The Ties That Bind

There is one good thing about Trick 'r Treat (TrT) being released straight to DVD. When you're done watching it, you get to watch it again and more importantly - you should!

TrT is a wonderfully knotted story or four stories depending on how you look at it. And it's especially fun to go back and see where all the little knots take place that you might not have noticed in the first place.

The following is a list of tie-ins from the film that you might not have noticed your first time through. You might want to read them and then go back to look or go and re-watch it again and see if you can catch these things yourself. Some are fairly obvious, others... not so much.

I will fully admit, I nicked this from the TrT's Wikipedia page, however the last three points are actually mine - my very first Wiki edit/entry - sniff -.

It's by no means complete of course. Every time I watch the film, I see or hear something else that I'd missed before.

One more not before the tie-ins - I'll be posting another blog about this here at a later time, but you'll note in this film that while there is a definite timeline, the speed at which that time line moves, varies throughout the film.

Tie-Ins:

*The sucker used to kill Emma is the same sucker Sam used to get his candy bar. The old man then looks outside to see Sam on his sidewalk and he sees Emma blow out the jack-o'-lantern candle and he goes over there.

*The arm hanging from Emma's Tree that her husband looks at, is revealed to be Emma's left arm because you can see the wedding band on the ring finger.

*The kids that witness Emma's murder are the same kids who went to Mr. Kreeg's house before his encounter with Sam.

*The kids who die at the rock quarry are the same ones who borrow a pumpkin from Wilkins.
Wilkins tells his son he may not attend the Halloween parade because he has a date, the date is the girl who he bites to death in the alley.

*Chip mentions seeing Coach Taylor in a hot dog costume at Mrs. Henderson's party. Later on at the werewolf campfire, Mrs. Henderson is seen rolling an empty hot dog costume away as the girls prepare to transform, also meaning that Mrs. Henderson herself is a werewolf.

*The bus driver that escaped the massacre is Mr. Kreeg, that is why the bus massacre kids all go to his house to rip him apart.

*In the beginning, Charlie walks past the Halloween festival and he passes Principal Wilkins, the group of werewolf girls, Emma and Henry. The kids who are collecting jack-o'-lanterns are hit with a snag due to Charlie smashing all of the jack-o'-lanterns on the block.

*The Halloween news broadcast from earlier in the film can be seen on Mr. Kreeg's TV as he flips the channels. Also among the images on the screen is a clip from the "Season's Greetings" short film, where Sam made his debut.

*The candy bar that Sam grabs from Wilkins is the same candy bar that he uses to cut Mr. Kreeg's leg. Wilkins apparently laced that candy bar with a razor blade, which is what Sam used in Kreeg's attack.

*While Charlie is smashing the pumpkins on the fence, Schrader is across the street, pushing his shopping cart.

*When Emma is looking at the teenager with the white mask, to the left you can see the school bus kids ambling slowly away after "visiting" Mr Kreeg.

*When Principal Wilkins enters his house and is scared by his son, there is screaming heard in the background. The screaming is Sam after Mr. Kreeg pulls his mask off.