I was a little apprehensive diving into this one, you know it’s going to be an anthology story kinda flick and those have the pros and cons, usually more cons, with front-loading it with the crap and doing a final good story to try and wash the sins of the previous ones away (Trick r Treat, I’m looking at you and your FAIL!). But it had Guillermo del Toro involved as producer and some writing, and then I recognized the Norwegian director from Troll Hunter. So, okay, maybe...maybe...
1968, Mill Valley Pennsylvania. Small quiet town. Halloween. Immediately establish the high school Nerds and their Bullies, the conflict that inevitably escalates. Main character Stella is in the nerd crew, and ends up hooking a young passer-by of the town into their shenanigans, and going to the known local haunted house for some extra thrills. They get their chills. And maybe a little pee in their pants. Just a little though. Cuz they’re tough! But yeah, no, they unleash some shit that scares the fuck outta em. Literally. No fuckin in this movie. Too scared! And being Guillermo del Toro associated, it makes sure to wrap it with a lot of cool mythological-like folktales and creatures that get downright mean.
Not sure if it was just kinda riding on the coat-tails of Stranger Things and the throw-back 80s Spielberg vibe (E.T. does center on Halloween too, you know), with the teenage kids and the darker undercurrents swelling up after the obligatory introduction of characters. But at least it does it right, a decent if slow build, each story getting more...intense...while holding to the overall story framework with a few decent if somewhat cliche emotional beats. And it does look fine. It is PG-13, so it doesn’t go, you know, full horrorific. The CGI in most cases dulls that bite a bit. Still some good jump scares and such that make you almost spill your beer. Almost.
