Kicked-in-the-face jack-o’-lanterns. Stale candy corn. Egg-splattered windshields. All staples of a classic, somewhat routine Halloween. Want something to up the ante this weekend? Feast your soon-to-be masked eyes on Trick ’r Treat, available now on Blu-ray and DVD, as well as On Demand and through iTunes. The R-rated film from writer/director Michael Dougherty, who also co-wrote Superman Returns and X2: X-Men United, features four interwoven tales of horror: a mild-mannered high school principal (Dylan Baker) who happens to be a serial killer; a “virgin” (Anna Paquin) looking for just the right, er, victim; a particularly cruel prank that goes awry; and a cynical old coot (Brian Cox) facing off against a demonic candy-hunter. It’s a compelling, well-crafted mix of severed heads, supernatural twists, sweet revenge . . . oh, and a surprisingly high number of grisly kid deaths.

“A lot of movies pull punches,” Dougherty told GCD, “but I think it’s irresponsible of me to create a horror movie about Halloween and not kill some kids. But the deaths are very tongue-in-cheek.” True. And, quite frankly, any film that also has a youngster boldly declare that “Charlie Brown is an a--hole”—a cinematic first, we believe—deserves applause, not trepidation.