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Trick ‘R Treat Director Discusses Sequel Plans

Michael Dougherty, writer-director of modern cult hit ‘Trick ‘R Treat’ and upcoming Christmas horror ‘Krampus,’ has spoken of his plans for a follow-up to his Halloween-set breakthrough.

The directorial debut of the ‘X-Men 2′ and ‘Superman Returns’ co-writer with a cast including Anna Paquin, Dylan Baker and Brian Cox, ‘Trick ‘R Treat’ is an anthology horror following four seperate stories occurring in a small middle-American town on the night of October 31st - each tale somehow linked by a sinister trick-or-treater known only as Sam.

Made in 2007 though not released until 2009, the film was instant smash with horror fans, quickly becoming a perennial favourite at Halloween. A sequel was announced around two years ago - but it seems motion on Dougherty’s latest movie meant putting the brakes on the other.

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Dougherty tells IGN that the ‘Trick ‘R Treat’ sequel is “gonna happen. The tricky thing is that as we were announcing ‘Trick ‘R Treat 2,’ I was finishing the screenplay for ‘Krampus’ with my co-writers

“And it was just too tempting to not do ‘Krampus.’ If we didn’t do it, someone else was going to, beacuse the character just started peaking in popularity… and lo and behold, there are multiple Krampus projects in the works.”

Dougherty would seem to be making reference to the Christmas horror movie Kevin Smith was working on, initially entitled ‘Comes the Krampus’ and later renamed ‘Anti-Claus’ - but now thought to be cancelled altogether in the face of ‘Krampus,’ with Smith instead contributing a Christmas themed short film to upcoming anthology horror ‘Holidays.’

Another Krampus movie, ‘A Christmas Horror Story,’ is also coming to home entertainment later this year.

As for ‘Trick ‘R Treat 2,′ Dougherty says the project is still “simmering in the background, but I wanna get it right. I don’t wanna rush it.”

As regards what the film might be about, and whether it might see the return of any surviving characters from the original, Dougherty understandably plays his cards close to his chest.

“Anything’s possible. The skeleton - no pun intended - of the sequel is there, and right now it’s really four different stories [and characters], with the exception of Sam who serves as an intertwining link.

“I do think it’s important to make sure that, if you’re new to ‘Trick ‘R Treat,’ you can sit down and watch it without the baggage of the first one necessarily. But that’s not to say that we won’t have some threads that tie everything together, or maybe some characters from the other film might pop up somehow.”

In the meantime, a ‘Trick ‘R Treat’ spin-off comic book is also due this October, and ‘Krampus’ arrives in cinemas on 4 December.

Picture Credit: Warner Bros