Why ‘Halloween’ Isn’t the Best Movie for Halloween
When people want to watch horror movies for Halloween, one of the most popular is, of course, Halloween. Whoever gave the film that title was a genius because it made the movie requisite seasonal viewing for nearly 40 years. However, John Carpenter’s seminal slasher film doesn’t embody the spirit of October 31st as much as a later cult classic does. Here’s a look at the perfect film to watch at the end of this month.
John Carpenter’s ‘Halloween’ is scary but it isn’t darkly funny like another movie
Carpenter’s Halloween is plenty scary. It has a macabre central figure (Michael Myers), a blood pressure raising performance from Jamie Lee Curtis, who seems genuinely horrified for much of the movie, and a terrifying sountrack. What the film is missing is the season’s sense of mischief.
Enter Trick ‘r Treat. This 2009 horror comedy mixes all sides of the holiday: the childish, the darkly humorous, and the grotesque. Not everyone thinks about this, but horror and comedy are cousins because they are all based on cleverness and timing. Trick ‘r Treat frequently makes you appreciate its sharp wit even when it puts you at the end of a knife.
‘Trick’ r Treat’ created a mascot for Halloween
One of the main reasons why Trick’ r Treat is so beloved is the character of Sam. Sam (whose name is clearly short for “Samhain”) is an embodiment of Halloween. He gets up to mischief in the worst way. Watch the film once, and you’ll remember him forever.
Sam has become pretty famous, partly because he fills a need. Santa Claus represents Christmas, the Easter Bunny represents Easter, and Cupid represents Valentine’s Day, but no singular character is meant to encapsulate Halloween. While Sam doesn’t have the same reach as those aforementioned figures (partially because he’s still under copyright protection), he’s catching on. At the very least, he’s on his way to being a ubiquitous Halloween costume like Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, and Pennywise the Dancing Clown.
The world ignored the movie for too long
During a 2022 interview with Nerdist, Trick’ r Treat director Michael Dougherty discussed how his movie was initially ignored before becoming more mainstream and garnering a theatrical release. “I guess in the back of my mind, I always sort of always hoped something like this would happen, but it’s never a sure thing,” he said. “I remember getting the bad news back in 2008 that we were just sending it to home video. Of course, I was heartbroken, because we were still holding out hope maybe it would get a theatrical release. It sort of felt like a nail in the coffin anyway.
“After being sad about it for a while, I remember I sat down, and I just made this really long list of all the sort of things I hoped the movie would become outside of this setback,” he added. “I’ve got to say, everything has just come to pass. Everything on the list has slowly just started to happen over the past 15 years, with the theatrical release being one of them.”
Halloween is an important movie but it doesn’t capture the spirit of the titular holiday like Trick’ r Treat does.
