Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Hellions’

Written by Scott Edwards

​There is one thing that Halloween has brought to us as a society and that is providing us with one night to let loose and become someone else for an evening. When costumes may not be acceptable for every other day of the year, on Halloween, you can become anyone that you want to be. When you can see anything from Batman, to Left Shark, to a Unicorn or a LeafySeaVampireCat, you know that the night is magical on so many levels and now that it has become more mainstream than ever before, you might need to embrace it just a little bit more. Shoot, I might actually dress up as something this year, but don’t quote me on that, I am still not sure if I could pull off a Batman Bounty Hunter costume just yet.

Dora Vogel is loving her life, she has a boyfriend that she takes many hours out of her day to visit with and a mother that has pretty much given her free reign to do whatever she wants. But Dora’s life changes drastically when she finds out that she is pregnant with Jace’s child. Not knowing how to break the news and with-it being Halloween night, Dora has to make up her mind on how to tell the people closest to her, especially her mother. But when her mother and little brother head out to go trick-or-treating, Dora is left alone in the house and needs to decide on her next step. Wanting to go out with Jace to the party they have been planning on attending all week, Dora finally texts her boyfriend back that she is ready to go, but in the meantime, she will have to pass out candy to the kids that come by.

As the time grows near for Jace’s arrival, a group of trick-or-treaters come to the door, but there is something strange about these kids. Demanding their treats, one of the kids lays his hand on Dora’s stomach and knows that she is an expecting mother. Being freaked out, Dora slams the door on the kids and promptly finds herself sick to her stomach. Calling her doctor to come by and check up on her, the kids are still roaming outside of the house. Ringing the doorbell again, Dora answers and tries to get them to leave, but when she looks inside of one of the candy bags, she sees her boyfriend’s head lying inside. 

Locking up the house and calling for the police, the night takes a drastic change from the fun-loving holiday it should be and transforms into a life and death situation. As the children continue to lurk around in the shadows, Dora’s outlook on her and her unborn baby’s life takes a change for the worse. With visions popping into her head about what will happen to her when she is captured by the little demons, she is still strong enough to try and think of others and what might happen to them if they are attacked by the children as well. The sun cannot rise fast enough as Dora fights for her life against a group of children that want one thing… her baby.

I never want to think about handing out candy on Halloween ever again thanks to this movie. I never thought that a group of little trick-or-treaters could be so scary, but Hellions did just that and I must applaud them for what they have done to me. One of the parts of the story that I really enjoyed was how much the town embraces the Halloween holiday and when the doctor tells Dora she is pregnant, he is in costume as well, making the news a little less stressful, I guess. It made me laugh. With some fantastic imagery, you can tell when Dora’s life is about to take a turn for the worse and the flash backs that you encounter are not as bad as I expected. There is something to be said about living your life to the fullest, but when you take it too far, that is when things start to change drastically and usually for the worse, that is what I like to think that the story is pointing to at least, that or the writer has a thing against trick-or-treaters. This is a dark and disturbing storyline, one that might keep you awake at nights, especially on Halloween when you start encountering some of the strangeness that comes out to play. Stay Scared.

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