Trick or Treat

TRICK OR TREAT is a fine example of Hollywood jumping on the "backwards messages in metal music" bandwagon that Tipper Gore and her Washington Wives kick-started in the mid-'80s (other, less successful entries in this mini-genre include the awful BLACK ROSES and silly THE GATE). I was a sophomore in high school when TRICK OR TREAT came out and couldn't wait to see it. It seemed to disappear from video stores by the end of the '80s, but I finally picked up a budget-priced DVD copy a short while ago and it brought back many pleasant metal memories from back in the day. Any teenage metal nerd could relate to the trials of Eddie "Ragman" Weinbauer (Marc Price of "Family Ties")in this film as he is persecuted by the preppie "beautiful" people in his high school for his heavy metal fashions and musical taste. Eddie's favorite rock star is Sammi Curr (who looks a lot like Tommy Lee of Motley Crue), who is killed in a hotel fire early in the movie. Eddie is inconsolable till he receives a test pressing of Sammi's final, unreleased album from a radio DJ (Gene Simmons of Kiss in a brief cameo). Eddie soon discovers that this LP, when played backwards, allows him to communicate with the undead spirit of Sammi Curr himself! Soon Sammi is giving Eddie advice on how to get even with his preppie torturers but when the messages escalate in scariness ("Waste'em ALL... no false metal!") Eddie tries to destroy the album, which results in Sammi coming back to life via Eddie's stereo speakers. Sammi rampages to the big dance at Eddie's high school and takes the stage to rock the crowd and disintegrate a few unlucky "false metallers" before Eddie arrives to save the day and the girl of his dreams. (SIGH) No, it's not terribly scary in 2006, it wasn't even scary in 1986, but TRICK OR TREAT is a movie that will bring a smile to the face of any 1980s metaller and has a kick-ass soundtrack courtesy of the cult band Fastway. Well worth seeking out if you've ever banged your head or have a taste for B-grade horror movies (or both, like me).

In TRICK OR TREAT, Marc Price plays the heavy metal kid with a calm, natural approach, opposed to the wild-eyed maniac one might expect.

Tormented relentlessly by asinine athletes, Marc finds his escape in metal star Sammi Curr. When Curr suddenly dies, Marc is left adrift in high school hell. Then, a DJ (Gene Simmons) gives him a copy of Curr's unreleased final album.

The next thing we know, the record is playing backward, a demon is released, and the fun begins!

This movie is especially meaningful if you were a metal fan in the 1980's, or if you were an outcast in school. It's humorous, as well as a bit poignant...

Sure the movie is cheesy, but that is part of its charm. My favourite line has to be when the one chick (I think her name was Genie Wooster) tells Eddie that he is creepy, and when he says he doesn't understand, she replies "If you weren't so creepy, you would know what I mean". The reason why I love this line so much is as follows: It reminds me (and I am sure many others) of stuck up people in high school who had the same attitude. I can think of one, in particular right now.

So despite the movie's lack of appeal to awards committees, it does have some great moments, and although it does not have mass appeal, I don't think that was its purpose. It reaches out to the lost children of the world by showing them that they are not alone.

Besides, it is just a fun movie. Where else will you get to see Ozzy Osbourne preach about the evils of heavy metal music?

Oh yeah: One person compared Sammi Curr to Alice Cooper, which isn't a bad comparison, but I am positive that he was modelled after Blackie Lawless of W.A.S.P. He had the same look and similar attitude, and just as Blackie was a big target of the PMRC, Sammi was a big target of the parents groups in Trick or Treat.

I would also highly recommend another cheesy 80s horror movie called "Basket Case".

Sammi Curr was a famous, devil-worshiping rock star who died under mysterious circumstances. Now he wants to come back to life. Doing so requires possessing radio waves and automobiles and making a few human sacrifices.

I was not familiar with this film, and had no idea what it was about. Today, if you say "Trick or Treat", people will think of "Trick 'r Treat", if they know their horror films at all. But right from the start, I liked what was going on here, a rock and roll horror film set in the heavy metal 1980s when rock went head to head with the PMRC.

Unfortunately, the film does not quite live up to the early promise, and is not helped by some irritating music. (I like heavy metal, but some of the tracks on here are awful.) We get a story that is a bit like "Shocker" and a bit like "Rock and Roll Nightmare", though very much its own story... worth a peek, though perhaps not the lost treasure I wish I was.

This movie is a gem, not talked about as much and should of got more recognition than it did this movie deserves another look. Very rare that you rock legends in the same movie such as, Ozzie Osborne and Gene Simmons.