GL84 Halloween-themed segments set in one suburban town.The Good Stories: Sweet Tooth-Marveling over his haul, a kid trying to eat his treats learns the story of a boy not getting his candy and has become a demon every Halloween. While his guardians play with the haul, they realize their stories might be true. This was a decent enough segment. This really works the Sweet Tooth character, which is a believable small-town backstory that's somewhat fun and given a lengthy time to play-out. The eventual retribution is carried out and delivers some thrills and solid gore- gags, but it suffers from a familiar set-up and expected conclusion.The Weak and the Wicked-Living in a desolate neighborhood, delinquents tormenting trick-or-treaters finds a loner attempting to stand up to their tactics. Turning to him, they realize too late who've they come across and must deal with their actions. This one ended up being quite surprising. This has quite a stellar backstory that's played out a grand theme of revenge is quite a stellar twist. That this has the kind of up-tempo and frantic action present here makes for a really exciting time here, and there's a lot to like.Ding Dong-Following a deadly Halloween freakout, a man resents going through a trick-or-treat game with his wife. When he realizes that it's starting again, he tries to stop her deadly plans from coming true. This was a somewhat offbeat, mixed-bag affair. The scenes of her going through the different antics with the children are quite fun, while the witch effects here are incredibly gruesome. The main thing holding it down is a severe lack of information on what's going on, making the entire affair confusing overall.This Means War-When neighbors move across the street, a man's attempts to have the scariest haunted house on the block are severely compromised by their more modern display. Growing frustrated by their lack of respect, their challenge reaches a boiling point. This ends up as the most frustrating effort due to the lack of resolution as this one just tends to end. Still, their antics to one-up each other give this a nice amount of fun.Friday the 31st-Running for her life, a woman tries to escape from the serial killer who has stalked and killed her friends. Despite her best efforts, she can't escape from the madman who soon finds a more otherworldly threat in his presence. This was just an absolute blast of a segment and was the highlight of it all. The fact that it plays with slasher clichés and conventions through the woods and the shack battle before it becomes a wild, deranged inversion in the second half with the killer now forced to battle an equal as the two take turns brutally dismembering each other makes for a truly gruesome and wickedly funny segment.The Ransom of Rusty Rex-Attempting to kidnap a millionaire's kid, two thugs hold him for ransom and follow through on their plans. When it all blows up, they realize they have a more troublesome charge than they expected. This was a rather enjoyable effort which has a lot to like. The twist to the origin of the kid makes this a solid effort, and the different tactics to get rid of his resulting in a fun time overall. Again, not much is known about what's going on but it's still enjoyable.Bad Seed-Following the death of her husband, a woman's claims that a pumpkin came to life and eat him is scoffed at by the police. When more stories turn up, the investigating officer finds something far deadlier than she expected. This was a fun and enjoyable one. The meta-thread of mentioning the other events in the town give this a fun feel, and the attacks by the creature are incredibly fun with the thing walking around leading to some grisly antics. The ending doesn't pack a punch, but it's still enjoyable.The Bad Stories: The Night Billy Raised Hell-Heading out trick-or- treating, a young kid initially told to prank an elderly man is forced to go along with a series of tricks. As the games continue, he soon learns the shocking reason for his plans. This was quite a lame and barely worthwhile segment. The main joy here is seeing how far he goes with his pranks, and while there's a certain glee to be had it's about all that goes right. The main problem is that none of the pranks are funny or have a point to them, the pointed celebrity cameo is just plain pathetic and there's such a stupid twist at the end that it really spoils the entire segment with barely any horror resolution.Trick-Hosting a Halloween party, a group of friends find their festivities interrupted when one of the neighboring trick-or- treaters attacks them. As they succumb to more attacks, they soon learn the otherworldly reason for their behavior. This ended up being a mixed affair. There's a lot to like here with the efficient manner they go about slaughtering the group and it manages quite a few scenes of brutal action here. The problem is that none of it is particularly scary as the lack of motivation for anything manages to make the entire affair confusing and it just seems banal overall.Grim Grinning Ghost-Gathered for Halloween, a group of adults learn a terrifying legend involving a local ghost. When one woman confronts the sinister creature, she finds her night to be more terrifying than she expected. This was a rather troubling and overall bland effort. Most of this is that barely anything happens as the vast majority of the running time is her walking home which is effectively eerie and somewhat chilling. Still, the lack of action here doesn't really give this one any suspense and it just makes for a dull enough offering leaving this one of the weaker stories.Rated R: Extreme Graphic Violence, Extreme Graphic Language and children-in-jeopardy.

sol- Consisting of ten Halloween themed stories, this horror anthology movie has often been compared to Michael Dougherty's 'Trick 'r Treat' with all incidents occurring in various areas of the same town. Everything is, however, nowhere near as interconnected here, lacking the acute blending and constantly overlapping characters that made 'Trick 'r Treat' so dynamic. There is nary a boring moment to be had though as each segment in 'Tales of Halloween' is appropriately brief. Some episodes are inevitably more effective than others though. Lucky McKee's "Ding Dong" is a clear highlight with a bizarre comedic streak and several WTF moments involving an unhappy childless couple. The Jason Voorhees spoof "Friday the 31st" is pretty innovative too with some 80s style stop animation in the mix. The vast majority of segments have predictable punchlines though, with "Grim Grinning Ghost" and "Sweet Tooth" falling particularly flat. Overall, however, 'Tales of Halloween' is no less uneven than most horror anthologies out there and while some chapters sag, the majority work with some really fun cameos from the likes of Joe Dante and John Landis.

lsaucier-76885 This is my first time reviewing a movie on this site. I disliked this film so much, I feel the need to warn others to stay away. As a disclaimer: I am a fan of classic horror films, as well as more modern horror films and bad b-movie type of movies. There is nothing charming about this set of short films. They are not scary, they are not funny. They are not creative or even very interesting. Despite there being 10 short films to watch, only a handful of times did I find myself actually engaged with the characters and story lines. Here is a run down of events as best I can remember them (keeping in mind I watched this movie just 3 hours ago.) Sweet Tooth - Two uninteresting teens tell a slasher ghost story to a little boy. The story (for the first time ever, apparently, despite this story being a "rite of passage" and town legend) comes true. Characters make bad choices, and the viewer is left more confused than entertained. The Night Billy Raised Hell - A neighbor plays a prank of Halloween night. This segment was meant to be funny, but all of the sound effects and horny devils came across as more cringe inducing and bizarre than actually hilarious. Also there is a strange and inexplicable cameo from America's Next Top Model Adrien Curry.Trick - Seemingly chill adults are terrorized on Halloween Night. This one left me yelling at my television set as adults try to hide in very small corners and fall drunkenly into pools. I feel this would have been better done if the attackers were the main characters. Again, I was left more confused overall because even though I could see what the director was trying to say, it wasn't done effectively. The Weak and The Wicked - Western styled. Arsonists. Cool costume design. One of the more engaging films of the series, but still eye-roll inducing. Grim Grinning Ghost - After hearing a ghost story, a woman is afraid to travel home alone at night. I appreciated this one. Things were set up nicely, and almost every set up had a pay off. Solid premise, if more classic story telling. Ding Dong - This one was ... interesting. A woman wants to have a baby. Oh boy, does she REALLY want to have a baby. The husband grapples with his wife's desires. Ovens are involved. And silly blonde wigs. The overall premise was enjoyable and I liked the costume work and creepy imagery. Unfortunately again, this one was a muddled attempt that ultimately felt under-done. Maybe if given more time overall (and less screen time devoted to flashes of red face paint) it could have been stronger. This Means War - I liked this one. Simple premise, reliable narrative, engaging ending. Friday The 31st - This segment made me and my watching partner very, very angry. While the other short films had so far been mostly boring, confusing or underwhelming, this one was so stupid it made my blood boil. No logic here. Just cheap callbacks to beloved horror movies like The Evil Dead, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, etc. poorly done and thrown together for kicks. This was a joke between friends that was taken too far and allowed onto the screen. The Ransom Of Rusty Rex - Plot twists and kidnappings. Enjoyable, amusing, somewhat gross. One of the better segments, well acted compared to other bits. Bad Seed - Ugh. Spare me! By this point I was just waiting for the movie to be over. I'd come too far to really stop now. The effects were cool, and the premise was a strong one, but I was emotionally drained and stupefied by and hour and a half of horrible Halloween "fun".I would highly suggest saving your money and your sanity and choosing to watch literally ANY other film this Halloween. Seriously. Anything else.

jtindahouse I ended up enjoying enjoying 'Tales of Halloween' more than I expected to - sort of at least. I had low expectations going in, then I didn't enjoy the first segment and was really dreading sitting through nine more of these things. Then things picked up. Then they went down hill again, and then back up. It really was a roller coaster ride in terms of quality. Breaking each of the ten segments down into simply good, average or bad would go a little something like this:Sweet Tooth: badThe Night Billy Raised Hell: goodTrick: averageThe Weak and the Wicked: goodDing Dong: badGrim Grinning Ghost: averageThis Means War: badFriday the 31st: average (terrible story, but had the most effective scare of the whole film)The Ransom of Rusty Rex: badBad Seed: badSo half of them were bad, three were average and two were good. If you'd told me that would be the breakdown going in I probably would've taken it. Not happily, but it's certainly better than all ten of them being shocking. My advice would be to give it a miss though. Even in the terrible world of modern horror there are better things out there than this.