Trick (2019) Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: After going on a killing spree, a teen is, seemingly, killed only to return every Halloween to continue his rampage.

Review: I'm actually surprised by how good this movie turned out to be; it wasn't at all how I imagined given the various plot summaries. Of course, "Trick" takes inspiration from the likes of "Halloween" and various other horror films, however, this is more of a detective story. Yet, this still isn't enough to properly describe what is happening here--it's a wonderful amalgamation of ideas you've seen before but presented originally. I'd go as far as to say this would have made for an interesting remake concept for the "Halloween" franchise as a whole. Imagine Michael Myers returning every single Halloween, rather than the nonsense we got, and how the police and locals would handle him realistically. Now, there are some problems with this movie, but what really drags things down is that I wish the story wrapped up after it's big reveal--things go on for 10 minutes too long.

So Trick is actually the nickname of the killer himself, Patrick, who simply goes nuts one Halloween night at a party. After killing a bunch of his classmates he takes a ton of physical abuse including being skewered, shot, and thrown out a window. The police conclude there is no way he could be alive, but they never find the body. The following Halloween Trick is spotted, seemingly alive, killing more people. Then this happens the next Halloween and then the next and so on. Eventually Trick becomes almost like an urban legend on the internet, the police don't know what to do, and the FBI doesn't believe there is enough evidence to attribute the killings to one man--one man who could not have survived that initial fight against the police. The main detective, Denver, has become obsessed with Trick and believes the kid might be some kind of supernatural being if he can't be killed and is always staying one step ahead of the police. With this setup, we get a fantastic and enthralling mystery that you will want to see to its conclusion.

The characters are somewhat cliched, with this universe having its own Loomis and Laurie, but your expectations will be toyed with. There is also significantly more CARNAGE CANDY than most horror movies. I mean, the body count in this movie is massive; Trick is shown killing a ton of people every Halloween for like 5 years plus the people trying to stop him. This is also important to mention since Randy himself, Jamie Kennedy, is in this movie. Then there's Tom Atkins which came as a surprise since I kept thinking he was dead. Oops! The pacing is somewhat faster than it needed to be, but this will definitely keep audiences thoroughly engaged with the events. I will point out that you need to be paying attention during these quick transitions since many of the clues for the final reveal are there if you have a keen eye. I didn't fully guess the twist, but I did suspect the obvious: Trick isn't a supernatural killer. But how did he survive? How come he can't be caught?

Here is your last big spoiler warning! I both like and hate that Trick was a group of people. On one hand the clues are definitely there with the physical evidence pointing to different people and the FBI insisting it's a copycat killer. The filmmakers do handle this perfectly, but it's still somewhat disappointing to find out that all these random, background characters were in on it. Likewise, Trick, the original one, surviving the initial fight with the police is still quite absurd even if he's permanently crippled. Besides, I don't get how he organized all of this from the onset, including erasing his life as a kid, when so many parts of the plan could have gone wrong. And why risk everything on the fifth Halloween by going after the original survivors? It would have been better if the events came together naturally. I mean, things like the chick forgetting she stabbed Trick was contrived when it didn't need to be. Last thing I'll add is that the movie should have ended once you found out Trick was still alive and had henchmen continuing on the myth. Everything afterward was lame and ridiculous. How many stabs can Denver take?! Should have saved that shit for a sequel since the story still sequel-baits. Oh well.

Overall, I was quite pleased with "Trick." It's definitely worthy of being a "Halloween" alternative that's for sure. While this is more of a mystery than horror, slasher fans will get an impressive bloodbath nonetheless. The reveal is cool despite the flaws, and the mystery of what is happening is fully engaging on all levels. It helped me to go into this blind, but I don't think viewers will be disappointed. Now grab your bag of candy and enjoy the show!

Notable Moment: I guess it's funny to me that, in hindsight, the event that set into motion all the killings was Trick not wanting to kiss another guy while playing makeshift spin the bottle.

Final Rating: 6.5/10