Don't Trick-Or-Treat Alone! Is written and directed by Dustin Ferguson and is made to look like it's taped from WXIP-TV Channel 6. So if you saw WNUF Halloween Special, you're getting something similar if on a much lower budget (or Late Night With the Devil, which was made after both).
The main movie within this forty-minute film is Don't Trick-or-Treat Alone, an after school special warning kids not to make the mistakes that Cindy (Isabella Alexandra Russo) and her father Henry (Erik Anthony Russo) have made, as when she - you get it - tricks and treats alone, she ends up getting kidnapped by a Satanic gang of cannibals led by Lilith (Brinke Stevens).
There was also a release called WXIP - TV Channel 6 After School Triple Feature, which had Wrong Side of the Tracks, Runway Nightmare and Asylum of the Devil. Plus, I found evidence of a remake of House On Haunted Hill that says, "On October 31st, 1978, the WXIP-TV Channel 6 Team investigated the infamous "Hill House" on Live Television, with dire results. The broadcast was banned and never seen again, until now."
Throughout the story, it keeps getting interrupted by commercials and news. It begins with the end of an Amityville special, a nice touch, before an ads for a news special called The Satanic Agenda, Dinosaur Park, 1-900-PSY-CHIC, an anti-drug PSA and Bigfoot bananas at WinLo's Grocers.
The filter on this makes it look very 1990 even if everything in it feels mid 2020s. That said, the story is fun and Stevens and the young Russo are great in it. There are a ton of commercials, which isn't a bad thing until they start to repeat. Here's a breakdown of the ads:
Second block of commercials: Castle of Creeps, Jack's Pumpkin Patch, 1-900-PSY-CHIC, Breast of the Bird (a place I would certainly eat at), a news report on razors in apples and a commercial for Dr. Lobotomy's Lunatic Theater playing Rise of the Undead.
Third block: Ghoul Line 1-900-666-GHOUL, news of a missing child named Becky, Good Buddies mask ad, the same ad for The Satanic Agenda and a movie of the week by the name of Flash Force.
Fourth block: News about a mysterious van and ads for Breast of the Bird, Riverside County Flea Market, 1-900-PSY-CHIC, Mom's Against Drug Abuse and Bigfoot's bananas at WinLo's Grocers.
Fifth block: News on Halloween candy and a weather report, as well as the ads for The Satanic Agenda, Prehistoric Park, Jack's Pumpkin Patch, Castle of Creeps and Ghoul Line.
Sixth block are a PSA from Eric and Isabella Russo, Riverside County Flea Market,Bigfoot's bananas at WinLo's Grocers, Breast of the Bird, Good Buddies, Flash Force, the Satanic news special, a news report on razor blades, Castle of Creeps, Riverside County Flea Market, Good Buddies, Jack's Pumpkin Patch and a Halloween message.
Then, the film starts into Dr. Lobotomy's Lunatic Theater but is cut off.
The commercials are funny, but when they repeat three times in under forty minutes and cut up a film that's around ten, you wonder why they didn't just make almost all new commercials for every block. Ferguson is definitely talented - and prolific - enough to do it, even if trailers for his other movies were turned into movie ads.
I didn't mind my time with this and if you like micro budget horror that is looking to the past, you may enjoy it.
The main movie within this forty-minute film is Don't Trick-or-Treat Alone, an after school special warning kids not to make the mistakes that Cindy (Isabella Alexandra Russo) and her father Henry (Erik Anthony Russo) have made, as when she - you get it - tricks and treats alone, she ends up getting kidnapped by a Satanic gang of cannibals led by Lilith (Brinke Stevens).
There was also a release called WXIP - TV Channel 6 After School Triple Feature, which had Wrong Side of the Tracks, Runway Nightmare and Asylum of the Devil. Plus, I found evidence of a remake of House On Haunted Hill that says, "On October 31st, 1978, the WXIP-TV Channel 6 Team investigated the infamous "Hill House" on Live Television, with dire results. The broadcast was banned and never seen again, until now."
Throughout the story, it keeps getting interrupted by commercials and news. It begins with the end of an Amityville special, a nice touch, before an ads for a news special called The Satanic Agenda, Dinosaur Park, 1-900-PSY-CHIC, an anti-drug PSA and Bigfoot bananas at WinLo's Grocers.
The filter on this makes it look very 1990 even if everything in it feels mid 2020s. That said, the story is fun and Stevens and the young Russo are great in it. There are a ton of commercials, which isn't a bad thing until they start to repeat. Here's a breakdown of the ads:
Second block of commercials: Castle of Creeps, Jack's Pumpkin Patch, 1-900-PSY-CHIC, Breast of the Bird (a place I would certainly eat at), a news report on razors in apples and a commercial for Dr. Lobotomy's Lunatic Theater playing Rise of the Undead.
Third block: Ghoul Line 1-900-666-GHOUL, news of a missing child named Becky, Good Buddies mask ad, the same ad for The Satanic Agenda and a movie of the week by the name of Flash Force.
Fourth block: News about a mysterious van and ads for Breast of the Bird, Riverside County Flea Market, 1-900-PSY-CHIC, Mom's Against Drug Abuse and Bigfoot's bananas at WinLo's Grocers.
Fifth block: News on Halloween candy and a weather report, as well as the ads for The Satanic Agenda, Prehistoric Park, Jack's Pumpkin Patch, Castle of Creeps and Ghoul Line.
Sixth block are a PSA from Eric and Isabella Russo, Riverside County Flea Market,Bigfoot's bananas at WinLo's Grocers, Breast of the Bird, Good Buddies, Flash Force, the Satanic news special, a news report on razor blades, Castle of Creeps, Riverside County Flea Market, Good Buddies, Jack's Pumpkin Patch and a Halloween message.
Then, the film starts into Dr. Lobotomy's Lunatic Theater but is cut off.
The commercials are funny, but when they repeat three times in under forty minutes and cut up a film that's around ten, you wonder why they didn't just make almost all new commercials for every block. Ferguson is definitely talented - and prolific - enough to do it, even if trailers for his other movies were turned into movie ads.
I didn't mind my time with this and if you like micro budget horror that is looking to the past, you may enjoy it.