Every year, sites like this one like to run their own take on the ultimate and comprehensive list of seasonally-appropriate flicks to watch on Halloween. If you’re someone like me who’s a little tired of the norm, and of reading through lists that have John Carpenter’s Halloween as the inevitable number one, here’s a list of obscure, unknown, or less obvious choices to watch on Halloween night after the sun has set and the trick-or-treaters have disappeared (hopefully the non-lame ones who knocked on doors instead of peering into car trunks)....
Hellions is a 2015 Canadian horror film directed by Bruce McDonald, written by Pascal Trottier and starring Chloe Rose, Rossif Sutherland, Rachel Wilson, Peter Dacunha, Luke Bilyk, and Robert Patrick. The film was an official selection of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival lineup and also screened at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.
SYNOPSIS: Strange trick-or-treaters plague conflicted teenager Dora Vogel (Chloe Rose) at her isolated home on Halloween. Under siege by forces she can’t understand, Dora must defend both body and soul from relentless Hellions, dead-set on possessing something Dora will not give them. With officer Corman (Robert Patrick: Terminator 2: Judgment Day) in tow will Dora survive and kill these forces of evil? From director Bruce McDonald (Ponytpool), set in a visually haunting landscape, Hellions redefines the boundaries of horror with its potent brew of Halloween iconography, teenage angst and desperate survival.
The Hollywood Reporter and IndieWire criticized both the film and its direction. The reviewers felt that although Hellions showed promise, it ultimately did not live up to its potential. The A.V. Club named it #3 on its list of 20 worst movies of 2015. At the same time, horror websites such as Coming Soon and Bloody Disgusting reviewed it favorably and both outlets praised the film for its imagery and cinematic inventiveness. RogerEbert.com also commended the film, calling it a "perfect, light midnight movie" that, despite its shortcomings, "gets the job done". The Blu-ray release of Hellions was called a "must-add" to everybody's October watch list by Bloody Disgusting.
