Writer: Zack Ward (Screenplay) Ronald L Halvas, Todd Tucker (Story)
Starring: Caleb Thomas, Sarah Lancaster, Annie Read, JT Neal, Mcabe Gregg, Niko Papastefanou
Plot: After a fifteen-year-old is brutally beaten up by High School bullies, his wish for revenge unknowingly unleashes the Terror of Halloween.
Runtime: 1 Hour 20 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Lacks the Punch
Story: The Terror of Hallow’s Eve starts as we meet monster enthusiast Tim (Thomas) who likes to play pranks around the neighbourhood, despite his mother Linda’s (Lancaster) wishes, after Tim accidentally dinks the car of high school bully Brian (Neal), his goons look to pick a fight, beating him up, leading him to make a wish with a pumpkin on Halloween night.
Little does Tim know, he summons the Trickster (Jones) who will bring him a chance to get revenge of the bullies all on one bloody Halloween night.
Thoughts on The Terror of Hallow’s Eve
Characters – Tim has always been interested in designing monsters, it has left has a bit of an outsider, that likes to use pranks to scare the locals, only he attracts the attention of bullies who beat him up. Upset he makes a throw away wish in a pumpkin that summons a monsters that gets the revenge, only he needs to figure out how to stop it when it gets out of control. He will also do anything to impress the crush he has too. Linda is the mother of Tim who has been struggling to keep everything together, needing work extra shifts, while making sure Tim doesn’t get himself into trouble. April is the crush that has always been nice to Tim through the years, but has poor selection in boys. Brian is the leader of the bullies, with his fancy car being the starting point, he will always look down on people no matter who they are, used women and pick on people smaller than him.
Performances – Caleb Thomas might well have the best look for the role, he is the best of a weak cast, which is more about the weak story giving the actors very little to work, they just don’t get going in their roles, never coming off believable.
Story – The story here follows a lonely high school student that accidentally summons an evil presence to get revenge on the people holding him back in life. The problem with this story is that the trickster doesn’t just go after the ones Tim wants revenge on and gets out of control, it just leaves you scratching your head about what is going on, is seems like everything happens way to fast, without giving us a chance to digest what happened and the sudden character change from harmless prankster to school loser, seems to sudden. It is just a story that just doesn’t get to live up to what it wants to be.
Horror – The horror doe shave blood splatter, with a creature in The Trickster, only it just doesn’t feel as scary as possible.
Settings – Most of the film uses two locations, the shop which has the incident and the house where the horrors happen, it is generic and doesn’t use the environment to increase the horror.
Special Effects – The effects in the film are basic, with Doug Jones looking the creepy character involved being the only strong point in the film.
Scene of the Movie – The Trickster character.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The Trickster’s actions.
Final Thoughts – This is a horror that doesn’t connect on the levels it wants to ending up feeling rushed and not scary at all.
Overall: Dull Horror.