Tales from the Darkside : Create a Better Ending for 'Trick Or Treat'

Create a Better Ending for 'Trick Or Treat'

One of my favorite episodes of the series is the pilot "Trick Or Treat". It's a great Halloween episode with an interesting plot and some good old-fashioned scary haunted-house fun.

However, after reading reviews on the internet, the consensus seems to be that the ending is rushed and doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Everybody is glad to see Mr. Hackles get the crap scared out of him for a change, but there doesn't seem to be any reason for it to happen…

He's right in the middle of his "Let's see which kid can find the IOUs and get their family out of debt" Trick-or-Treat tradition, and all of a sudden, a nasty old witch comes to the door, and (just like that) Hackles is off to hell, and Billy gets the loot.

Wait…What?

Sure, Hackles was a crabby ol' miser, but did he really deserve that just for doing a scary haunted-house game for the kids?

And Billy doesn't really do anything to earn the loot either. He just wasn't scared of the witch, and apparently that's all that it takes to go home a winner?

Here's my proposal for an alternate ending…

Billy arrives at the house. Hackles tries everything that he can think of to scare him away, but nothing works. Eventually Billy finds the IOUs and heads to the door. But Hackles can't handle getting beat by the new kid, so he trips the kid and tries to snatch away the IOUs. Billy breaks free and runs for the door, so Hackles throws something hard at him, hitting him in the head and knocking him out.

And THEN the witch and the demons come to take Hackles away.

Billy eventually regains consciousness, wonders where all of this loot came from (which is now surrounding him), gathers it all up, and goes home as the big winner.

And take away the tombstone that reads "Here lies Gideon Hackles–A businessman who took it with him when he went" because he doesn't end up with any of it–Billy does (And he hasn't even been found yet, let alone buried!) That tombstone never made one damn bit of sense to me.
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