‘Trick’ is Your New Halloween Slasher Obsession [Review]
The latest entry in the Halloween horror subgenre, Trick introduces a new masked killer icon in a fun slasher with loads of franchise potential, wrapped around our favorite day of the year.
The film is directed by Patrick Lussier and written by Todd Farmer, who previously teamed up on the awesome My Bloody Valentine remake and the highly underrated Drive Angry, and they were at one time announced to write/direct a sequel to Rob Zombie’s Halloween films a decade ago, back in 2009.
Featuring a top notch cast including genre favorites Tom Atkins (Halloween III: Season of the Witch, The Fog) and Jamie Kennedy (Scream), Trick begins on Halloween night 2015, when Patrick “Trick” Weaver commits his first mass killing at college costume party.
Omar Epps plays detective Mike Denver, who seemingly puts in end to Trick in the opening sequence, but is then shocked when a similar slaying happens the following Halloween, and keeps happening each year on October 31st. Denver becomes obsessed with stopping Trick’s annual reign of terror, as everyone around him debates if the killer is in fact Trick or a copycat. Denver is clearly the Dr. Loomis to Weaver’s Michael Myers.
Trick also stars Kristina Reyes as Cheryl Winston, a former final girl who survived Trick’s first rampage, which you can imagine leaves some unfinished business for the killer. Cheryl is trying to move on after watching her friends be slaughtered, but of course Trick has other plans.
Ellen Adair is terrific as Sheriff Jayne, the only person who may be as obsessed with this case as Denver is.
Atkins plays a local bar owner named Talbott (winking at The Wolf Man), who hosts an awesome looking dusk till dawn horror marathon and haunted maze every Halloween.
Kennedy is miles away from his hyper-adrenalized role of Randy in the Scream films, playing the doctor in the small town where Trick’s first kills occurred.
The annual killing sprees happen in a different town every year, each located along the same river that Trick first disappeared into back in 2015. So we don’t just get to experience one Halloween night in this film, but five Halloweens, and as such, Trick wears at least five different masks or makeups throughout. The best of these masks is a two-faced jackolantern (pictured below), designed by Garry Tunnicliffe.
The fact that he has a different look for every Halloween is original for a slasher, and it makes for a whole lot of fun masks and costumes.
Trick drips with palpable Halloween atmosphere in practically every frame, and the killer even makes a classic jack-o-lantern face into his own kind of calling card left spray painted at the scene of his fatalities, a detail I especially loved.
To give much more away would be venturing into spoiler territory, but I will say that the climactic twists are more than satisfying.
Highly recommended and destined to join your annual October movie marathons, Trick is an absolute treat and a fine addition to the Halloween horror pantheon.
RLJE Films will release Trick in theaters and on Digital this Friday, October 18.
*Paid link: As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
For more Halloween news, follow @HalloweenDaily.
