TRICK OR TREAT / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: EDWARD BOASE / SCREENPLAY: GERAINT ANDERSON / STARRING: FRANCES BARBER, RICHARD CARTER, CRAIG KELLY, DEAN LENNOX KELLY, JESSAMINE-BLISS BELL / RELEASE DATE: TBC
Greg (Craig Kelly) is a down on his luck unemployed new father with a worried girlfriend who just wants him to get a job. On Halloween night, just when things couldn’t get any hopeless, his brother (Dean Lennox Kelly, Shameless, Doctor Who) turns up claiming to have just killed someone in a hit and run. Shortly after, Dan’s old gangster pals arrive and the night spirals into a game of cat and mouse through the Blackpool underbelly.
There’s an energy to Trick or Treat that stops it from feeling like a tired gangster re-tread. At moments it feels like director Edward Boase and writer Geraint Anderson are ready to tip us into full blown Kill List territory. It’s a relatively simple gangster film for sure, but there’s an intriguing touch of surrealism. You’re never quite sure what’s real and what’s not. Dream sequences, hallucinations, and an air of conspiracy haunt the film, sometimes dangerously at opposition to the film’s more blatantly funny moments. At its best though, that filigree of oddity gives Trick or Treat a more ambitious aura and visual flare than many underdog gangster films.
Boase has assembled a strong cast of recognisable British talent, too. Jamie Sives (Valhalla Rising), Shaun Parkes (The Mummy Returns, Doctor Who), Kris Marshall (My Family), and even Jason Flemyng (X-Men: First Class, Snatch) all turn up to breath charisma into a collection of strange Blackpool characters. Best of all, though, is Frances Barber’s gangster matriarch Miss Ferguson. Barber prescribes to the Ben Kingsley method of sadistic English gangsters, clearly having a blast snorting coke from an IV bag, swearing like a trooper, and generally being awful. It’s nice to see such a tired character type brought to life by such a vibrant underused talent.
Though Craig Kelly, one of the film’s co-producers and lead actor, doesn’t quite reach the charismatic level of his co-stars, he does carry the film’s final twist pretty well. Speaking of twists, Trick or Treat won’t blow your mind, and you’ll probably see the ending a mile off, but the execution is both dastardly and hilarious. Finishing on such a black comedy punchline is Boase’s greatest trick; validating a relatively short runtime of mediocre gangster shenanigans performed by innately watchable stars.
Whilst Trick or Treat’s validity as a horror film is easily contested, it does capture a certain mischief synonymous with the season. Full of colourful performances from recognisable UK talent, Boase’s latest is a well-executed gangster caper with a killer punchline.
Expected: 5 out of 10
