Warner Bros.' Trick 'R Treat sequel gets a promising update from director Michael Dougherty. Also written by Dougherty, the original Trick 'R Treat gleefully subverted horror clichés, telling five interwoven tales of terror that all take place over the course of one Halloween night. These vignettes included some teens pulling a mean-spirited prank, and a school principal who moonlights as a serial killer, though the burlap sack-wearing trick-or-treater Sam remained an ominous presence throughout the whole movie. The anthology horror film starred Brian Cox, Anna Paquin, Dylan Baker, Quinn Lord, and Leslie Bibb.
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Filmed in 2007, Trick 'R Treat played the festival circuit before languishing in release limbo, until it was sent straight to DVD and VOD in 2009. Despite the wait, the film attracted a cult following in the subsequent years and became a Halloween favorite. Many praise its morbidly comedic tone, which has been likened to Tales from the Crypt and Creepshow. The film has gained enough of a following that Warner Bros. is giving Trick 'R Treat a belated theatrical release this fall. Dougherty has since gone on to direct bigger projects like another dark holiday favorite, Krampus, and Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
Now Dougherty has come forth with good news regarding Trick 'R Treat 2. While appearing at genre festival Beyond Fest in Los Angeles to screen the original film, Dougherty announced that the sequel is in active development with Legendary Entertainment. Dougherty is set to return as writer and director. Check out the festival's tweet below:
What Could Fans Expect From A Trick 'R Treat 2?
The demonic little boy Sam has become a standout icon for the original film, featuring prominently in its posters and marketing materials. Sam even got his own unmasked Funko Pop in 2021. After terrorizing the Halloween-hating old man Mr. Kreeg in the original, Sam will almost certainly be back in the sequel to wreak havoc on more victims who don't pay proper respect to the holiday. Beyond that, not much is known about the project, but it stands to reason the film will maintain an anthology format, as films like V/H/S/99, Books of Blood, and XX still frequently get produced. They don't, however, tend to be the highest grossers. The anthology trend has proven much more successful on TV and streaming platforms, such as with Ryan Murphy's American Horror Stories, Netflix's Black Mirror, and Shudder's Creepshow.
It's not outside the realm of possibility that Trick 'R Treat 2 could take a more focused approach and limit itself to telling one main story, putting a series of ghouls, ghosts, and masked freaks into the orbit of a group of characters, as Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark did. Though, given the eventual success of the first film, it's more likely Dougherty will keep the format to tales that are short and succinct. Regardless of how it's structured or what it's about, for Trick 'R Treat fans who have been waiting patiently for over a decade, the sequel can't come soon enough.