TRICK OR TREAT
Directed by: Edward Boase
Starring: Craig Kelly, Dean Lennox Kelly, Frances Barber, Jessamine-Bliss Bell, Richard Carter, Jason Flemyng, Kris Marshall
It's Halloween, and Greg Kielty's 45th birthday. Not that he feels like celebrating, though. Hen-pecked by his wife, sleep-deprived by his baby daughter, Greg is at a low ebb, frustrated by his own weaknesses. Things can't possible get any worse…until they do, in the form of his ne'er-do-well brother, Dan, who needs his help getting rid of a body in the trunk of his car…
Trick or Treat is a very interesting and compelling gangster movie which deftly plays with your expectations.
Our protagonist is a bit of a sad sack when we meet him. He used to be a gang member back in the day but when things got a bit real he moved to London to pursue a career as a musician. However after getting married and having a baby, he moved back to Blackpool, which acts as the film's multicoloured backdrop.
Greg seems to buy into some sort of male machismo rhetoric, stating that he should be "out hunting mammoths" and that he's destined for some form of greatness because he has weird visions from time to time. His wife is having none of it though and serves him notice to sort himself out and get a job.
Into this scenario stumbles a panicked Dan, Greg's younger brother. He confesses that he hit someone with his car, who he's put in the trunk, and he wants Greg's help getting rid of the body. However before he can make a decision, two heavies come to the door looking for Dan. Hauled in front of Miss Fergusson, the town's major crime boss, Greg learns the identity of the corpse and how much trouble he's been dragged into. A little later, Greg learns some more details about his brother which puts even more weight on his situation.
To say any more would be to say too much. This is a film where the enjoyment comes from learning the little details and wondering which are true. You may think you know where the film is heading, but there are a number of possibilities right up to the last scene, which might put the whole film in a different perspective. I for one was wrong-footed!
The performances are all great here. Real life brothers Craig and Dean Kelly bring the right amount of antagonistic energy to their estranged relationship, making it believable and lived in. Richard Carter is also very good as the main heavy, Damo, who can switch from being chummy and relaxed, to sinister and scary within the blink of an eye. The film also boasts some more familiar faces, such as Frances Barber as the new crime boss Mrs Fergusson, Jason Flemyng as a taxi driver doling out some sage (if unheeded) advice, and Kris Marshall as an overly officious policeman.
The film is set in Blackpool, during the Illuminations season (a huge tourist attraction), and establishing shots of the glitzy Golden Mile and the pier are juxtaposed against the seediness of the criminal underbelly, the empty warehouses and back rooms where deals are made and gangland justice meted out. However other than for those establishing shots, Trick or Treat could be set almost anywhere. There is a weird sequence late on in the film where Greg is confronted by the Grim Reaper, set in a mist-filled amusement arcade which is the only time we really see the cast interact with what could be called a more “public” location, and even that is abandoned and swirled in mist.
The Verdict
For the most part, this is a solid, small-scale thriller in which an ordinary guy has to get out of some very extra-ordinary situations. The characters feel real, the situation incredibly dire.
7 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)
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