Real Story of Halloween, The (2010)
*** (out of 4)
This documentary first appeared on The History Channel and if you're a fan of the holiday then it's pretty much a must see. The film starts off talking about where Halloween is today and then it flashes back to how it all began. We get to hear about the origins of countless items ranging from black cats and witches to trick or treating and of course masks, pranks and bats. At just around 40-minutes there's really nothing here too overly detailed but what the documentary does do is give one a great idea of the basic stuff anyone should know. Some of the most interesting stories is how the prank side of Halloween almost got it banned and especially during the Depression era when towns couldn't afford to have children burn things up and smash windows. It was pretty strange hearing about the various issues, including some deaths, that happened due to kids playing pranks. This leads to some more interesting stories like how trick or treating came to be as it was pretty much a way for parents to beg kids not to do bad things. The earlier days including how the Christians used the holiday to their advantage is also discussed. Several experts are interviewed but fans of horror movies will certainly recognize John Carpenter, Wes Craven and David J. Skal. I think the documentary really runs the perfect time as it's very quick, to the point and really gives one a fun idea of where all of our traditions come from. I think anything longer probably would have had the film feeling a bit winded so this is really a good thing to watch on Halloween just to see where it all comes from.
