Sci Fi Wire has an interview with Michael Dougherty, writer/director of this October’s TRICK ‘R TREAT, where the co-writer of such films as X-MEN 2 and SUPERMAN RETURNS speaks about his influences for the Halloween-set anthology film, as well as where he envisions the horror genre going at the moment…
“You had asked what separates this film from the current slate of horror films out there, and I think it is that dose of black comedy…You know, in my mind the film is very much inspired by Tim Burton, Edward Gorey, Charles Addams, and those are all artists who created stories that feature horrific elements, but it’s OK if you laugh at them. It’s OK to me if half the audience is laughing, and half the audience is screaming.”
”I think we’re in a very lucky period where there’s such a diverse range of horror subgenres, but this subgenre kind of went away, and I just kind of want to bring it back. What we’ve been exposed to recently in horror is very similar to what we were going through in the ’70s. It’s like we have Hills Have Eyes, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Amityville Horror, like, all these names sound very familiar. But if you look back at where the late-’70s films went to, they went into early-’80s films, so you had American Werewolf in London, you had Poltergeist, Nightmare on Elm Street, Creepshow. There came a point where people realized ‘OK, I’ve had my hardcore exploitation horror films.’ And people started injecting black comedy and humor into the horror. And I’m hoping that trend kind of repeats itself again, and we head in that direction.”
TREAT ‘R TREAT deals with several intertwining stories set in a small town on Halloween night: A serial killer specializes in poisoning candy; A group of mischievous kids unearth their town’s dark secret; a young woman is hunted by a masked stalker at the local festival; and a cantankerous old hermit deals with a demonic trick-or-treater.
Personally I love the way this flick sounds, and think Dougherty certainly has the right idea. I too am feeling a little ennui toward the nonstop barrage of helpless-victims-tied-up-and-tortured subgenre, and am looking forward to a bit of macabre “Tales from the Crypt/Darkside” style fun (not that a little bit of bondage would hurt).
Starring Brian Cox, Anna Paquin, Leslie Bibb, and Dylan Baker, TRICK ‘R TREAT comes out October 5.