Trick 'r Treat

Episode 164: Trick ’r Treat (2007)

Theme: Holiday Horror Month
Hosts: Oz & Curtis

This week, Oz and Curtis carve into Trick ’r Treat — the Halloween anthology that somehow blends Goosebumps energy, EC Comics morality, mid-2000s angsty teens, Brian Cox yelling at a pumpkin demon, and the Werewolf Bar Mitzvah episode of 30 Rock into one beautifully twisted jack-o’-lantern of a movie.

Join your two favorite Sam-scholars as they explore:

• How this film juggles four stories, three timelines, and one murder-pumpkin enforcer better than most movies handle a single plot.
• Why Dylan Baker’s “Dad of the Year” routine should come with a Surgeon General’s warning.
• The werewolf segment that feels like Hocus Pocus took a hard left turn into an MTV music video.
• How the school bus massacre remains one of the darkest — and weirdly most haunting — sequences in modern horror.
• Why Sam is simultaneously adorable and absolutely the last trick-or-treater you want knocking on your door.

From razor-edged candy to revenge-seeking zombie kids, from Anna Paquin’s moonlit transformation to Brian Cox’s chaotic showdown with the cutest tiny demon imaginable, Oz and Curtis break down a film that feels less like an anthology and more like Halloween night distilled into 82 minutes.

It’s creepy, clever, interconnected, and honestly? Required viewing if you’ve ever lit a jack-o’-lantern before October 31st.

Final Verdict

Oz — 27 lollipops sharpened to a point
Curtis — 93 flaming jack-o’-lanterns
Both — Still nervous Sam might be standing just off-screen if they break a Halloween rule.