Tales of Halloween

Premise

The ten stories take place in a suburban American town whose denizens are terrorized by ghouls, aliens, and killers one Halloween night.

Stories

1. "Sweet Tooth": A teenage babysitter and her boyfriend pay the price for eating all of her charge's candy. Written and directed by Dave Parker.
2. "The Night Billy Raised Hell": A young boy is about to egg an old man's house. The man turns out to be The Devil himself and teaches the young boy a lesson. Written by Clint Sears, directed by Darren Lynn Bousman.
3. "Trick": A group of friends are terrorized by vigilante trick-or-treaters. Written by Greg Commons, directed by Adam Gierasch.
4. "The Weak and the Wicked": A young man summons a Demon to exact vengeance on 3 bullies who burned down his home along with his parents in it. Written by Molly Millions, directed by Paul Solet.
5. "Grim Grinning Ghost": A young woman (Alex Essoe) is haunted by a malevolent spirit. Written and directed by Axelle Carolyn.
6. "Ding Dong": A man learns that his wife is a child hungry Witch and tries to put a stop to her. Written and directed by Lucky McKee.
7. "This Means War": A man battles his new neighbor to the death for the best Halloween decorations on the block. Written and directed by Andrew Kasch and John Skipp.
8. "Friday the 31st": A deformed serial killer meets his match when a trick or treating extraterrestrial gets upset when he does not have any candy. Written by Mike Mendez and Dave Parker, directed by Mike Mendez.
9. "The Ransom of Rusty Rex": Two bank robbers kidnap a wealthy man's son only to discover that the child is a deformed creature that does not ever want to leave anyone's side. Written and directed by Ryan Schifrin.
10. "Bad Seed": A detective tries to put a stop to a genetically engineered man-eating pumpkin which terrorizes the town. Written and directed by Neil Marshall.

Cast

Release

The film had its premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal on July 24, 2015. It was also selected as the opening-night film at Wizard World Chicago as well as London FrightFest Film Festival, where it closed the annual event on August 31, 2015, tying with its European premiere. The film was released in a limited release and through video on demand on October 16, 2015.

Reception

Reception for Tales of Halloween has been positive, with Rotten Tomatoes certifying it "fresh" with a 79% rating.

Michael Gingold, writing for Fangoria, called it "Well-produced on its modest budget" and gave it three and a half out of four skulls. Kalyn Corrigan of Bloody Disgusting called it "a fun, exuberant addition to the subgenre of horror anthology films." Katie Rife of The A.V. Club gave it a "B" saying the film "might make it a new annual tradition in horror-loving households." Rob Hunter of Film School Rejects wrote "Tales of Halloween is good fun, but it’s difficult not to wish that more of the stories had aimed for darker, more terrifying and affecting goals. Still, the EC Comics attitude finds a new home with Carolyn and her crew, and with any luck the film will spawn a new Halloween tradition of fun, gory, spooky anthology films highlighted by short, messy bursts of genre talent."

Dennis Harvey of Variety gave the film a mixed review, calling the segments "polished enough but utterly routine" and saying "Even the best of these, however, are held back by brevity from developing silly ideas into anything truly memorable."