Aug '20 *
I just saw this On Demand, or possibly on Youtube, a week or so ago. It isn't really super super super hardcore or disturbing, like A Serbian Film, Mermaid in a Manhole, or whatever. But, I found that I respected it for what it is. It's just a horror anthology of overlapping stories, with varying amounts of comedic elements, and it is basically ABOUT Halloween, unlike, say, Halloween.
The way the movie is structured is pretty interesting. If you try to imagine a combination of Pulp Fiction and Creepshow, you'll have a good sense of what to expect. It has Pulp Fiction's nonlinear, out of sequence approach to presenting the (occasionally overlapping) stories and characters, and there is also a small amount of framing the stories through little intros that look like comic books.
The character Sam is a good idea, I think. He is supposed to be a sort of an embodiment or mascot of Halloween, like the Easter Bunny or Santa are for the secularized versions of their holidays. He isn't a massive, muscular, threatening or menacing figure... certainly not at first glance. He appears to be a little kid in a sort of an old-fashioned, cheap costume, with kind of a crude scarecrow-type of head. When people see him out trick or treating, they would probably just think, oh, there goes another kid... if anyone looked more closely, they would be puzzled at how he can see, because there aren't really any eye holes in the head... anyway, he sort of fits in, in typical Halloween scenes, and just seems to be an unremarkable part of any gathering you might come across on Halloween. You do see him without the scarecrow-ish head thing on, eventually, and he looks sort of like Pumpkinhead (which is good).
There are a few little stories going on, all of which show the things we all think of when we think of Halloween. The Sam character is not prominent in all the storylines, but he seems to be sort of a watchman to make sure everyone is observing certain Halloween traditions, not all of which I personally was even aware of... so, there's a pretty fair chance I would have been killed if I were in this movie.
Some of the storylines are clearly meant to be viewed more than once, because you'll only pick up on certain things upon a second viewing. Soooo... nothing wrong with that, right? I will probably try to watch this again before Halloween..... I don't want to talk too much about what the storylines are, because I would probably wreck things. But anyway... I'd give it two thumbs up! I hope some people here give it a chance.
PS One more thing. The ending is interesting. There are some interactions between Sam and a character named Mr. Kreeg, in the second to last part of the movie. Without giving too much away, I think that part makes more sense if you remember that Sam is definitely already aware of the characters who turn up at the VERY end of the movie, and he probably knows all he would need to know about their relationship with Kreeg. That is all! I now return you to your regularly scheduled life.
The way the movie is structured is pretty interesting. If you try to imagine a combination of Pulp Fiction and Creepshow, you'll have a good sense of what to expect. It has Pulp Fiction's nonlinear, out of sequence approach to presenting the (occasionally overlapping) stories and characters, and there is also a small amount of framing the stories through little intros that look like comic books.
The character Sam is a good idea, I think. He is supposed to be a sort of an embodiment or mascot of Halloween, like the Easter Bunny or Santa are for the secularized versions of their holidays. He isn't a massive, muscular, threatening or menacing figure... certainly not at first glance. He appears to be a little kid in a sort of an old-fashioned, cheap costume, with kind of a crude scarecrow-type of head. When people see him out trick or treating, they would probably just think, oh, there goes another kid... if anyone looked more closely, they would be puzzled at how he can see, because there aren't really any eye holes in the head... anyway, he sort of fits in, in typical Halloween scenes, and just seems to be an unremarkable part of any gathering you might come across on Halloween. You do see him without the scarecrow-ish head thing on, eventually, and he looks sort of like Pumpkinhead (which is good).
There are a few little stories going on, all of which show the things we all think of when we think of Halloween. The Sam character is not prominent in all the storylines, but he seems to be sort of a watchman to make sure everyone is observing certain Halloween traditions, not all of which I personally was even aware of... so, there's a pretty fair chance I would have been killed if I were in this movie.
Some of the storylines are clearly meant to be viewed more than once, because you'll only pick up on certain things upon a second viewing. Soooo... nothing wrong with that, right? I will probably try to watch this again before Halloween..... I don't want to talk too much about what the storylines are, because I would probably wreck things. But anyway... I'd give it two thumbs up! I hope some people here give it a chance.
PS One more thing. The ending is interesting. There are some interactions between Sam and a character named Mr. Kreeg, in the second to last part of the movie. Without giving too much away, I think that part makes more sense if you remember that Sam is definitely already aware of the characters who turn up at the VERY end of the movie, and he probably knows all he would need to know about their relationship with Kreeg. That is all! I now return you to your regularly scheduled life.