Plot: Three short stories of horror told by the characters on Halloween.
Breakdown: Me and Regular Show haven’t really meshed well in the past. I’ve watched a couple episodes before and never got into it. Then I reviewed the New Year’s special and, again, was less than impressed. But it seems like, much in the same realm of The Simpsons and The Treehouse of Horror series, Regular Show seems to like getting into horror stories for Halloween specials.
The first entry in Terror Tales of the Park is Creepy Doll, and it’s fairly weak. It’s about Pops getting rid of some stuff from his house when he comes across a doll he used to love. Mordecai and Rigby tell him to get rid of it because grown men with dolls are ‘uncool’. He tries to get rid of it, but it keeps coming back with a thirst for drawing on faces. It has some entertaining moments and somewhat funny lines, but the doll is nowhere near creepy enough in design. It just looks like a fairly real little kid. All it wants to do is draw on faces, and the climax is practically spoiled when they focus on the incinerator downstairs.
The next segment is Death Metal Crash Pit. Mitch and Hi Five Ghost find an old RV in the woods and want to chuck it into the crash pit. When he opens it up, however, he unleashes the ghosts of a metal band who used to use that RV as a touring bus. They kidnap Mitch and Fives, claiming they’ll crash the RV into the put for them with them in it.
This one was better than Creepy Doll, but still wasn’t that great. It wasn’t scary at all, but it was funnier. Plus the ending is ridiculous in more ways than one, though not necessarily in a bad way. I do like Mitch and Fives the most as characters so far.
The final segment is In the House and, I gotta say, I was repulsed (in a good way) and impressed. The story goes that Mordecai and Rigby go out trick-or-treating and Rigby wants to go to one more house before they go home. He’s pissed when the house he visits turns off their lights and refuses to answer the door, so he eggs them only to find out that the house belongs to a wizard who is now out for revenge.
This segment doesn’t pull punches with the horror. It is one of the most disturbing Halloween specials I’ve seen in years. They behead a character, rip another’s skin off, and they even allow guns and Evil Dead references.
The most disappointing part of the episode is, by far, the ending. The payoff is seen from miles away, and I was even saying what would happen out loud the instant Rigby started turning into a door.
Still, there’s plenty of creepiness, freaky moments and even some moderate laughs in here.
Overall, it’s a pretty entertaining Halloween special and I look forward to watching the others. It’s even making me rethink giving Regular Show as a series another shot.
The Anime Madhouse 