michael dougherty

Less than two weeks ago at Fantastic Fest Trick 'r Treat director Michael Dougherty confessed plenty of interest in doing more Trick 'r Treat anthology films that would feature, in one way or another, everyone's new favorite Halloween mascot, Sam, the sack-headed son of a pumpkin demon. But at the time, it was clear from Dougherty's tone of voice that he honestly didn't expect there would ever be any kind of studio support for him to make a sequel to a film that sat on said studio's shelf for nearly two years. That was, of course, before Trick 'r Treat came out on DVD and Blu-ray on Tuesday.

Now I haven't seen any actual sales or shipping figures, but I've heard from multiple people in multiple states that tried to snag a copy of TrT in either format on release day and that it was sold out at every brick and mortar store they went to. One doesn't need sales figures to know that Warner Brothers has, to the surprise of no one in the horror community, a hit on their hands, and one doesn't need a flow chart to understand that popular things get sequels. So now the sequel(s) that Dougherty has been silently planning in his back mental pocket is a lot closer to reality, as evidenced by his conversation with MTV:

"The whole idea originally, for me, was to do one if not every Halloween, at least every other Halloween," Dougherty explained. "Because it's an anthology film, it lends itself to telling another four stories which would intertwine – but I think you could take the film and explore how Halloween was celebrated in different locations, different time periods, and the one consistent character would be Sam, the mascot."

Trick 'r Treat is the holy grail of Halloween themed horror films. Not because of the notoriously long path writer-director Michael Dougherty's film has had to take to finally get released (a refresher: TrT was finished and first shown back in 2007 and, despite an overwhelming reaction to its first public exhibition, proceeded to be locked away in a vault at Warner Brothers for unspecified reasons), though that did turn it into a rare find to be coveted. No, Dougherty's film is such a treasure because it is Halloween. It just had the misfortune of being born a decade too late, of being born into a time when studios only care about remakes or sequels and certainly not about anthology films. Dougherty had, as far as a studio is concerned, the audacity to finely craft, gasp, an original, American horror film.

Wrong-decade misfortune that may be, however, it's great to be able to say that Trick 'r Treat will still be watched on Halloween for decades to come. Those who love it, like I, will still be watching it with great devotion. Those who merely liked it will not be able to help themselves from putting it on as background to their Halloween parties. And those who hated it, well, those who hated it don't exist. They can't exist. To hate Trick 'r Treat would be to hate the entire spirit of Halloween, a spirit Dougherty apparently has complete domain over.

Well, you've already seen what Weinberg and Hall were most looking forward to with regards to Fantastic Fest 2009: The Fantast-ening, and I fall somewhere in between, having already seen some damn good films and yet eagerly anticipated a great deal more -- and that's not to mention the Secret Screenings!

I'm putting my picks in alphabetical order, because numerical order would be like asking me to pick a favorite child that I haven't even met yet. Or something. Whatever. On with the list!

District 13: Ultimatum

What is it? -- A sequel to 2006's severely kick-ass District 13 (or B13 in the States), in which the eponymous ghetto is once again in danger... unless a certain cop (Cyril Raffaelli) and a certain vigilante (David Belle) team up once more to eliminate the threat.

Why am I excited? -- "Parkour!"

Fantastic Fest may be in its fifth year as one of the World's Coolest Film Festivals, but as far as I'm concerned this is year one. That's because this is my first crack at the geek mecca held annually in Austin, TX, and since the entire world revolves around me, I think we can all agree to reset the counter. No? Fine. At least indulge these picks for my Top 5 Most Anticipated Films at Fantastic Fest Five.

5. Rampage, Directed by Uwe Boll (Canada)
That's right, out of the 100+ films at Fantastic Fest, one of my top 5 is the latest from House of the Dead and Bloodrayne mastermind Uwe Boll. Never mind the fact that the notorious German is going to be present to do a Rampage Q&A (his appearances are, as legend tells, phenomenal, hilarious, maddening insights into his, uh, talents), I've actually heard very good things about the film.

Programming Description: "Fed up with his dead-end life, Bill constructs a full-body kevlar armor suit and rampages through the streets of his hometown killing everyone in sight, particularly the barista that failed to make him a proper macchiato."

Extent of Exposure: I've only read the description, seen the poster and heard a detail-less thumbs up.

- Steve Niles, the already very busy creator of 30 Days of Night is likely to get a bit busier now that Universal has optioned his comic series Criminal Macabre. Interesting premise, "supernatural detective who doubles as hitman, taking out all the vampires, ghosts and other unsavory monsters who live among humans, hiding in the shadows by day and emerging at night." I just wish Neal "Prom Night '09" Moritz wasn't producing.

- Just a quick note that Anchor Bay will be releasing the Syfy paid-for remake of Children of the Corn on DVD October 6th. That's about two weeks after the network gives the world premiere on September 26th.

- Also confirmed for October 6th is the looong anticipated release of Michael Dougherty's Trick 'R Treat on both DVD and Blu-ray. Fangoria has a few details on what we can expect from the Warner Bros' presentation, including confirmation that writer/director Dougherty's commentary track will only be avaible on the Blu variety.

- Milla Jovovich would like to tell you that her new movie is super serious and super realistic. Except that it isn't. Still, the trailer for alien abduction flick The Fourth Kind is quite creepy. Plus, it's always good to see the Resident Evil gal when she's doing things other than riding motorcycles up buildings.

After a long flight on my part and a far longer drive for both of us, Scott Weinberg and I have finally arrived in Montréal for the FanTasia International Film Festival (their thirteenth, our first). The genre-heavy festival lasts for nearly three weeks; alas, we've but one to spare, so without much further ado, here's a look at what I've seen already and what I hope to see before Scott tips his own hand with a title or two to recommend.

Of the features playing, I can highly recommend Michael Paul Stephenson's Troll 2 doc, Best Worst Movie; the Aussie revenge thriller, The Horseman (not to be confused with the barely-seen Dennis Quaid vehicle,Horsemen); and Paul Solet's beautifully bloody baby horror, Grace. Those looking for something a bit stranger might end up being a bit more fond of Black and The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle than I was, though I also seemed more easily pleased by the Nazi zombies of Dead Snow than most, so I guess it all balances out. My enthusiasm for the ultra-kitschy likes of Alien Trespass and Lesbian Vampire Killers, not to mention the admittedly boundary-pushing Deadgirl, is all a bit less than what's already been mentioned, so let's just leave those at that.

I have a few West Coast horror geek pals who've already seen Mike Dougherty's Trick 'r Treat, nearly all of whom have said good things about it, so I was thrilled to learn that it was playing at next month's Fantasia Film Festival. And it sure looks like that's not the only place it'll be seen: Here's a recent Cinematical piece from my pal Will Goss:

Mike Dougherty's horror anthology film Trick 'r Treat has been bumped back by Warner Bros. for going on two years now, since its premiere at Austin's Butt-Numb-a-Thon back in December of 2007. We wrote up a piece last December wondering where it was, and we shant need to write one up this December, because not only is TrT scheduled for a home video release in October, but it's working up to a roadshow run starting in July.

According to Bloody Disgusting, the film will hit several genre festivals -- from FanTasia to Fantastic Fest (squee!) -- and hopes to be booked in other theaters along the way. Those who know of any ideal venues to show the film have been encouraged to contact Dougherty himself through either his Twitter account or his MySpace page.

Now, I know several colleagues who loved or at least liked it, though one cautions not to get our hopes up too high. I'm all for keeping expectations in check, but if anything, I'm slightly more for supporting apparently good and genuinely original horror offerings. It's like my equivalent of asking you to prevent forest fires, only instead of forest fires, we're talking Prom Night sequels. Ya dig?