Trick 'R Treat

In case you hadn't noticed, it's Halloween season and that means globs of horror releases come out to delight fans and help deplete their spending money. A Blu-ray that just misses the mark in terms of storytelling and atmosphere is "Trick R Treat," a 2007 release that came and went from cinemas but garnered a cult following over the years. It's definitely a season-worthy entry but got lost in the shuffle because of its anthology format.

That format still hasn't seen a resurgence, but "Trick R Treat" remains a curious oddity regardless. As one can tell from the film's title, the central storyline takes place on Halloween and four separate segments are occurring simultaneously on that horrific holiday night.

Among the stories is an updated variation on Little Red Riding Hood, played with sweet innocence and beauty by Anna Paquin (before her "True Blood" days), and a gruesome tale about kids who drown in a bus accident only to come back to seek revenge.

The iconic Halloween image of a tiny trick-or-treating demon homages both the 1978 "Halloween" film and the Hallowed Eve season itself, done on purpose by writer/director Michael Dougherty. In "Tales of Folklore & Fright", he explains his wanting to do a horror anthology that uses Halloween as its backdrop. He describes how certain scenes were shot, including the point-of-view camera angles of the demon that pay tribute to Michael Myers as "The Shape."

Many, many other special features are on Scream Factory's generous disc, a combination of old and new extras. It will make fans of this mostly overlooked horror release quite happy.

"Trick R Treat"
Blu-ray
$29.99
www.shoutfactory.com