All Hallows' Eve Trickster — All Hallows' Eve Trickster( DVD)
All Hallows' Eve Trickster is the third in this horror anthology series of films. The series is most known/ notable for its first film, which launched the career of everyone’s favourite deranged killer clown, Art from the Terrifier films. This third film is from 2023, and takes in six stories plus a wraparound, and I’m afraid to say this is a highly quality mixed anthology. Here from WowNow is a very bare-bones DVD release of the film.
All Hallows' Eve Trickster has another Terrifier link as it was created/ helmed by Steve Barton-one of the producers of Terrifier 2. The film has a runtime of one hour and twenty-nine minutes, with a mix of short & longer stories.
For the first five or so minutes of the film, my finger was hovering over the eject button- as the wraparound story Trickster- directed by Evan Tramel(All Hallows' Eve: Inferno)- plays like a confusing cut scene from a PlayStation 2 horror game. Truly, it looks awful, badly lit, and difficult to follow- I think it regards a girl who is kidnapped & put in the back of a garage where a group of badly animated/ not at tall, creepy dolls/ monsters hide. In one corner of the room is a TV screen, where the six stories play on.
Anyway, I ( just) managed to get through the intro/ first part of the wraparound, and into the first story- That Halloween directed by Mike Hickey( The Calming, Slugger, and Plan B- all of which are shorts). This regards a group of kids going to a local haunted house where a murder took place in the 50’s. They argue about what really happened, and in the end, get sent back in time to the fateful night. This again is not great, firstly it's filmed way too murky, next it has a rather confused structure/ unfold, and lastly the kids are rather obnoxious/unbelievable- as they talk like middle-aged horror geeks, not kids.
Next is PrettyFace directed by Francesco DePinto- this is their one/only director's credit, though they had a few actor, producer, and art department credits- most notably on Terrifier 3. This story regards a creepy new romantic looking slasher, wearing a feminine, red lipstick, and spiky/quiff hair cut mask. This one wasn’t bad at all, as it tries to do something interesting with slasher tropes- the first murder is of two muscle-bound guys making it out in the back of a car, and we get a disco ball spinning/ almost robotic dance killing. Sure, the structure of the story is a little muddled, but I reckon with a bit of spit ‘n’ polish, this could make a decent feature-length.
Story three is Poor Glenna, directed by Jean-Paul DiSciscio( Scatterbrain, Nailed It, and a few other shorts). This is the best made/realised/ acted story of this anthology. It regards a very tired-looking mother who is trying to do her best for her son, though he’s far from normal. He lives in a bathtub in the basement, where he plays a retro game system- we only get a few brief/full-on shots of him, but he’s basically a mass of lashing tentacles- and has a taste for blood & raw meat. The story has a glum, brown furnished and quirky sign-lined setting, which I guess feels like it’s between the 70s and the 80s.
Next, we have Nagual: The Sin Eater, directed by Dan Laz Lazarovits, who is known as an assistant director, with most notable credits being Insidious: Chapter 3 & Insidious: The Last Key. This story is set in the wild west- it regards two tried and dehydrated bank robbers who encounter a shape-shifter on the edge of a desert. This one's not bad, with a neat clawed-hand- sucking-life-out-of-a-face effect.
Story five is Karaoke Night, directed by American-Portuguese Francisco Lacerda- who has fourteen short credits, including Randall's Dark Past, Freelancer, and Yazza. This story is the wild card of the anthology- as it goes from a sultry and dreamy Karaoke singer been hit on, to anal rapping demon wackiness.
Finally, we have Witch Hunt, which is by Evan Gorski- he has five shorts and one TV movie to his name taking including the likes of Candy Corn and The Colossal Woolly Mouse. This one starts off with an embittered middle-aged man doxing his high school classmates, then takes a sudden left turn as a puritan witch/ witchfinder appears at the doxer's house. This is just Ok.
As mentioned at the start of the review, it’s a bare-bones release- and it truly is, as the film plays as soon as you put the disc in. And all we get is a menu/ chapter sub menu.
As horror anthologies go, All Hallows' Eve Trickster is a highly, and I mean highly, mixed affair. But there certainly are some worthy/ decent stories here, just grin 'n' bear it through the truly awful wraparound story.