Excellent but underrated film

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I grew up a fat child in a small town with crushing self esteem issues, a love for gore movies and a sarcastic mind that loved the way people treated me when I started dressing all in black. Every single situation that Eddie Weinbauer (Marc Price, the previously mentioned Skippy) endures in this film…I lived it. If a monster Glenn Danzig could take over shop class and kill my tormentors, I would have gladly welcomed such mayhem and menace.Eddie is a big fan of Sammi Curr, a superstar who went to the same high school Eddie is in, was tormented and bullied the same way Eddie is, became a big star and then died in a mysterious fire. Radio DJ Nuke (Gene "inventor of the devil horns" Simmons, who played a great bad guy in Never Too Young to Die while wearing his girlfriend Cher's clothes) gives Eddie the only vinyl copy of Sammi's satanic masterwork "Songs in the Key of Death."Eddie does exactly what I'd do: he listens to the record and falls asleep. He has a crazy dream about the fire that killed Curr and awakens to the album playing backwards, telling him how to gain revenge on the bullies that torment him.Eddie chickens out though — he doesn't want to kill the jocks who have made his life so rough. Sammi takes matters into his own hands, creating an electric surge that allows him to escape the record and come back to our reality. Eddie responds by smashing his stereo. Sammi's response is as perfect as it gets: "No false metal."Sammi's friend Roger gets involved and unwittingly plays a cassette at the school dance, causing Sammi to leap out of a guitar amp and take the stage. The crowd goes wild before Sammi starts killing audience members, shooting lightning at them and revealing his burned face. I saw this scene at the drive-in this year and the exuberance of hearing Fastaway blasting from car stereos in the fog at 5 AM is an experience I recommend to every single person reading this.Read more at http://bit.ly/2l4iO5c http://bit.ly/2l4iO5c

The only thing that kept the movie going was it's connection with 80's metal. Trick or treated will always be among my top 5 "Worst movies ever made." I mean I am a orthodox 80's traditional metal fan, but still the movie failed to appeal to me. Average acting, a very stupid plot, Sammy Curr looks more like a loser Zombie than a metal god.But, the sole thing that really widened my eyes was EDWARD'S ROOM, a treat to any metal head's eyes. I bet my own arse THAT EXACTLY is the dream abode of any metal fan (ain't talking for you BFMV, Slipknot, Djent fans). Every thing about his room is swell, right from his stereo system, magazine collection, toys and antiques here and there. . And this guy had SOME posters man, Anthrax, Motley Crue, Motorhead, Alcoholica, dot dot dot. .And Jezz ! He owned Unveiling the Wicked (Exciter) and Killing is my Business in vinyl. . He's one lucky chap.And yes, the sound track is kick arse, all hail Fastway.

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.

I've seen a slew of "80s rocker horrors" over the years, from rubbish like "Terror on Tour" to ridiculously fun gems like "Slumber Party Massacre 2." Somehow I managed to keep putting this one off, which is strange because it's probably the most popular and well received one. Well, I finally caught up with it and it's easily the best of this mostly awful (but almost always endearing!) subgenre. The plot (which was pretty much lifted in the film "Black Roses") concerns a mulleted misfit named Eddie, whose ridiculed by all in his high school for his taste in music. He loves 80s metal, especially his idol Sammi Curr (played by the late great Tony Fields.) After Sammi is killed, Eddie favorite radio DJ gives him Sammi's final recording. Once Eddie plays the record backwards, he discovers he's a bit tougher, and bad things start happening to those who taunt him. Is Sammi's music possessed? "Trick or Treat" is well-made and a total hoot. The special effects are awesome, even though it does feature the typical 80s laser beams. I grew up in the 80s, and while I wasn't a fan of heavy metal, I do remember the urban legend about playing a record backwards hearing the sounds of Satan worshipping. Haha! I also remember being told by my older siblings and neighbors that both KISS and Ozzy worshipped Satan, so it's very amusing to see them both make cameos as a harmless radio DJ and a anti-rock priest. If only I had seen this film as a kid! While the film seems to poke fun at the popular connection in the 80s between alleged devil worship and heavy metal, the viewer never really finds out why Sammi Curr is back from the dead creating havoc and killing whoever gets in his way. This is movie's weakest point, but if you can overlook that, it's loads of fun.