October 30, 2014 - 1:23pm by Adam Dravian
Trick or Treat (not to be confused with the similarly awesome 2007 Halloween horror film, Trick ‘r Treat) is one of the best Halloween horror films of the ‘80s, but it’s often overlooked. Fuck that, we’re shining a spotlight on it.
But first, a mini history lesson on ‘80s horror.
In the early ‘80s, most horror movies were slasher films that followed the formula established by Black Christmas (1974) and Halloween (1978). Basically, a disguised or disfigured psycho goes around and hacks up teens. Often during some kind of holiday.
By the mid-80s, the horror movie genre was running out of holidays. Then along came Freddy Krueger to save the day. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) was a huge hit, and it shifted the horror genre to focus on more supernatural horror, in what I think of as the second wave of ‘80s horror. Even the two biggest icons of the slasher era, Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees, got with the times as their respective franchises became more overtly supernatural.
Now, I dig some slasher movies, but I mega-dig supernatural horror. Trick or Treat falls into that second wave of ‘80s horror, and it’s awesome.
It’s about a metalhead misfit teen (played by “Skippy” from Family Ties) whose idol, heavy metal singer Sammi Curr, dies in a mysterious fire. This cranks the metalhead’s angst up to eleven, but then a local DJ (played by Gene Simmons) gives him the only copy of Sammi Curr’s unreleased final album.
Of course, this album is possessed by the evil spirit of Sammi Curr, which Metalhead can speak to by playing it backwards on his record player. Sammi helps Metalhead get revenge on the popular kids that bully him, but things soon get deadlier and spookier, culminating with a climax at the school’s Halloween dance.
And that’s all I’m going to say about the plot, because if you’re a fan of ‘80s horror, you should totally watch it. Especially if you also dig ‘80s metal. Apparently, Blackie Lawless, the singer for W.A.S.P., was originally up for the role of Sammi Curr. That would’ve made this movie rule even harder, especially since that would’ve probably resulted in W.A.S.P. doing the soundtrack. Instead, the movie’s soundtrack is done by Fastway, who are … okay. They get the job done, anyway.
On a somewhat related note, we recently watched Ragewar: The Challenges of Excalibrate (more commonly known as The Dungeonmaster). It’s a bizarre anthology of sorts about a computer geek (played by “Mad Max Lite” from Metalstorm) whose girlfriend gets kidnapped by a demonic wizard, and the only way he can get her back is to pass seven trials with the help of his magic laser-blasting wristband computer. Each trial is essentially a short film by a different director, and the one made by Charles Band (director of Metalstorm and producer of Ragewar) is about the computer geek hero having to stop W.A.S.P. from sacrificing his girlfriend during a concert. I’m a fan of W.A.S.P., but had no idea they were in that movie, so that was an awesome surprise. I know Ragewar probably sounds like the most incredible thing ever, and it is a pretty fun and stupid movie, but it fails to live up to its potential.
Anyway, one final thing about Trick or Treat. It has what might be one of the worst DVD covers of all time:
Not only does it look shitty, but it's misleading as fuck. Gene Simmons has a really small role as the DJ, and Ozzy only has a short cameo as a preacher on TV. Fuck that cover.
Ninja Factor: Well, Sammi Curr does some spins and even a cartwheel on stage. I suppose that’s kinda ninja-like.
Satan Factor: High. Sammi Curr is a satanic heavy metal rocker turned demonic spirit.
Boob Factor: Not bad. We get to see the bully’s hot girlfriend topless, getting licked by a big green monster.
Fastway Factor: So much Fastway. This movie is bursting with Fastway.
Overall Rating: 4.5 pentastars out of five. Heavy metal Halloween ‘80s horror at its raddest.