MovieChat Forums > Tales from the Darkside (1983) Discussion > 'Trick or Treat' is WAY better than 'Hal...

'Trick or Treat' is WAY better than 'Halloween Candy'

posted 13 years ago by MikeFab1
21 replies | jump to latest

I am very dissappointed today. I was looking after my 6 year old nephew when, while flipping through channels, spotted Tales from the Darkside on the Chiller Network. Normally I don't let my nephew watch scary programs with me (even though his parents say its ok as long as there's not too much blood), but when I saw that the title was "Halloween Candy" I assumed it was the one with the old man being confronted by a witch! I LOVED that episode. It scared me when I was a kid, but at the same time it was SO cooool!

As the episode went on and the doorbell rang showing dissappointed kids and that goblin creature, I was waiting for him to go to that secret room and look through his telescope. Well, towards the end I realized that this was a different episode. It was "Halloween Candy" and even though it was creepy and made me jump when that creature got into the house, has a TERRIBLE ENDING!

SOMEWHAT SPOILER ALERT: Why did the old man's son get framed for murder by the monster?!?! I thought the old man was the "bad guy". I had to tell me nephew: "Ummm... don't worry. He merely fainted. All the monster did was take his candy." Even though my nephew wasn't that scared I felt like apologizing.

From now on I will try to remember the titles: "Trick of Treat" = old man who hates kids; boy trying to fight his fears of that house; witch; classic line: "You are getting hot!"

PS: That episode with that woman on the train with dead people also SUCKED!

Celebrating 10 years on IMDB

[–] inan1210 13 years ago

Well the son wasn't exactly a ray of sunshine either.

I like Trick or Treat and Halloween Candy equally well, I'd say :)

[–] falcon2484 13 years ago

*****SPOILER ALERT*****

Well, first off, the cop at the end didn't accuse the son of "murder." He said that the old man's death was (and I'm paraphrasing here) a "clear case of neglect." Neglecting someone, as opposed to murdering them, is a much different thing. Even so, I don't think anything would happen to the son anyway. All he has to do is show that the old man was ambulatory, which he was. He wasn't crippled or bedridden, and he certainly could have gone outside the house and bought some food. Even if he didn't have a car, he could have taken the bus or called a cab. Or had food delivered to the house. The cops have no case for "neglect" against the son.

I really can't buy this ending anyway, maybe because I know more now about the world than when I first saw it. Number one, who called the cops? Judging by the old man's demeanor, I would guess that he didn't have that many friends. Who came by, discovered the body and called the police? Second, what evidence does the cop have that the old man was neglected for "weeks?" Before the M.E. examines the evidence, no one can be sure why the old man died! How does that cop know that the old man was (if I remember correctly) left alone in the house for two weeks with nothing to eat but a bag of Halloween candy? And how will the police explain the wasted food in the kitchen, the smashed TV and the phone on the floor? I know, I know, the episode needed a quick "wrap-up," and it's a one-two punch story designed to scare people, not to make logical sense (like a three-page story in an E.C. horror comic: while you're reading it, you're engrossed, but when you're done, and you stop to really think about it, you see the holes); it's all about the mean old man and the goblin who gives him his comeuppance.

Still, this ep is one of the scariest of TFTD, and I loved it then and love it now. "Trick or Treat" is also supreme.

"Tricks or Treats, Mr. Killup."

The Falcon flies

[–] novastar_6 13 years ago

I liked Halloween Candy, I was telling my brother about it and trying to say it like the creature did 'TREATS OR TRICKS', and he was kind of blown away by my description of it. Funny little creature with jingle bells, sounds like Darth Vadar, LOL!

[–] MonteCarloMan 13 years ago

I really liked both episodes equally. Both were creepy in their own way and effectively showed the "Darkside" of halloween, whether by goblin (Halloween Candy) or by witch (Trick or Treat)...

[–] shred-com 13 years ago

I thought Halloween Candy was better. Trick Or Treat was good but lacked any good scares or suspense. It also felt too big for such a short episode.

[–] elpida18 13 years ago

I love both but I like Halloween Candy better.

[–] specter19 13 years ago

I'm going with candy.. the atmosphere and mood gets me super pupmmd every time i see it.. thoguh the other rocks too

and are you kidding me the last car rocked!!! Tunel,..tunnel.... tunnel...

nWo 4-Life! Halloween Rules!(The Holiday)

[–] michael-watkins-laj7 10 years ago

they probably do not have enough evidence to charge the son. but i don't think there was anything wrong with speculating about the cause of death. the officer looked at the condition of the body and estimated that it had been weeks. halloween candy might have been the only food present in the house. i haven't seen the episode in a while, but wasn't the wasted food the product of magic? mabye it wasn't there when they arrived. a smashed tv and phone would just make it seem like the old man was demented or his son was abusive. and a number of people could have called the cops. the man doesn't need friends when there are still bill collectors, mail carriers, nosy neighbors, etc.

[–] Doc110894 10 years ago

I was crazy about "Trick or Treat" as a kid.

[–] minhas4 12 years ago

The son was just collateral damage. I don't think the creature even thought about that aspect. It was just there to punish the old man.

I enjoyed the episode, btw. That old man was such a jerk. I enjoyed seeing him get his (though death was a bit harsh lol).

[–] torpedoboy4 12 years ago

To specter19:

"The Last Car" rocked.....rocked you like a cradle that is.

[–] novastar_6 10 years ago

The son was just collateral damage. I don't think the creature even thought about that aspect. It was just there to punish the old man.

That's possible, but there's another possibility. In the olden times, when the original trick or treat was offerings for the spirits of the dead, it was to prevent them from causing mayhem or harming anybody in that house for the year. In this case, the old man lived alone but he DID still have a son who could also suffer for his father's stinginess and stubbornness since the goblin was denied his treat.

[–] HorrorFanatic24 8 years ago

Trick or treat wasn't scary. Halloween candy was way better.

[–] Navaros 8 years ago

Trick or Treat was amazing! It has demons and a witch! What more can you want?!

[–] HorrorFanatic24 8 years ago

It was good but not scary.

[–] Navaros 8 years ago

I never saw that episode when I was a kid but if I did then I might have been scared. As an adult it's not scary, no, but then again, what is?

Besides, that's a mighty fine looking witch (I mean fine as in great makeup, not as in "attractive")! Today if they made a witch in a remake the witch would probably be an uber-fake blob of green CGI turd.

[–] andersb-36022 8 years ago

I remember as a kid I watched "Trick or Treat" and was genuinely scared during it. Now not so much but it is effective when I have younger viewers over. I need to dig thru my DVDs and watch both episodes before Halloween.

[–] soggybottom (127) 8 years ago

I prefer 'Trick or Treat', although I think that the ending was rushed and could have been done a little better (See my other thread on that).

I never really got into 'Halloween Candy', and I think that the main reason is because while I've always felt that you should happily give Trick-Or-Treaters their treats on Halloween night (as we got them when we were kids), it's okay if you choose not to--Just turn off your lights and don't answer the door.

I actually feel bad for the old man for getting toiled-papered and his windows soaped the previous year just because he didn't pass out candy. So he actually has a right to be upset at the bratty little buggers.

It's only when he gives that one Trick-Or-Treater the goblin-goo that I feel that he really crossed the line.

Yeah, that goblin-creature was really cool-lookin', but to torture the poor old man for 2 straight weeks (Well, it was just overnight, but it must've felt like 2 weeks considering his condition when he was found) doesn't seem justified to me at all. He should've hassled him for a little while and then moved on to the next grump with no Halloween spirit.

But it's one of the highest-rated episodes on IMDb, so I guess that I'm in the minority on this one, and that's cool. One thing that I have noticed is that people have widely-varied opinions on these episodes, and that makes for some interesting reading and is what I love about these boards.

Additional thought: One con about both of these episodes was how predictable they were... A cantankerous old fart is mean to kids on Halloween... Hmmm, I wonder how this is going to turn out.

[–] andersb36022 (90) 7 years ago

I like to watch Trick or Treat just to see that old scrooge go to hell in the end. It was a downright evil episode.

[–] soggybottom (127) 7 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Jeepster (1154) 5 months ago

This didn’t make sense in the respect as to why did these witches,ghouls and goblins, etc care about Gideon being so mean and all? You know, so much so that they wanted to punish him, heck even kill him? Why would things such as they which are considered “bad” exact vengeance upon a bad man? Gideon wasn’t a bad man in terms of him doing anything illegal to anyone or bearing false witness or harming anyone outright so I don’t get the “hubbub bub” but ok. He was a b*tch yes, but not the monster he’s made out to be. Yeah doing what he was doing, he did go off the deep end a bit but who knows, maybe he liked the company and couldn’t find any other way to have people visit him. You gotta admit it makes for a great episode and I loved this one as much as any of you but I had to ask though.