Tales of Halloween is a 2015 American comedy horror anthology film consisting of ten interlocking segments, each revolving around Halloween. Segments were directed by Neil Marshall, Darren Lynn Bousman, Axelle Carolyn, Lucky McKee, Andrew Kasch, Paul Solet, John Skipp, Adam Gierasch, Jace Anderson, Mike Mendez, Ryan Schifrin and Dave Parker.
The film premiered on July 24, 2015, at the Fantasia International Film Festival, before receiving a limited theatrical release and through video on demand on October 16, 2015, by Epic Pictures.
Plot
Sweet Tooth Written and directed by Dave Parker.
Having just finished trick-or-treating, Mikey comes home. His parents have left him in the care of babysitter Lizzy, who has invited her boyfriend Kyle over to watch a horror movie. As Mikey enjoys his candy, Lizzy and Kyle advise him to leave some for "Sweet Tooth". The teens share the urban legend: fifty years ago, Timothy Blake, a boy who loved trick-or-treating but had never been allowed candy by his parents, discovered his parents eating his Halloween haul. Enraged, he killed them with a meat cleaver and ate all the candy. Wanting more, he cut his parents open and ate the candy in their stomachs. Every Halloween since, his spirit roams the neighborhood for candy. Children have to leave some candy to share with Sweet Tooth, or he will rip open their stomachs and take what is inside.
Rattled, Mikey leaves a candy bar by the door before sleeping. Lizzy and Kyle are attacked by Sweet Tooth himself. He spares Mikey after taking the candy bar he left. Mikey's parents come home to find Lizzy and Kyle's corpses and their son exclaiming that they ate all his Halloween candy. It is revealed in "Bad Seed" that Mikey is believed to have murdered Lizzy and Kyle himself and was arrested.
The Night Billy Raised Hell Written by Clint Sears, directed by Darren Lynn Bousman.
Billy Thompson, dressed as a red devil and accompanied by his older sister Britney and her boyfriend Todd, tries to begin trick-or-treating early. The two teens trick Billy into throwing an egg at the house of Mr. Abbadon, a stingy resident who has never given out candy over the years. Before Billy can throw the egg, he is caught red-handed by Mr. Abbadon. Billy is ushered into Mr. Abbadon's house, where Mr. Abbadon is revealed to be a demon.
Tired of children pranking his house year after year, he tells Billy that he is going to teach him what a real Halloween prank is. Mr. Abbadon and Billy go around the neighborhood and play twisted "pranks" throughout town, ranging from spray-painting walls to stabbing a dentist neighbor. The duo even hijack Adrianne Curry's car, using it to run down trick or treaters and rob a convenience store. After, Mr. Abbadon returns to his house and greets Billy, who is revealed to have actually been tied up the entire time. The person wearing Billy's devil costume is a miniature demon known as Mordecai.
Satisfied, Mr. Abbadon lets Billy go, only for Billy to be surrounded by police officers for the terror Mordecai caused disguised as him. A terrified Billy pees his pants before the officers shoot him dead.
Trick Written by Greg Commons, directed by Adam Gierasch.
On Halloween night, close friends Nelson, Maria, James and Caitlyn are lounging around Nelson's house, smoking pot, giving out candy, and watching Night of the Living Dead. As Nelson goes to greet a trick-or-treater dressed as a witch, the girl suddenly stabs him multiple times in the abdomen. Frightened, Maria tries to drive Nelson to the hospital, only to be grievously attacked by four more kids in costumes. Maria succumbs to her injuries and drops dead in the house's pool. By this time, Nelson has died as well.
James has his face burned by yet another trick-or-treater, who completes their attack by stuffing his mouth with rat poison. Caitlyn, the only adult left, hides in the pool house. It is revealed that Caitlyn, Nelson, Maria and James are actually a group of psychopaths who have been kidnapping kids and torturing them for amusement. The vigilante kids find the pool house, which turns out to be the place the foursome tortured victims with surgical tools. The kids free the group's most recent victim, a girl whose eye was gouged by the adults, who kills Caitlyn with an axe to the head.
The Weak and the Wicked Written by Molly Millions, directed by Paul Solet.
Alice, a sociopathic pyromaniac, along with her lackeys, Isaac and Bart, corner a lost trick-or-treater, dressed as a cowboy. They are interrupted by a teenager dressed as some sort of creature. The teen hands Alice a drawing of the creature, referred to as "The Demon of All Hallows Eve", warning that the Demon will "spill the blood of the wicked where the wicked have harmed the weak". The trio chases the teenager and stop by a burnt-down trailer car. In a flashback to when Alice, Bart, and Isaac were children, it is revealed that Alice intentionally set the trailer, which the teenager used to live in, on fire, with his parents inside.
The bullies recognize the teen as Jimmy Henson, before proceeding to beat him up. As Alice prepares to light him on fire, Bart and Isaac are suddenly pulled into the shadows by an unseen force. The actual Demon of All Hallow's Eve shows up, looking exactly like Jimmy's costume (the drawing Alice dropped contained instructions on how to summon it). Alice is brutally killed by the Demon, her blood violently splashing on Jimmy, who smiles in satisfaction.
Grim Grinning Ghost Written and directed by Axelle Carolyn.
Lynn attends her mother's Halloween party. She listens as her mother recounts the story of Mary Bailey, a girl who was mocked all her life for her disfigured physical appearance. As a ghost, Mary rises every Halloween to laugh at people's appearances behind their backs and take the eyes of those who turn around to look at her. On her way home, Lynn's old car breaks down in the middle of the road. She accidentally breaks her phone and is forced to finish her trip home on foot. She hears sinister cackling; possibly Mary Bailey's ghost following her.
Terrified, but remembering her mother's story, Lynn runs and manages not to turn around. She reaches home, whereupon she turns around to see nothing. As she settles in to watch a movie, her dog suddenly gets nervous and leaves. Lynn finds Mary Bailey sitting beside her.
Ding Dong Written and directed by Lucky McKee.
One year ago, married couple Jack and Bobbie watch as children trick or treat on Halloween night. Bobbie is distraught by the fact she has no children of her own, prompting Jack to try and cheer her up by dressing their dog as Gretel. Suddenly angered at the gesture, Bobbie transforms into her true form, a red-skinned demonic witch with multiple arms, and proceeds to claw Jack's face.
In present day, a submissive Jack and an enthusiastic Bobbie have prepared a routine to perform for trick-or-treaters, dressed as Hansel and the witch from Hansel and Gretel respectively. Even though everything goes normally, with Bobbie performing the skit for the children (including children from the other stories of the film), there is a sense of uneasiness between the couple every time children arrive on their front porch. When a young boy also dressed as Hansel visits the couple's house by himself, Bobbie prepares to lead him inside. Jack alerts the boy's mother of his location and informs Bobbie that he secretly underwent a vasectomy to prevent a pregnancy, believing that his wife is far too abusive and unstable to properly care for a child. Bobbie snaps and transforms back into her witch form. She throws Jack into the oven, which resembles a cavernous inferno. She then begins sobbing and ends up melting and perishing.
This Means War Written and directed by Andrew Kasch and John Skipp.
Boris has proudly finished decorating his house for Halloween, setting up a classic graveyard-themed display, complete with an animatronic talking skeleton. When children are about to observe his decorations, they are scared away from the place by blaring rock music. The music is revealed to come from the house of Boris' new neighbor, Dante, a punk rock enthusiast who has set up a far more gruesome and gore-oriented set of decorations on his own house. Boris walks up to Dante's yard to ask him to turn the volume lower and demand that his scantily clad girlfriend put on more clothes, but Dante and his friends refuse to comply. Dante also describes Boris' display "cute." An angered Boris charges into a shed on Dante's property to cut power from the sound system. Dante declares, "Of course you know, this means war," and uses a baseball bat to knock the head off of Boris' talking skeleton. Dante prepares to dump a bucket of fake blood on the rest of Boris' decorations, but Boris charges him and ends up covered in the fake blood instead. They engage in a fistfight, and spectators (including characters from the other stories in the film) cheer, place bets, and egg them on until the police arrive. Eventually, Boris shoves Dante towards a sharp piece of standing wood left over from the wrecked decorations. In the end, both Boris and Dante are impaled on the piece of wood, killing them both and shocking the crowd.
Friday the 31st Written by Mike Mendez and Dave Parker, directed by Mike Mendez.
Deep in the woods, a deformed serial killer who resembles Jason Voorhees hunts down a teenage girl dressed as Dorothy Gale for Halloween. The girl runs to a barn where she discovers several of the killer's dismembered victims, among them her friend Casey. The killer tracks her to the barn, and when she manages to escape and flee, he kills her by throwing a spear through her chest. As the killer celebrates his most recent slaying, a UFO suddenly appears overhead. The ship beams down a small, costumed alien that tries to trick-or-treat. Unable to persuade the constantly repeating alien that he has no candy to give, the frustrated killer proceeds to stomp on the alien, seemingly crushing him. As the killer walks back to his barn, the alien's remains slither into the girl's mouth and possess her body. The possessed girl proceeds to chase the frightened killer into his barn. From there, the possessed girl and the killer then proceed to attack each other with a meat cleaver and a chainsaw, respectively. Their duel eventually concludes with both of them decapitating each other. The alien then crawls out of the girl's severed head through the mouth and teleports back to the spaceship, taking the killer's head with him as his "treat".
The Ransom of Rusty Rex Written and directed by Ryan Schifrin.