High school heavy metal aficionado/hopeless outsider Eddie “Ragman” Weinbauer (Marc Price, who old ass MFs like me will remember as the Keaton family’s nerdy next door neighbor, Skippy, on ’80s sitcom Family Ties) is constantly bullied at school, but at least he has the hard rockin’ music of Satanic shock-rocker Sammi Curr (Tony Fields)…
Since absolutely nothing ever comes up Ragman, Curr perishes in a hotel fire leaving our hopeless hero completely… more hopeless. And while the in-crowd continue to wallop Raggy’s morale, he does get a brief moment of respite when his pal, local radio DJ Nuke (KISS‘s Demon himself, Gene Simmons), gives him an ultra-rare record of Sammi’s final, unreleased album; Songs in the Key of Death.
About that record… when it’s played in reverse it allows Sammi’s spirit to communicate with Ragman… and he begins whispering sweet nothings in R’s ear about getting revenge on the jerk-off jocks that make his life a pile of wet dogshit… and best of all, Sammi will make it all happen with a supernatural helping hand from the hereafter!
Things go from “out of hand” to “completely out of hand” almost immediately… as one would imagine… and culminates with Sammi managing to flat out murder popular girl Genie Wooster (Elise Richards) in a rather unorthodox manner involving a sexual assault via green mist, followed by a physical manifestation of Sammi’s rude n’ crude tattoo… a long-tongued demon that manages to melt her brain via her Walkman headphones post smoke job.
This turn of events has Ragman begin to doubt that whole revenge plot biz, which causes Sammi to manifest in the hideously scared flesh (think an absolutely awesome combo of The Phantom of the Opera and early ’80s Nikki Sixx) and soon he’s turning up wherever Songs in the Key of Death is being played… which is going to be playing all over town thanks to Nuke’s midnight Halloween broadcast… a broadcast that was Sammi’s final wish!
Okay, full disclosure… I have been completely in love with this film since ’86… hell it even inspired my own (as of the time of this writing) unreleased feature film Babysitter Massacre: Heavy Metal…but I digress…
Why is Trick or Treat so damn rad-ass awesome? Lets begin with the narrative…
Written by 976-Evil scribe Rhet Topham, and A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge producers Michael S. Murphey and Joel Soisson (with uncredited assists from X-Files producers Glen Morgan and James Wong), Trick or Treat is a heady combo of underdog tale, Rock n’ Roll nightmare, and slap-happy horror comedy… or more accurately, it’s a fright flick with a sense of humor. Those are disparate elements for sure, but man do they ever gel here!
A large reason for that is the strength of the cast, with Price embodying… well, what I, and I bet a number of you, actually were; the metal loving, awkward teens that always seem to be the minority at any school. His performance is incredibly personable, sympathetic (even when he is (evil) power drunk), and fun to watch to boot!
Also up to the task at hand is Fields (a former Solid Gold dancer) as Curr; a role that demands the performer to be as dynamic and over-the-top as possible… and so he is; as he explodes forth from lightning (or windows or doors… basically whatever is around, Sammi is blasting through it with wild abandon), immolates himself in Satanic ritual, zaps High School students into particles with his guitar, and faces down the PMRC ( which if you lived through the era, you’ll know that was real evil).
The supporting cast is fantastic as well, with Desperate Housewives‘ Doug Savant making for a believable Alpha-male nemesis (who’s “Big Man on Campus” status begins to fade in the face of R-Man’s new-found, dread-inducing confidence), Lisa Orgolini as a charming popular girl with a soft spot for Ragman, and the aforementioned writer Morgan who is hilarious as Ragman’s nerdy friend Roger.
Additionally look for cameos from Ozzy Osbourne, Large Marge herself Alice Nunn, and the film’s director, Charles Martin Smith (an actor in his own right who has been featured in George Lucas’ American Graffiti, Carpenter’s Starman, and De Palma’s 1987 adaptation of The Untouchables).
This being a heavy metal horror, the music needs to be hard rockin’ and thankfully the tunes provided by Fastway absolutely kick ass through and through (and the score provided by Hellraiser composer Christopher Young is solid as well)!
Adding to the fun is make-up effects magic courtesy of longtime A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise artist (and creator of The Crypt Keeper and Chucky) Kevin Yagher (who also cameos in the film)… and his involvement brings me to my one kinda/sorta “complaint” about the film as he also created that aforementioned demon, but the creature gets next to no screentime… it looked killer and I wanted more of it!
Speaking of “looking killer”, Trick or Treat looks incredible here as Synapse presents the picture via a 4K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative (approved by by Director of Photography Robert Elswit) with the result being a clear image (with a pleasing hint of film grain) and plenty of vivid color… and the Lossless English DTS-HD Master Audio of the original 2.0 theatrical mix and an all-new 5.1 surround sound mix keeps the audio crisp and suitably ass-shakin’… and given the VHS and piss-poor budget DVD formats this flick was available in previously, this is a breath-taking way to experience all of the music and madness Trick or Treat has to offer!
To further enhance your enjoyment of Trick or Treat, Synapse have stacked this release with a ton of bonus content which kicks off with three audio commentaries featuring Charles Martin Smith (moderated by filmmaker Mark Savage), writer/producer Michael S. Murphey and writer Rhet Topham (moderated by film historian Michael Felsher) and Paul Corupe and Allison Lang, authors of Satanic Panic: Pop-Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s. When taken as a whole they present a wealth of detail about the film’s production, plenty of trivia, and anecdotes a-plenty!
These are followed by Rock & Shock: The Making of “Trick or Treat”, a feature length documentary that gives even more info about the creation of the film!
Also included are a touching tribute to the late Fields, a Horror’s Hallowed Grounds segment featuring a modern look at Trick or Treat’s filming locations, a video for Fastway’s After Midnight banger, a collection of trailers and TV & radio spots, a vintage electronic press kit, and a massive still gallery (with optional commentary by still photographer Phillip V. Caruso!
Trick or Treat is an absolute blast to experience from beginning to end, and is can’t miss awesomeness for fanatics of ’80s hard rock and slasher flicks in equal measure!
