FILM · 2007 · USA
Trick 'r Treat
33 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (33)
- #001
(Around the 9-minute mark) The boy with the lollipop in his mouth who watches the girls in the changing rooms while they try on Halloween costumes is Quinn Lord, who plays Sam throughout the rest of the film.
- #002
(Around 1 hour 6 minutes) The candy Sam uses to attack the old man is the same candy he took from the Principal earlier in the film (around 17 minutes). The Principal put razor blades inside the chocolates he handed out.
- #003
Most of the jack-o'-lanterns were made of foam or ceramic. A running joke on set was that no pumpkin was harmed during the making of this film.
- #004
The masked performers playing the children on the school bus all have real disabilities or injuries, and by all accounts they had a great time during the shoot. Their costumes were inspired by a mix of photographs by Ralph Meatyard and Diane Arbus of real mentally disabled children in their own homemade Halloween costumes.
- #005
Anna Paquin's character "Laurie" is named after Laurie Strode from Halloween (1978).
- #006
(Around the 1-hour mark) On the TV there is a voice of James Marsden talking about the history of Halloween candy.
- #007
Characters from each story often appear in the background of stories they are not part of. This is meant to help piece together the film's chronology.
- #008
(Around the 36-minute mark) Brian Cox added the wheeze to his breathing during his own segment, which led Michael Dougherty to add it to the flashback scene of the bus driver crawling out of the lake.
- #009
(Around the 3-minute mark) The attention to detail is striking. In the film's opening sequence, the Dead School Bus Children are visible in the background leaving Mr. Kreeg's house long before their presentation is shown, but exactly at the place where their story will take place.
- #010
Kreeg's front door has 8 locks, one for each child on the school bus.
- #011
(Around 15 minutes) Earlier cuts had removed the scene in which Steven (Dylan Baker) carries the child he has just poisoned into his foyer, and the reason was studio pressure. Because they had briefly considered making it a simple horror-comedy, the studio wanted cuts to its comedy sensibilities rather than its content.
- #012
The opening title sequence includes drawings by various members of the crew. It also features childhood photos of various cast and crew members.
- #013
The fight scene between Sam and Kreeg featured an eight-year-old stunt performer as well as an adult female stunt performer.
- #014
The look of Brian Cox's character is based on John Carpenter, the director of Halloween (1978) and The Thing (1982).
- #015
The black-and-white educational film that opens the movie was not originally there. It was initially part of the trailer, and director Michael Dougherty liked it so much that he added it to the film.
- #016
The film was first scheduled to be released for a Halloween showing in October 2007. Warner Bros. pulled the film from the schedule without any explanation or reason and announced no rescheduling date. One possible reason was that Saw IV (2007) was planned for release around the same time as Warner Bros.' own film; they did not want to compete against a big opening against themselves. Another possible reason for the studio shelving the film may have been the potential fallout from the disappointing box office of Superman Returns (2006), which Trick 'r Treat writer/director Michael Dougherty co-wrote and which was produced and directed by Bryan Singer, the production company behind this film. There was brief talk that the film would finally be released around Halloween 2008 and possibly in early 2009, but neither release happened. The film finally went straight to DVD in October 2009.
- #017
Brian Cox wore a wig and prosthetics because he wanted to look like John Carpenter.
- #018
Most of the extras in the parade sequence are members of Vancouver's Lost Souls Parade, who do this in the streets every Halloween.
- #019
Michael Dougherty is still trying to figure out Sam's origin and says that if they make a sequel, he would very much like to show that Sam was born in a pumpkin patch. "Charles Addams has a wonderful painting of a pumpkin patch… and you see hundreds of pumpkins, you see one… and it's carving itself."
- #020
The character Sam takes his name from Samhain, the ancient Celtic festival of the dead from which today's Halloween is derived. Although it has been depicted that way in this film and many other works, Samhain is not a god or any other figure of ancient Celtic polytheism; it is simply the name of the celebration. The idea of it being a god or other figure, however, goes back at least to the late first century, largely thanks to an Irish bishop named Cormac mac Cuilennàin and his book "Sanas Cormaic" (Irish Gaelic for "Cormac's Narrative"), which described Samhain that way.
- #021
(Around 1 hour 7 minutes) The gum that rolls down the stairs is a nod to The Changeling (1980), another horror film shot in Vancouver. It turned out that the camera operator working on this sequence had also shot the ballroom scene in The Changeling. It was one of his first jobs in the industry.
- #022
The film is based on Michael Dougherty's animated short Season's Greetings (1996), in which the character Sam first appeared.
- #023
(Around the 50th minute) Anna Paquin's frightened reaction is "very, very genuine" because Michael Dougherty literally screamed unexpectedly to scare her. At first she did not appreciate it, but she soon understood how it made her performance more authentic.
- #024
(Around the 4th minute) The blood used to show Emma's death under the sheet was boiled just before filming so that it would evaporate.
- #025
(Around the 7th minute) If you pause at the very end of the title sequence, you will see Sam's real face.
- #026
Many title changes were made before filming began. Initially titled Season's Greetings (also the name of the short film), it was changed because it sounded too much like a Christmas film. It was then called Halloween Terrors, Jack O' Lantern Tales, October 31 and Trick or Treat. The final title was kept, but because a film of the same name had already been released, they changed the spelling to Trick 'r Treat.
- #027
It won the 2009 Fright Meter Award for Best Horror Film. Michael Dougherty also won Best Director, and Dylan Baker won Best Supporting Actor.
- #028
(Around the 53rd minute) At the campfire, just before the girls turn around, a hot dog costume can be seen. It implies that the kid in the Coach costume (seen at Mrs. Henderson's party) is now a victim.
- #029
The label on the liquor bottle that is smashed and used as a weapon in the old man's house reads Glen MacPherson, a.k.a. the cinematographer.
- #030
(Around 32 minutes) In the segment titled "Halloween School Bus Massacre," a group of children visit a quarry and tell the story of a bus ride that went wrong. As the story begins, a bright yellow school bus drives down a quiet street full of autumn colors and bare trees. When the camera moves down to make it the focal point of the screen, the bright red Plymouth Fury named Christine sits directly on the left. Although Michael Dougherty is paying tribute to John Carpenter, one of his favorite directors, it is also used symbolically as a bad omen for the children inside the bus.
- #031
(Around the 39th minute) C. Ernst Harth has a cameo as Laurie's blind date, the 'Giant Baby.' In Thir13en Ghosts (2001) he played the ghost called 'The Great Child,' also a giant baby. Both films are Warner Bros. releases.
- #032
(Around 1 hour 13 minutes) In Mr. Kreeg's (Brian Cox) climactic fight scene, the chocolate bar that saves his life by blocking Sam's stab is labeled with the bar name "LHOTKA," the surname of co-producer Peter Lhotka.
- #033
Billy is dressed similarly to Chucky in Child's Play (1988). Overalls with an apron, a striped long-sleeved shirt and red hair.
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