It was only officially released six years ago, but for many film fans a viewing of Michael Dougherty’s Trick ‘r Treat has become a Halloween tradition. The movie is a wonderfully funny, scary anthology treat, that not only wonderfully embraces the traditions of the holiday, but even established its own diminutive horror icon in the burlap sack-headed Sam. After years of waiting, the festive treat is finally getting a sequel, and it was during a recent interview with the project’s writer/director that I learned some key details regarding what it will be about and how it will be structured.
The universe of Trick ‘r Treat recently expanded with the publication of the graphic novel Trick ‘r Treat: Days of the Dead, and it was while discussing the book with the series creator that I learned some key details about Trick ‘r Treat 2. Dougherty was hesitant to offer too much, and chose his words carefully, but he did explain that a big part of his goal with the sequel is to dive further into the history of Halloween – which he personally finds utterly fascinating. Said the filmmaker,
I feel like the first film really just scratched the surface in terms of exploring what really goes on in the shadows of Halloween, and it was, for me, the first film is really just introducing audiences to the notion that, yes, strange creepy magical things do happen on Halloween and here’s a peek behind the curtain, and so, with the next film, we do want to peek behind the curtain more into asking why.
One of the true treats of Trick ‘r Treat is that it’s not just an anthology film, but one where all of the stories unfold within the same neighborhood and on the same night. This isn’t the way that Trick ‘r Treat: Days of the Dead operates, telling Halloween stories from multiple times throughout history, but Dougherty promises that the structure of the feature follow-up is planned to function the same as the original. He explained,
I think the book is very different in terms of the structure. Like you pointed out, the book hops around between time periods, but that’s just so we could really fill in a little bit of backstory about how far back things go. The next film will be closer to the first film in terms of its structure and setting.
Trick ‘r Treat 2 doesn’t currently have a release date, but is in the works behind the scenes – so hopefully we’ll hear more about its development and production dates in the coming weeks or months. In the meantime, Michael Dougherty’s next film, Krampus, will be in theaters December 4th.
