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4K UHD Review: Arrow Video’s Trick ‘r Treat (Collector’s Edition) 

A.W. Kautzer
Trick r Treat

Trick r Treat

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The Halloween Horror Comedy Cult Classic Trick ‘r Treat gets a 4K UHD upgrade thanks to Arrow Video. 

The Film 

Some things get better with age.  Like wine rather than vinegar.  Consider Mike Dougherty’s Trick ‘R Treat that vintage ’68 Bordeaux.  The gold standard of anthology films.  Trick ‘R Treat‘s bold storytelling structure and a mixture of scares, gore, and comedy have risen it to that rarefied field of an anthology film that many a horror fan calls “The Pulp Fiction of Horror films” and rightfully earns it. 

Trick ‘R Treat melds four storylines effortlessly into one non-linear narrative taking place during Halloween.  The first is a father and son spend some very strange bonding time, but not before the father has to dispose of the body of an annoying teenager he happened to kill.  A young college-age woman is pressured by her friends to bring a boy to their kegger.  A group of tweens decides to play a prank on an innocent girl whose love of Halloween may save her.  An old man confronts his past demons in the form of Sam the Impish demon of Halloween.

Few filmmakers have shown their affection for Halloween and the horror genre the way that Mike Dougherty did.  Dougherty first a screenwriter on genre films such as X-Men 2 brought the kind of smart writing to this project as he had in major tent poles.  The film is visually acute in the way that many screenwriters turned directors’ debuts are, thanks in large part to his work in animation.  The sort of deep visual references that come with animation are present here.  There’s a beautiful autumnal color palette that they make the film unique from its genre counterparts as horror films go for the desaturated look rather than the bright pop.

The success of the film is all in its perfectly balanced tone.  Any horror comedy’s success is solely rested on how it manages its gore/scare-to-humor ratio.  Part science.  Part artistry.  All alchemy in a way that’s almost undefinable.  Trick ‘R Treat plays like a well-practiced magic trick, like many of its brethren.  Much of that is the understanding that the scare and gore are taken seriously and not for jokes.  Many Horror Comedies make the mistake of mixing those two together, which can be done sparingly.  Here the gross-out moments are played with a fun tone but never betraying the film’s respect for the genre, not making it a mockery.  

Trick ‘R Treat is great fun.  It’s the type of fun that is just as much fun watching as it must have been to make it.

The Transfer

Brand new 4K restoration by Arrow Films, approved by writer-director Michael Dougherty is a serious upgrade from the previous Blu-Ray releases.  The image is sharper and more consistently pleasing Contrast Levels and Color Reproduction.  The Dolby Vision encoding gives a huge uptick in quality in the blacks giving them a luster, glow, and a considerate amount of detail within those blacks not present on prior editions.  There is a light grain structure that gives this the feeling of a 35mm print rather than an overly cleaned-up transfer.  

The Extras

They include the following;

The first track is an all-new audio commentary with writer-director Michael Dougherty moderated by James A. Janisse & Chelsea Rebecca from the Dead Meat Podcast. The track begins with introductions and bonafides and Dougherty states that it was going to be more of a conversational as opposed to the technical-based track from the original Blu-ray.  Some of the details include the production schedule; the fact the film feels like a Christmas movie – the feeling of Halloween, which is rare in a Halloween but in Holiday movies; the lack of theatrical success and their success on home video similar to A Christmas Story which was one of Dougherty’s inspirations; where the horror genre was at the time of release and how that contributed to the film’s initial failure; the influence of Creepshow; the opening title sequence and how that it came out of the test screening process; the rise of Sam as a character that shows up on Halloween – which leads to a larger discussion of Sam throughout the commentary; the detailed design work that needed to be done – especially the candy for obvious reasons; a discussion of Dougherty history with animation throughout the track – including his first internship, his going to film school; the making of the short film – and how that informed the design of Sam; the writing process – and how long it took to create the interconnected feel of the film, how he was able to take previous work and create the film; a discussion about Stan Winston’s influence on Dougherty’s career; the influence of Pulp Fiction and Go to the non-linear structure; the influence of The Exorcist III – a favorite film of Dougherty; keeping a film “timeless” and how to approach the design of the film; a larger discussion of the various horror films and Halloween time films that inspired the film and Dougherty loves; and much more.  This all-new commentary track is a great look back at the inspirations and production anecdotes and feels completely different than the secondary archival track. 

The second track is an archival audio commentary by Michael Dougherty, conceptual artist Breehn Burns, storyboard artist Simeon Wilkins, and composer Douglas Pipes.  The commentary itself, which was ported over from the 2007 Blu-Ray Release, is solid with all participants contributing information about the film.  Some of the details include how they created the opening moment from old stock footage; the trouble with shooting the film during the “fall” in Vancouver – including multiple days of rain and snow; a larger discussion of the various actors that appear in the film; a larger discussion of the score and work done by Douglas Pipes; a larger discussion of the work done by Burns and Wilkins in collaboration with Dougherty, who comes from animation/art background; and much more.  This is more of a technical commentary track with some crossover from the new track but very little.  

Becoming Sam (9:30) – in the all-new interview with actor Quinn Lord who played Sam in the film, opens with how he approached the audition process. Lord also discusses the production and how he “approached” the role as a seven-year-old; the various makeup FX work that he had to go through; various details about filming the finale with Brian Cox; and much more.  

The Devil is in the Details (12:12) – in the all-new interview with production designer Mark Freeborn via Zoom begins with how he got the job because he was known for being “dark and moody” from his design work from The X-Files and other shows in Vancouver.  Some of the other details include his collaboration and ease of work with director Dougherty; the various locations and what was the production and Dougherty looking for; and much more.  

If Looks Could Kill (17:02) – in the all-new interview with director of photography Glen MacPherson via Zoom opens with his decision of choosing Trick ‘r Treat over Stallone’s Rambo. Some of the other details include the use of concept art, much done by Dougherty himself, as a guide for how he would shoot the film; the various techniques used for lighting sources throughout the film to achieve the specific look for the various sets; the surprising amount of the work on the production was set bound and what was on location; the difficulties with on location work; the work and collaboration with production designer Mark Freeborn; and much more.  

Designs to Die for (15:31) – in the all-new interview with costume designer Trish Keating via Zoom opens with the process she approaches the work and how much she liked the screenplay being the main motivation for taking the assignment.  Some of the other details include her love of being able to do modern costuming work and what the film brought creatively for her; the collaboration with Dougherty; the amount of work that needed to be done and duplicated out with considerations to the various FX work that needed to be done; the design approach and collaboration on creating Sam’s costume; the design approach to the various characters in the film; and much more.  

Bark at the Moon (8:59) – in the all-new interview with creature designer Patrick Tatopoulos opens with how he got the job designing the werewolves in the film.  Some of the other details include working with Dougherty’s original sketches and the other design work to begin; the approach to the werewolf was different – being women and being more “sensual”; how they designed the transformation section of the film; and much more.  

Mark Freeborn Remembers Bill Terezakis (3:20) – in the all-new tribute to the late make-up effects designer discusses Terezakis’s innovative makeup FX work and the truly great work ethic he brought to the set.  

Archival Features – the following archival featurettes from various editions of the film are included in this submenu.  It should be noted that all featurettes under this submenu are presented in 1080p and not native 4K. 

Image Galleries – the four image galleries can be accessed in the submenus below.  

The Final Thought 

Arrow Video has produced another home run with this new edition of Trick ‘R Treat.  Relevatory 4K Transfer.  Packed with special features.   This is a definite HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION!!!

Arrow Video’s 4K UHD Edition of Trick ‘r Treat is out on October 29th

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