Trick 'r Treat

In the opening scene, Emma and her Halloween-loving husband Henry return home after a celebratory night. Henry takes a rest in his house while Emma begins tearing down the seasonal decorations before the night's end, and is murdered by an unseen assailant. Henry discovers her mutilated corpse on display with the decorations hours later.

Charlie, an obese vandal who smashes jack-o'-lanterns, is caught stealing candy from an unattended bowl left by his school principal, Steven Wilkins. Wilkins proceeds to lecture Charlie about the importance of respecting Halloween's many rules and traditions. Charlie begins to projectile vomit, and Wilkins reveals that he spiked the candy with cyanide. While attempting to cover up Charlie's death, he ends up handing out candy to trick-or-treaters, including Sam. Wilkins' work burying Charlie and another child in his backyard is continually interrupted by his young son Billy and his elderly neighbor, Mr. Kreeg, a scarred recluse whose only company is his dog. Wilkins takes Charlie's severed head indoors so he and Billy can carve a jack o'lantern out of it, with Billy seemingly unconcerned if the head is real or not.

A group of trick-or-treaters – Macy, Sara, Chip, and Schrader – meet Rhonda, a Halloween fanatic, said to be a savant. The group travels to a local flooded quarry where Macy recalls the urban legend of the "Halloween school bus massacre," which claimed the lives of eight mentally challenged children in a school bus on Halloween. The driver, who had been paid by their worn-out parents to dispose of them, was the only survivor of the crash. The group offers eight jack-o'-lanterns as tribute to the dead children. They then pose as zombies to prank Rhonda, who is terrified. When Schrader defends Rhonda, a jealous Macy ends up kicking one of the lanterns into the quarry, causing the undead massacred children to emerge from the dark water. The group flees, but Rhonda alone escapes, leaving the others to die at the zombie children's hands. She briefly encounters Sam while leaving, and the two exchange a nod of respect.

Laurie, a self-conscious young woman, arrives in town with her sister Danielle and friends Maria and Janet. They pick up dates, save Laurie, who wants her "first time" to be special and declines their invitation for a get-together to enjoy the town festival instead. Laurie encounters a hooded serial killer, dressed as a vampire, who attacks her. At a bonfire, Laurie's friends witness the man (now severely injured) falling out of a tree and unmask him, revealed to be Wilkins. Laurie appears, having decided to join them for this occasion, and the girls transform into werewolves, devouring Wilkins and their deceased dates. Sam witnesses the feast.

While Wilkins is burying Charlie's body, Kreeg scares away children to steal their candy, aided by his dog. Sam breaks into his house, decorating it with Halloween memorabilia. Sam, unmasked as a demonic-looking pumpkin-headed child, attacks Kreeg. However, instead of killing the old man, he takes a chocolate bar that landed on Kreeg's lap. Satisfied that Kreeg offered him candy, thus fulfilling a tradition of Halloween, Sam takes his leave from the confused Kreeg. Photographs in the fireplace reveal Kreeg to be the bus driver that killed the eight children.

Later, Kreeg begins giving out candy to children before gazing at the neighborhood. He witnesses Rhonda casually pulling her pumpkin cart along. He sees Billy handing out treats to other kids while wearing a costume resembling his father's outfit. He observes Laurie, her sister and her friends driving along the road while having a good time. He catches sight of Sam watching Emma and Henry returning home, with him going to exact punishment when Emma blows out a jack-o'-lantern. He returns inside, only to receive a knock on the door. Kreeg opens it, revealing the resurrected children waiting for him. The final shots of the film show Kreeg being dismembered, the children having gotten their vengeance.

Season's Greetings is an animated short created by Trick 'r Treat writer and director Michael Dougherty in 1996 and was the precursor of the film.[8] The film featured Sam as a little boy dressed in orange footy pajamas with his burlap sack head covering, as he is being stalked by a stranger on Halloween night. The short was released as a DVD extra on the original release for Trick 'r Treat and was aired on FEARnet in October 2013 as part of a 24-hour Trick 'r Treat marathon on Halloween.[9]

Trick r' Treat was filmed on location in Vancouver, British Columbia. Originally slated for an October 5, 2007 theatrical release, it was announced in September 2007 that the film had been pushed back. After many festival screenings, it was released on home media in 2009.[2]

The first public screening took place at Harry Knowles' Butt-Numb-A-Thon film festival in Austin, Texas, on December 9, 2007.[10] Subsequent screenings included the Sitges Film Festival on October 7, 2008, the 2008 Screamfest Horror Film Festival on October 10, 2008, a free screening in New York sponsored by Fangoria on October 13, 2008, and another free screening in Los Angeles co-sponsored by Ain't It Cool News and Legendary Pictures on October 23, 2008. The film was also screened at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International, the Fantasia Festival on July 29 and 30, 2009,[11] the film festival Terror in the Aisles 2 in Chicago on August 15, 2009, and the After Dark film festival in Toronto on August 20, 2009 at The Bloor.

Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures released the film direct-to-DVD and on Blu-ray in North America on October 6, 2009, in the UK on October 26, and in Australia on October 28. Shout! Factory released a "Collector's Edition" Blu-ray on October 9, 2018, with all extras from previous DVD/Blu-ray releases included as well as new extra content.[12]

DC Comics partner Wildstorm Comics had planned to release a four-issue adaptation of Trick 'r Treat written by Marc Andreyko and illustrated by Fiona Staples, with covers by Michael Dougherty, Breehn Burns and Ragnar.[15] The series was originally going to be released weekly in October 2007, ending on Halloween, but the series was pushed back due to the film's backlisting. The four comics were instead released as a graphic novel adaptation in October 2009.[16] Legendary Comics set the second Trick 'r Treat comic book, titled Trick 'r Treat: Days of the Dead, for an October 2015 release date,[17] and features Arts of Artist Fiona Staples and Stephen Byrne.[18] The comic was released alongside the graphic novel tie-in of Dougherty's Krampus.[19]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 81% based on 26 reviews, with an average rating of 7.32/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A deftly crafted tribute to Halloween legends, Trick 'r' Treat hits all the genre marks with gusto and old fashioned suspense."[20] Dread Central gave it 5 out of 5 stars, stating, "Trick 'r Treat ranks alongside John Carpenter's Halloween as traditional October viewing and I can't imagine a single horror fan that won't fall head over heels in love with it."[21] The film earned 10 out of 10 from Ryan Rotten of ShockTilYouDrop.com.[22]

IGN called it a "very well-crafted Halloween horror tribute" and "a scary blast", rating it a score of 8 out of 10.[23] Bloody Disgusting ranked the film ninth in their list of the "Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade", calling it "so good that its lack of a theatrical release borders on the criminal."[24]

• 2008 – Audience Choice Award, Screamfest Horror Film Festival[25]
• 2009 – Silver Audience Award, Toronto After Dark Film Festival[26]