One
of the nice things about Manhattan walk-ups is trick-or-treaters never knock on
your door. Instead, it is the local businesses that have to deal with them.
Sure, you might think you would miss the little dears until you see Bruce
McDonald’s Hellions (clip here), which screened
during the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.
Dora
Vogel just got the super exciting news that she is pregnant—on Halloween. Seriously
bummed out, she mopes around the house waiting for her boyfriend to pick her
up, so she can spring the good news on him. However, he is running suspiciously
late. With her mother and obnoxious younger brother out trick-or-treating, Vogel
is stuck dealing with the persistent little buggers who keep coming to the
door. They just aren’t satisfied with the dregs of her candy. When they show
Vogel the head of her baby-daddy in their trick-or-treat bag, she realizes
these little monster are as evil as they seem.
Of
course, any horror fan knows the demonic trick-or-treaters really want the baby
growing at a supernatural rate within Vogel. It turns out carrying a Halloween
baby is a dangerous proposition in this paganistic neck of the woods. The
creatures seem to be able to summon all kinds of elemental and
inter-dimensional forces to help terrify Vogel. Somehow, the previously calm
and rational Dr. Henry and Corman the local copper manage to reach Vogel, but
they are essentially ineffectual dead meat. At least Corman brings guns, but
they won’t be enough to stop the maniacal moppets. Only salt seems to do the
trick.
McDonald
certainly sets the creepy scene in Hellions,
but compared to his cult classic Pontypool
(arguably the best zombie film since the original Night of the Living Dead), it feels rather conventional. Granted,
he opens it up rather well, turning the Vogel house into a surreal
nightmarescape. Still, the film always fundamentally boils down to Vogel
getting chased kids wearing burlap sacks.
Robert
Patrick (T2, The X-Files) is still
pretty awesome, delivering instant genre credibility as Corman. Rossif
Sutherland also helps flesh out the good doctor, beyond being mere meat for the
grinder. Unfortunately, Chloe Rose is a bit of a dull scream queen.