A murderer whose calling card is a scratched-down horror story;  a couple goes trick or treating and it quickly gets out of hand;  a family brings home a witch to burn at the stake;  a group of gutter punks find an easier way to come by food;  a pair of police officers have a shady side business.

These are the stories told in 3 Dead Trick or Treaters, a silent horror anthology of short films all written and directed by Torin Langen.  Four of the shorts exist within the framework of the first – a man discovers three recently dug graves, and pinned to each poorly-crafted cross are hand-written horror stories.  As the man reads, the film transitions into the shorts.  This works well in weaving the stories together and within a larger narrative, not letting the audience’s attention wane in the moments between shorts.

But in a film with no dialogue, it really hinges on two things: visuals and sound.  Langen’s ever-moving and always-in-the-right-place camera adds to the almost claustrophobic tension within the shorts, which turns out to be an appropriate lead-up to the climax of the film.  Both the score and sound design mesh so well with Langen’s camerawork and the stories.

Despite 3 Dead Trick or Treaters being split into five parts, you’ll walk away feeling like you’ve just experienced a complete package.

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3 Dead Trick or Treaters screens at the Blood in the Snow Canadian Film Festival on: 

Saturday, November 26 at 4:30 p.m. @ Toronto’s Cineplex Yonge and Dundas

For more information on the festival, visit the official BITS webpage here.

Buy tickets here.

Do You Tweet? Follow These Tweeple:

The Blood in the Snow Canadian Film Festival: @BITSFilmFest
Trevor Jeffery: @TrevorSJeffery