A Double Feature: Trailer Parks and Segue Kills

In the sea of crap that is straight to DVD movies; two recent ventures really stood out to me. Two rather clever little movies that wouldn't strike you as being anything special. And while these DVDs are not groundbreaking ventures into horror. They have their own individual identity and a little more spirit than let's say 'Steven Segal Generic Action Movie Title #63'. So let's talk about them.


Trailer Park of Terror (2008)

At first glance the title and cover of this movie doesn't look promising. At first glance this is just another stale B-rated journey into movie land and it was easy for me to pass this movie over several times. And when I finally rented it. After watching it from start to finish... I had a shitty little grin on my face. It was actually a good movie. With a good story, good dialogue, and wildly profane humor.

So here's the plot. Poor Norma lived all her life in a trailer park and died there. But not of old age. After her first love and only chance at escaping the wildly violent clutches of her depraved neighbors the Devil himself seeks her out and makes a deal with her. That she can be queen of the trailer park. For the cost of one soul. A deal is struck. Norma kills her neighbors and burns the park down to the ground. And at night it rises again to lure unsuspecting tourists to their doom.

That's one of the problems with this movie. Nothing you can say makes it sound anything better than what you initially think it is. Only a sense of humor and one really boring Monday night lead me to rent this DVD at all. And it's just full of surprises. Here are a few.

• Trace Adkins plays the Devil. Though in the movie he's simply known as 'The Man' and his part is sparse.
  
• There is actually a really good soundtrack accompanying this movie. Trace Adkins does only one song on it. The songs are a little hokey and cliche. But they're sexually heated and sincere and serve the purpose of complimenting the movie.
  
• It was based on a comic book series by Imperium comics. I did not know this until I later googled the information. And the series is still running.

First let me say that Imperium Comics is chock full of some very talented writers and artists. And if you're an avid horror fan; even if you don't read comics; they're worth giving a shot to and they're not expensive at all. So from the beginning there was going to be a little more to this movie than meets the eye. Imperium it seems; had a heavy hand in writing the script. Some of the dialogue is tense and heated. Especially in the dramatic scenes were in most B-Rated or Straight to DVD Stinkers where they get overly dramatic and sound like two teens arguing with each other.

That's not to say this movie doesn't take the drama a little too far. Especially in creating the antihero Norma (Picture on the above covers) Where Imperium was able to incorporate tragedy with tongue in cheek humor (or tongue out of cheek because these guys are always falling apart) the movie was not able to do this. In trying to make her sympathetic her horrible past of sexual abuse and the depravities of the people around her come off as trying to hard. Instead of feeling sympathetic the viewer feels awkward.

Norma the sexually abused 'Queen of the Trailer Park', forced into pornographic videos by the local sheriff and Step-dad. Watched her mom murdered before her eyes. And years later her first love as well. All of that kind of played out like an X-Rated Soap opera. Nonetheless you were glad when the Devil gives her an impressive double barrel and tells her to have at it. Which she does.

The cast is a veritable whose who of no-names. One of my complaints is that the only truly memorable characters in this movie are of the Zombie variety. Like Roach; the zombie musician played by Myk Watford. Or Norma played by Nicole Hiltz. Or Lew Temple's role as Marv. Whom even while in the midst of literal Hell on earth still has the gumption to try and woo a perpetually disdained Norma.

However the cast was committed and they put everything into the filming and it shows through several intense scenes. One involving a rather brutal scene involving a video camera and an air compressor.

For it's flaws the movie keeps you entertained. The dialogue is better than most movies of it's ilk. And though it goes a bit overboard at the ends you're left with a host of memorable lines and scenes. These zombies can deliver some pretty hilarious one liners. And can perhaps further your interest in comic books. Make you realize what's hidden behind the racks of Spiderman and Superman. If it does see the following blog: Comic Book Candy

Trick 'r Treat (2008)
So this one came out of nowhere on me. I have two weaknesses in life. Halloween and interwoven stories. This movie caters to these obsessions and has mastered the art of the segue kill.

As the name suggests it takes place on Halloween night. That strange character pictured left; his name is Sam and he's out to make sure the traditions of Halloween are upheld in the strictest sense of the word. Failure to comply means death. And in this movie sometimes complying doesn't help either. The movie is full of familiar faces.

Dylan Baker plays Steve Wilkins. A depraved serial killer who within the opening minutes of the film he kills Brett Kelly who most will best recognize as Therman from the movie Bad Santa. Anna Paquin also takes on a role in this movie but unfortunately one is too much reminded of her character Sookie from True Blood. Being a fan of both the show and the books I found myself making the comparison constantly. Miss Paquin might be in danger of becoming typecast.


There are several interwoven stories. Like the bus of mentally disturbed children rumored to rest at the bottom of a quarry and the strange connection one grumpy neighborhood character Mr. Kreeg has with it all. A group of kids up to a little mean-spirited Halloween mischief. A serial killer's folly, a group of girls assumed quest of finding 'dates' for a Halloween party, and even an innocent couple.

The ambiance of this movie is great; scenes like this and other similar locales throughout the entire movie cast the constant spirit of Halloween. This movie unlike many other horror movies released during the month of October truly embodies the spirit of Halloween and isn't just another bone chilling slasher film.

There's a fun spirit to the movie despite all the deaths. My only qualm is that they went to too great of lengths. The neighborhood can remind someone of a stereotypical haunted neighborhood like one would read about in a teen novel. I suppose that was the point of the movie. And despite all that I was delighted by the atmosphere even if at some points it seemed a little over done.

The School Bus Massacre was my favorite part of the movie. The scene most originally done that almost runs the risk of being cliche were that not the intent of this movie from the start. To purposefully embody Halloween no matter how cliche. Like Trailer Park of Terror this movie makes very intelligent use of stereotypes to convey a certain message.

As the title suggests you will be Tricked. If you think this movie is predictable you're right to a certain extent and it's one of my complaints. I expected the ending a good hour before it happened thanks to an earlier event. But the stories of Laurie (Paquin) and Steve Wilkins (Baker) results in a rather clever twist that doesn't leave you so disappointed by the end.

But the spirit and intent of this movie is fun. And it was clever enough to spawn a DC comic book graphic novel adaptation. And if you're still uncertain you can watch the short film it was based Season's Greetings by Michael Dougherty here.