Director Mike Dougherty has been slowly pushing forward Trick ‘r Treat 2, the long-awaited sequel to his horror anthology film Trick ‘r Treat (watch it HERE). Two years ago, he said the sequel is in “very active development“ and last year he mentioned that there is a “really great script” in place that he wrote with his Krampus collaborators Zach Shields and Todd Casey. He also revealed that the new film will give Trick ‘r Treat’s little icon Sam a “proper nemesis” to face off with. So what’s taking this movie so long to get into production? Dougherty addresses the delay during an audio commentary track that’s included on the newly released 4K edition of the film from Arrow Video (you can pick up a copy at THIS LINK).
Dougherty said, with thanks to our friends at Bloody Disgusting for the transcription, “It’s tricky, because I think we really did capture lightning in a bottle with this one, and it nearly killed me. What a lot of people don’t realize is that the bulk of our favorite horror movies, especially the ones that introduced new horror icons, were all independent movies. There aren’t the typical metrics that a studio can point to to make it an easy ‘yes.’ Something I was adamant about in the sequel was that it has to retain this nonlinear storytelling, [and] it has to retain that weird mix of horror and comedy. I want to do it. It’s not dead by any stretch. We have some momentum moving in the right direction for sure, but I’m also of the belief that I’m not going to compromise or make sacrifice just to make a sequel. It has the be under the right conditions with the right resources. Otherwise, I will be content with just letting this be this weird little movie that fought its way through a lot of adversity. But I’m very, very happy with the script for the sequel.“
Written and directed by Dougherty, Trick ‘r Treat tells five interwoven stories that occur on Halloween: An everyday high school principal has a secret life as a serial killer; a college virgin might have just met the guy for her; a group of teenagers pull a mean prank; a woman who loathes the night has to contend with her holiday-obsessed husband; and a mean old man meets his match with a demonic, supernatural trick-or-treater.
The cast includes Brian Cox, Quinn Lord, Anna Paquin, Dylan Baker, and many others.
What do you think of what Dougherty had to say about the status of Trick ‘r Treat 2? Are you hoping this sequel will be made? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
While we wait to see what’s going to happen with this movie, Legendary Comics recently revealed that they’ve teamed up with Dougherty for a new graphic novel called Trick ‘r Treat: Witching Hours – and copies can be purchased through this Kickstarter campaign!
