So why am I banging on about it today? Coz it's Halloween, that's why!
You see, this movie may have only been released in time for Halloween 2009, but from my first viewing (a month or so before Halloween 2009) I declared it a Halloween tradition; and it is; it may be in only it's 2nd year, but already it just wouldn't feel like Halloween if I didn't watch this movie.
Billed as "four tales of terror" it is a series of interlinked tales, all happening across one night (guess which one), in the same town. But this isn't your traditional anthology movie; there's no 'host' or linking device, in fact, each story has no definite point in the movie where it ends, and the next one begins - they are so intertwined that one story sometimes starts before the previous one has ended, and the film jumps backwards and forwards in a pulp-fictionesque way, a weapon used in the first story may be acquired (after an 'earlier' caption) in the fourth, a kid seen running past in the background of one story may be given his reason to run in another and so fourth.
And even on this (my 6th I think) viewing, I'm still spotting little moments that link the stories that I've never seen before.
One thing (I can't use the word 'problem' coz it isn't one) about the nature of the narrative though; I can't for the life of me get it to 'four tales of terror'; depending on how I count I get 3 or 5, or, arguably, 1, but I can't kind a way of splitting them that feels consistent, and gets the answer 4... Ho hum.
The very best thing about the movie though, and why it's perfect for Samhain viewing, is the direction and production design - in short, the 'feel' of the film - you could watch virtually any 30 seconds of it and know, unequivocally, what night of the year it's set during; And you can't even say that for John Carpenter's 'Halloween' !
(NOTE: This is not the same trailer featured in Shocktober 2009's recommendation for this movie)
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