Chad

Chad

Additional Posters Part 2:

morriscroy

Back in the day, I must have watched this movie over a hundred times. It was shortly after my family purchased a vhs machine, where I taped it from a cable channel.

Great soundtrack by Fastway, which I also listened to over and over again back in the day.


In hindsight, it was kind of a crappy movie with a strange pacing.

Gobear

I watched this for the Early Bird Horror Roulette; I don't know if I need to watch it again. I wouldn't mind a second watch because this movie is a total hoot, a relic from the Reagan years when right-wing blowhards warned concerned parents that heavy metal would destroy the moral fiber of America's youth.

WillieMLF

That poster is awesome. I've been holdfing off on this one as it's one of my first time views from They Shoot Zombies list.

Undeadcow

I’m glad I finally got a chance to check out Trick R Treat, it’s one of those legendary films I’ve always heard was amusing but never got around to.

Note to self: never take a mysterious ‘one of a kind’ record from Gene Simmons.

I think the 80s needed more movies that mocked the trend of making ‘morality’ (whatever that is) a political issue by campaigning against musics, movies, etc – but TrT is an odd film that seems to fantasize about how evil Rock music really is while maybe lampooning it. It’s like Republicans tried to make a pandering film for a culture they didn’t understand. The tone is odd, but maybe it’s of a different time I was too young for.

The 80s rock spirit of Trick R Treat is great. It’s unfortunate how ‘rockers’ are sometimes portrayed as losers who don’t fit in and need to fend off bullies, an oddly self defacing stereotype inconsistent with the in your face confidence of the Rock music itself. It makes it hard to relate to the ‘hero’ here. This is a rock movie that needed more ROCK other than the lip singing type.

Trickster villain films is a subgenre that’s frustratingly rare – Brainscan is another that I enjoyed more and 976-Evil does it awfully cheesy. Here the Sam Curr has a diabolic presence but rarely seems to offer too much other than claim he is ‘your hero;’ surprisingly few spoken lines and a jump to obsession – again like loser Rock fans are just so enthralled by their musical tastes they offer no defenses to far out things like hijacking the school dance.

Ozzy Osbourne is amusing and well spoken as the preacher.

Spiderbite

Man, this was a fun watch. I had never seen it before because of several reasons. I was 13 years old when this came out and it was right in the middle of the 80's Satanic Panic. My dad was a Southern Baptist preacher and he bought into this stuff heart and soul. He would have literally murdered me if he ever found an Ozzy Osbourne or Motley Crue tape in my collection. This is a guy who destroyed my Queen, KISS, and Def Leppard albums over many years so Ozzy, WASP, the Crue, etc. was a definite bridge too far. I had to hide all my KISS records because of "Knights In Satan's Service" and all that. I only got to listen to these records if they were in a movie or I was at a friend's house. Back in those days, non-pop Metal didn't get played on the radio in these parts that often and usually only got played after midnight. Yeah, you could hear Twisted Sister or Quiet Riot on the radio but never Judas Priest or Krokus. Seriously.

Anyway, I remember when this movie came out and my parents and churches in my area had a fucking shit-fit! My dad bashed it from the pulpit without ever seeing it and I remember churches trying to get theaters to not play it just like they did with Temptation Of Christ. My dad regularly preached against satanic heavy metal (because, as we all know, Twisted Sister worshipped the devil).

Now this movie wears like an old comfortable shoe mixed with a time capsule. I remember many friends and people I knew in elementary school and high school dressing like metalheads. The spiked wrist bands, the torn parachute pants, the scarves, all that shit! I could not because...well...if you read this far you know why.

Anyway, I never saw the movie because of the above. Once it came to video, if you could find a rental store that actually carried this movie (which they were rare), it was ALWAYS checked out. I swear that metalheads would just check it out and never return it because I NEVER saw a copy to rent back then. And I was actively looking for it because...well you read this far...you know why. Then I forgot about it and so did the world it seemed. It seemed even rare when it felt like everything was getting released on DVD. I truly forgot about this film.

So, know I got to see it for the first time at 50 years old. Jeez! Back to the movie. I love that they cast Skippy in this, and he does a great job. I was disappointed that Gene Simmons is just basically a cameo. I was hoping he was going to be Skippy's "Peter Vincent" for the film but alas, that was not to be. The bully is great as a poor man's William Zabka and I kept trying to figure out where I had seen him before. Then it hit me! Teen fucking Wolf! I love this guy! Where the fuck did he go? It appears bit parts in random TV shows to this day. Dammit!

Anyway, the soundtrack to this is awesome and I may have to nab me a copy. I felt physical pai when he ripped down all those awesome vintage metal posters. When the kid said they just got call waiting and felt like a "big wig" I laughed my ass off. I felt the same when we finally got it! But the ending to this is so anti-climactic! I mean, damn...the metal god gets his arm sucked into a toilet, the tape gets destroyed and then it basically ends. Bummer, man! I did enjoy the Carrie scene of him blowing up some people on the front row and then others just rush up to the front row to take their place.

Anyway, this was a fucking rush and I really enjoyed it even though it was disappointing in many ways.

My rating: ***1/2 out of *****

Fun fact...this movie was directed by a guy that my fucked-up father loved...Toad from American Graffiti. Suck it, Dad!

jholmes

I feel like this would have been a much more entertaining watch if I'd ever been a heavy metal fan. As it was, it was fine. The bullied-kid-gets-revenge has been done so many times, and better, but it was fine. I liked the lead actor. The girl, Leslie, was a complete zero. Certainly not a difficult or challenging watch, but I was a little bored. Then again, the was movie #120 for me this month, and I was anxious to get to Halloween III, which I had a yen to watch, and annoyed after 2+ hours of Terrifier 2, and this poor film got stuck between those two. So my patience level was a little thin.

It was fine! lol. 2.5/5 stars. Oh, and it was one of the They Shoot Zombies films I had to check off, so I was glad it was a subset movie and that I could check it off.

ETA: Did you all see that boom mic? It come down from the top of the screen in the scene where Mom's "commando" boyfriend arrives at the door. Pretty funny.