Trick or Treat (1986)

Simply A Masterpiece

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Trick or Treat is not a terrible movie. When it first starts, it may seem that way, but it's a pretty decent slice of 1986 horror, all told, though nowhere near as bloody or as extreme as its contemporaries. That's not really a complaint, I guess. I just question who this movie is for: Eddie is a high school loser who gets picked on by the jocks for being a little too in to heavy metal. Cheerleaders think he's creepy, he's nearly drowned as a prank, all in an effort to set up what should be the movie's main villains. Eddie is clearly the hero of this story, but the movie doesn't do a great job making him look sympathetic, especially not after he sics the vengeful ghost of his favorite heavy metal rock star on those same bullies, repeatedly thrusting them in to mortal danger well past the point of reason. Eddie even compels the ghost to harm his own mother at one point.Now Eddie is, of course, a hormonal teen, prone to making dumb mistakes. He literally shouts "NOBODY UNDERSTANDS" at least once in this movie. And, sure enough, eventually he realizes things are being taken too far and tries to stop it -- that's fine. But it's from there the movie picks up and runs with the ball, switching from "HEAVY METAL IS THE BEST" to "HEAVY METAL IS EVIL AND WILL KILL EVERYTHING YOU LOVE." So which is it? Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that when the movie switches sides, it also ratchets up its sense of humor. The first half of "Trick or Treat" is played entirely straight, but once it's clear events are getting out of control, the movie bites the bullet and jumps off the deep end, completely embracing its own personal brand of ridiculous insanity. "Trick or Treat" stops taking itself seriously, so maybe I should, too.There's certainly plenty of entertainment to be had down that road.

This 1986 horror film stars Marc Price, Tony Fields, Lisa Orgolini, Doug Savant and Glen Morgan. This tells about teenage kid, Eddie aka Ragman (Price) who is a Rock 'n' Roll fanatic. He wants to be like his idol, Sammi Curr (Fields) who suddenly dies in a tragic fire. Soon, Eddie gets Sammi's rare, demo record and plays it which unleashes Sammi's dark, electric spirit. Orgolini plays Eddie's love interest, Leslie, Morgan plays his nerdy pal, Roger, Savant plays Tim, a bully and Rock legends, Ozzy Osbourne (Black Sabbath) and Gene Simmons (Kiss) also appear. This is a good 80's horror flick and the late, Fields was great in it. I recommend this.

Fun little flick! Fans of 80's horror and metal will cherish it. Unfortunately, its releases so far are hugely inadequate. This cult favorite desperately needs a properly restored DVD/Blu-ray with remastered picture and sound! And if possible, commentary, trailers, TV spots, featurettes, music videos, original theatrical artwork poster cover, etc.So I ask- what can be done to expedite the process of music and movie licensing nonsense in order to get Anchor Bay or whoever to out a proper release? Should we write to Fastway's label or whoever owns DEG movies? Come on Anchor Bay or Blue Underground, get on this! Maybe we should write to Mark Price? Any suggestions would be welcomed.

It's silly, not very original and about as far away from 'high quality' as you can get, but all that stuff aside; Trick or Treat is at least an entertaining piece of crap, and I wouldn't have asked for more going into it. The film seems to take influence from 'outsider getting their own back' films such as Stephen King's Carrie (among many others), as well as Wes Craven's popular modern classic 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' as it features an evil entity being brought back from the dead via unusual means. This is all mixed in with a heavy metal soundtrack and themes coming from the insanely silly case involving Judas Priest about records harbouring secret messages when played backwards. The plot focuses on Eddie Weinbauer; a heavy metal loving outcast who is devastated when his favourite rock star dies tragically in a hotel fire. Not content to just let it go, Eddie begins playing one of the dead rockers records backwards, and soon realises that he can communicate with him through said record. It's not long before Eddie is using his new found powers to get revenge on all those that wronged him...Naturally, this film has all manner of plot holes; but you can hardly fault it for that as Trick or Treat makes no attempt to be a 'serious' horror film anyway, and the film is much more fun to watch if you forget about any plot problems. It's clear that director Charles Martin Smith has a sense of humour; this is shown best during a hilarious sequence involving Ozzy Osbourne and a cameo as an anti-heavy metal priest! I cant really say that this film is 'about' heavy metal, but the music style at the centre does play more of a role than simply being a backdrop for the silly story; though if it's trying to make any sort of point, I'm not really sure what it is as the film pokes fun at those that condemn metal; but then features a heavy metal singer as the lead villain. Anyway, it's not too important. The film does feature a few good and interesting set-pieces, though there is a lack of blood and gore as the director seems to prefer dodgy eighties special effects. Anyway, this is hardly a great film and I doubt I'll remember much about it in a few weeks time; but its fun enough and I did enjoy it.