Teenage loner Eddie Weinbauer (Marc Price, Family Ties) is constantly bullied by the jocks at his high school, including Tim Hainey (Doug Savant, Melrose Place). The only thing that gives Eddie relief is his love of heavy metal. His favorite performer is Sammi Curr (Tony Fields, A Chorus Line), an infamous local musician who became a superstar, and Eddie takes it hard when he learns that Sammi has died in a mysterious fire.
Eddie’s friend Nuke (Gene Simmons, KISS), a local radio DJ and friend of Sammi’s, comforts the grieving Eddie by handing him a demo record of Sammi’s unreleased upcoming album. When Eddie gets home, he puts the record on the turntable and plays it in reverse, revealing a personal message for Eddie that at first gives him some relief from the bullies at school. But Sammi’s messages soon take a dark turn. Is his idol using him to get revenge against those who tortured him at the same high school years earlier? Can Eddie say “no” to his heavy metal hero or will Sammi have to come out of the speakers to finish the job?
What We Thought:
Trick or Treat is a 1986 cult flick starring Marc Price best known as Skippy on Family Ties. It has cameos from Ozzy Osbourne and Gene Simmons and also co-stars Doug Savant best known for Melrose Place. I was familiar with the film because of Price, but actually had never seen it. Watching it on 4K, the first thing that screams out is that it is very 1980s.
Rock music may be dead nowadays, but the 1980s was dominated by Satanic Panic thanks to music especially heavy metal. Parents thought their kids would start worshiping the devil if they listened to heavy metal and Trick or Treat definitely leans into it. Price’s Eddie character listens to metal and is the stereotypical metalhead for the time. He pretty much has one friend and is bullied. He hides in music, but when the lead singer of his favorite band dies, he gets a new sense of self after getting a possessed demo of the singer’s unreleased album.
Thanks to the occult, he can fight back against his bullies and might actually have a girl interested in him. Unfortunately it gets out of his control and terrible things start happening. The Halloween dance gets taken over and soon he’s fighting for his life.
Eddie is very much that 1980s dweeb. He doesn’t think anyone gets him besides his favorite musician who’s also from his hometown. The bullies torment him and this being from the 1980s, it has real bullying like pushing him out of the locker room naked where the girls see him and take a Polaroid of him. He gets invited to a pool party, but is almost drowned and feels set up. The 1980s might have been the worst decade for real bullying. The film captures the 80s perfectly with teen nudity, 80s clothing and hairstyles and the dialogue is what you expect. It also has some very suspect CGI by today’s standards, but it was pretty mind blowing for the time period.
I can totally see why Trick or Treat is a cult flick. It very much captures the time period perfectly with the characters, occult storyline and heavy metal music. Price is perfect in the role as is Savant. I’m sure it has some diehard fans and the 4K looks pretty good for a film that probably didn’t look great in the first place. It’s packed with bonus features and has a cool slipcover too. If you are a fan you’ll definitely want to add this to your collection.
4K UHD and Blu-ray special features for Trick Or Treat includes an audio commentary with director Charles Martin Smith, audio interviews with writer/producer Michael S. Murphey and writer Rhet Topham, The Making of “Trick or Treat,” a Tribute to Tony Fields, Horror’s Hallowed Grounds: The Filming Locations of “Trick or Treat” with Sean Clark, “After Midnight” music video, a still gallery, a vintage electronic press kit and theatrical trailers, TV spots, and radio spots.
The Nerds Templar 