Starring a whole bunch of people

Directed by a whole bunch of people

Soulmate director Axelle Carolyn casts out a net and pulls in a bunch of her genre filmmaker friends, under the banner of The October Society, to create Tales of Halloween. Packing in ten different segments in what proves to be a breathless runtime, this is one anthology that is not only a love-letter to Halloween and the genre, but to simply having a spookily fun ol’ time at the movies.

Setting things off in splendid form is Dave Parker’s Sweet Tooth, a classical type of Halloween spook story that feels like it jumped straight from the pages of an EC Comics release and features a particularly awesome-looking creature in the form of its villain, the eponymous Sweet Tooth. It builds very nicely to a deliciously bloody and dark finale and is right on point for the theme.

Darren Lynn Bousman’s unmistakable directorial style is all over his bit, The Night Billy Raised Hell, which sees Bousman take his penchant for humour and theatricality and work it to hilarious effect in a memorable short that fans of his Devil’s Carnival films will go head over heels for, exaggerated sound effects and garish lighting on full display.

A more serious slant is adopted by Axelle Carolyn’s creepy Grimm Grinning Ghost – probably the most traditional kind of terror tale to be found in the anthology, right down to its jump-inducing punch-line scare – and Adam Gierasch’s bloody and twisted Trick dishes up a dose of unexpected nastiness.

Paul Solet’s The Weak and the Wicked proves something of a disappointment with its generic revenge fantasy (albeit showcasing another cool prosthetic creature design à la Sweet Tooth, and a pretty fun Western vibe). Bringing the anthology down a little, too, is Lucky McKee’s Ding Dong which, despite having a very strong subtext, is hampered by its pace and an overly convoluted approach to its message.

Still, these entries only feel weak owing to the effect that they have on the otherwise rocking nature of the anthology. Andrew Kasch and John Skipp throw a wild ruckus in This Means War, pitting the old school against the new when it comes to street-side haunted house displays, while Ryan Schifrin leads an excellent cast into unexpected hell when a kidnapping goes wrong to hilarious effect in The Ransom of Rusty Rex.

Neil Marshall takes us into the world’s most twisted police procedural (complete with 90s-style cop show soundtrack) as the town’s bewildered peace-keepers are put on the trail of a head-eating mutant pumpkin, and Mike Mendez pulls out all the stops in the zany splatter show that is Friday the 31st – bringing to life one particular claymation Halloween mascot that fans of this movie are going to be demanding in plushie form in very short order.

Legendary composer Lalo Schifrin steps in to provide a perfectly tuned theme for the wraparound package, but Adrienne Barbeau feels underutilised in her role as the town’s resident radio DJ. Despite the initial nostalgia hit of hearing her voice cast out over the radio waves just like in John Carpenter’s The Fog, her involvement soon begins to feel like one of the more shoe-horned in cameos.

And there are genre appearances and cameos aplenty throughout Tales of Halloween. Look out for the likes of Mick Garris, Stuart Gordon, Tiffany Shepis, Adam Green, Trent Haaga, Cerina Vincent, Pollyanna McIntosh, Joe Dante, John Landis and many, many more popping up in the various stories – sometimes even as two tales cross each other’s paths, highlighting the fact that this is all going down in one evening in the same town. Turn it into a drinking game, and you’re unlikely to make it to the end of your Halloween party intact.

Is it horror through and through? No. Tales of Halloween is more concerned with the party aspect than it is the frights – but it’s hard to hold that against it. This is meant to be played in a room full of costumed buds, high on candy, booze and pumpkin pie and enjoying the spirit of the season. In that, it delivers in spades. It feels like it’s made by friends, for friends. And if you love Halloween, that includes you.

With Tales of Halloween and A Christmas Horror Story, it’s a very good year indeed for seasonal anthologies – and as with the latter flick, here’s one that’s going to land itself on annual rotation. You can bet your last mini Snickers on that.