The new anthology film, Tales of Halloween opens in select theaters nationwide and digital download today.  The perfect love letter to all hallow’s eve, Tales is ten separate shorts directed by no-less than 11 of today’s best indie horror film directors.

The pic opens in a beautifully rendered pop-up book style, referencing each of the stories. Like a visual overture of what is to come, we see the chaos within a small suburban town during one insane Halloween night. Monsters, aliens, killer pumpkins, all of them in a frenzy of action causing calamity, mayhem, and destruction. The velvety voice of radio announcer, Adrienne Barbeau reminds the townsfolk to be prepared for anything as the camera flies from scene to scene during the title sequence.

The credits end and we begin the first story right away.  There is no bookend device, no contrived arch for us to endure.  No, the movie just gets straight to the point, offering one of the best Halloween movies of the past 5 years.

Sweet Tooth

Written, Edited, and Directed by Dave Parker

A young boy feasts on his trick or treat candy as his older sister and her boyfriend taunt him with an urban legend from the neighborhood. As the story goes, Sweet Tooth is a kid whose parents never let him eat his trick or treat candy.  When discovering his own parents gorging themselves on his well earned sweets he murders them, pulling the candy from their disemboweled stomachs.  From then on, every Halloween night, Sweet Tooth roams the neighborhood in search of more candy.

This story is a lovely way to begin a Halloween anthology.  It’s filled to the brim with nasty gore, a wicked sense of humor, and, of course, candy.  We can all see where this is headed so it’s no surprise to say that when Sweet Tooth actually shows up to the surprise of the cruel teenagers, the party really gets going.

The Night Billy Raised Hell

Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman

Little Billy is escorted to the house of the neighborhood Halloween hater.  After being caught playing a nasty prank on said resident, he is yanked into the house and realizes that the person that lives there has a few lessons for the precocious little boy.  In his trademark zany style, director Darren Lynn Bousman relishes in telling the story of how young Billy is taught how to play some real tricks on Halloween Night. Barry Bostwick, has a fabulously good time playing the mischievous older gentleman who runs the young protege though the town wrecking real havoc on all in their path.

Bousman, known for the wonderful Repo the Genetic Rock Opera, injects the proceedings with a theatrical flair.  As each practical joke gets progressively nastier we expect that, at any minute, the characters will break out into song.  It’s a shame they don’t.  It only would have made an already wonderful piece that much crazier.

Trick

Directed by Adam Gierasch

All is fine until kids show up.  Two couples sit alone, enjoying themselves on Halloween night.  They are drinking, toking it up, and having a pretty low-key evening handing out candy to the neighborhood kids.  That is, until a little witch arrives to deliver a nasty surprise. As the adults scramble to escape the mayhem thrust upon them the violence descends leaving nowhere to run.

Following the two more playful pieces, Trick plays it cool, then goes straight for the jugular delivering sudden violence and gritty camera moves.  The sudden, jaring change in tone from playful mischief to gritty violence is an expert choice that really plays nicely, keeping us as viewers on our toes.

Grimm Grinning Ghost

Written and Directed by Axelle Carolyn

If you are walking alone on Halloween night and you hear something behind you, whatever you do, don’t look back. The legendary Lin Shaye opens this elegant thriller with another urban legend.  During a Halloween party she tells the tale, the story of an evil spirit that follows people on Halloween Night.  The only problem is that, if you turn around to see who is behind you, it may lead to your demise. As the party dissipates, the daughter of the storyteller makes her way home.  Of course, we hear something.

As the adult daughter makes her way home, the presence of something or someone gets closer and closer to her.  With each step through the endless, fog-shrodded streets, the entity gets closer and closer.  Is there really anything there or is it her imagination?

What makes this segment work so well is the universal fear of something creeping up from behind.  To look would only lead to your doom, to run will only persist the paranoia.  The tension is built slowly and steadily in this brilliant piece until the ending seconds.  This was a real stand out for us.

Ding Dong

Directed by Lucky McKee

In probably the only false note of the film, comes Lucky McKee’s odd contribution, Ding Dong.  An emotionally distraught woman sits weeping on Halloween night.  She wails at each ring of the doorbell as she has no children of her own.  Her loving husband attempts to consoler her  but each overture of support is greeted with a nasty slap across the face or worse. At the end of her mental rope the woman goes to extremes of anger and heartbreak until the conclusion of the story.

While visually striking at times, this particular piece feels out of place some how.  While the other stories seem to have a pretty regular structure to them, Ding Dong jettison’s convention and goes its own route in telling a story. This is not to say the story is without merit or novelty.  It is certainly interesting. However, it feels strangely out of place among the other stories.

The Weak and the Wicked

Directed by Paul Solet

A clever homage to westerns, The Weak and the Wicked tells the story of three bullies who finally meet their comeuppance.  The story begins with the belligerent trio hassling kids on Halloween night.  When a shadowy figure appears to stop their reign of terror, they must fight to stay alive.

Stylized and punctuated with delightful references to classic revenge tales of the old west this is a great palette cleanser and return to form for the movie.

This Means War

Written and Directed by John Skipp and Andrew Kasch

The only segment in the film anthology that is written and directed by two people, This means war is an comidic battle between the old guard and the new guard of Halloween.  Rivaling neighbors set up their decorative displays for the big night.  On one side we have the classic Halloween display complete with talking skeleton and mad scientist lab.  On the other side we have the more Rob Zombie version of Halloween, with metal music, wild face make up and raucous hijinks. The two rival camps come to fisticuffs and the two duke it out to establish their take on Halloween.

A clever commentary on the existing evolution of what Halloween means to its different admirers, the piece really makes a mockery of the division in taste.  We all love the holiday, so why fight?  Some like it classic, others like it edge.  In the end, it’s all about having fun right?

Hysterical, funny, and sharp, This Means War puts the dispute to rest in the funniest way possible.

Friday the 31st

Directed by Mike Mendez

One of our absolute favorites from the film, Friday the 31st begins with a buxom young woman running from a masked psycho killer.  Tearing through the dark forest, the girl seeks refuge in a shed only to find the killer’s hive of murder, bodies strewn everywhere.  The killer burst into the shed, his mask torn from his face, we see that he has a striking resemblance to pretty much every single psycho killer in the woods character we have ever seen.

Director Mike Mendez, from script co-written with David Parker, takes the comedic route, playing to every single cliche in the horror movie playbook.  The story unfolds as the fleeing femme squares off with the garden variety psychopath. That’s just the beginning and, to quote Buzzfeed, You won’t believe what happens next!

To go any further would be to rob you of the surprises that this irreverent little segment delivers.

The Ransom of Rusty Rex

Written and Directed by Ryan Schifrin

Two bumbling would be kidnappers decide to nab a millionaires kid.  Only when they do, they get far more than they bargained for.  Another darkly funny gem, The Ransom of Rusty Rex features a hysterical cameo from legendary film maker John Landis as the millionaire all too happy to let his son go. Sam Witwer and Jose Pablo Cantillo portray the confused kidnappers with expert comic timing.

As with may of these stories, to say much more than that would be to give away the treats in store.

Bad Seed

Neil Marshall…(segment “Bad Seed”)

Saving one of the very best segments for last, Neil Marshall delivers the hysterically funny segment, Bad Seed.  During a routine residential pumpkin carving, a jack o’lantern turns on its carver and begins a violent crime spree though the quiet town.  In a sharply funny send up of every cop movie or T.V. show you have ever seen. Kristina Klebe plays Detective McNally, the one woman on the force that is smart enough, driven enough, to find the killer and bring him to justice. There is a delightful cameo by another horror legend.  Writer Director Joe Dante plays the scientist a Clover Corp who could very well be responsible for all of the mayhem. Absurdly silly, Bad Seed is a great way to close the anthology.

Overall, Tales of Halloween is a feast of autumnal goodness for lovers of witches, ghosts, and pumpkins.  While it lacks the circuitous plot devices of Trick or Treat, it does make the effort to cross reference the stories throughout the film. But to be fair this isn’t Trick or Treat, nor does it try to be, nor does it even need to be. There is more passion, more love in each frame of this film than can be found in any other Halloween movie.  It is rich with lovers of the genre in front of and behind the camera, with the likes of Adrienne Barbeau, John Landis, Joe Dante, the late Ben Woolf, and Barbara Crampton popping in and out.  You need to go see this movie or download it today if you even have the slightest like for this wonderful time of year we call Halloween.