhain, Celtic name for Hallowe’en), a small kid in costume (pictured). The short film received regular play on TV and inspired Dougherty to take his creation a step further by adapting the short into a live-action film with Bryan Singer as producer.

Dougherty concocts several Halloween urban legends involving stories that you could have easily heard around a camp fire with a torchlight. Trick ‘r Treat takes the character of Sam to new depths in his debut feature film as he “oversees” five stories involving: a couple who blow a jack ‘o lantern (carved pumpkin head) out before midnight, a high school principal and serial killer, a college virgin looking for Mr. Right, a group of mean-spirited teenagers and a grumpy hermit, who has a late night visitation.

Trick ‘r Treat moves along at a cracking pace, throwing in tidbits of holiday trivia and infusing the stories with the same festive spirit that makes the holiday so special. Its straight-to-video charm and consistent tone make this horror entertaining, casting long shadows with terrifying set pieces and reeling the candy back in with various shades of dark comedy. Trick ‘r Treat’s wicked sense of humour and “innocence lost” theme make it best suited to mature audiences, but it still has enough “knick-knack-paddy-whack” to generate a little nostalgia for anyone who’s donned a white bedsheet with two holes to get at that candy… or “sweeties” as Wikus would say (not to be confused with the bedsheet with one hole).

Dougherty is obviously a fan of the ghoulish holiday celebration and Trick ‘r Treat must be a passion project, since he sees a bit of himself in the all-seeing character of Sam. Usually a straight-to-video horror wouldn’t have the cast to match the story or vice-versa. In Trick ‘r Treat’s case, it’s the best of both worlds with several interwoven Halloween tale treats and a few tricks up Dougherty’s sleeve including: Dylan Baker (Happiness, Fido), Anna Paquin (X-Men, True Blood) and regular character actor, Brian Cox (X2, The Ring).

Each story works because it plays by the rules of the horror genre, provides a couple of good scares, deals in sinister twists and changes things up with the reversal of Halloween stereotypes. There are some easy-to-spot horror movie references (which would undoubtedly constitute spoilers) but for the most part Trick ‘r Treat functions like a blend of Stephen King’s Creepshow and Season’s Greetings.

Trick ‘r Treat embodies the spirit of Halloween at every intersection, has a quality ‘look and feel’, uses effects sparingly and keeps its audience guessing the whole 82 minutes (more like 72 minutes). It may be a relatively short Halloween outing in terms of run time, but it packs the original clout most horrors are lacking these days. It’s an instant Hallowe’en classic, because it’s truly representative and has been so lovingly created.

Trick ‘r Treat attaches itself to the small town Halloween fervor associated with American culture, reveling in the trick-or-treating, carnivals, pranks, scary stories and tradition of it all. The jack o lanterns, kids in dress-up, skeleton decor, stranger danger, haunted attractions, watching horror films on Halloween… it’s a celebration in its own right. The most mystifying part is the fact that the film was touted by Warner Bros. for a 2007 Halloween release, postponed to 2008 and eventually released to DVD a year later… huh!?

Trick ‘r Treat may have skipped a theatrical release, but that has no bearing on the film’s quality. Perhaps the straight-to-video stigma and flash-in-the-pan duration will work for its overall appeal as a charming yet re-watchable horror movie in the long run. Forget about Michael Bay’s spate of ’80s horror remakes and Saw sequels for a moment… and enjoy the wicked, sickly sweet and cauldron fresh horror of Trick ‘r Treat.

The bottom line: Treat.

Release date: Now available to rent.

Watch Official Trick ‘r Treat Trailer

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