Trick or Treat

Cashing in on both the slasher craze and heavy metal mania, 1986’s Trick or Treat is much better than its capitalistic origins might suggest.  Directed with a sympathetic ear for high-school outcasts everywhere, Charles Martin Smith’s film works itself into a frenzy of big hair, guitar licks and Tipper Gore-era rebellion but keeps things grounded by focusing on characters rather than its over-the-top killer.

Tired of being ridiculed by all the jocks and cheerleaders in school, metalhead Eddie “Ragman” Weinbauer gets his wish for revenge thanks to a test-pressing of rock star hero Sammi Curr’s posthumous record.  When played backwards, incantations bring the devil-worshipping shredder back into the real world to settle the score with Eddie’s bullies…and anyone else that gets in his way!

Shepherded into production by the same writing team responsible for Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, the two films share a lot of structural similarities, including the way they use and abuse their titular bad guys.  Let’s get this straight, Sammi Curr is no Freddy Krueger.  But both films make their disfigured avengers an extreme symptom of internalized repression and anxiety.  And neither gives in to the crowd-pleasing one-liners and self-reflexive satire that the Nightmare franchise would become.  Trick or Treat has a heart.  And, for the most part, it’s in the right place.

That starts with a cast that takes the material seriously, including Marc Price (Skippy from Family Ties) who makes Eddie’s social anguish relatable and Doug Savant (Melrose Place) who delivers what is probably the defining jock/jerk role of the decade.  But it ends with Charles Martin Smith, a first-time feature director whose later career would specialize in family friendly movies like Air Bud and A Dolphin Tale, whose distance from the horror genre brings some unexpected gravitas.  Don’t get me wrong, Trick or Treat is still a good time relic of a bygone era full of exploding heads and rock star cameos.  And anything it stole from the Nightmare series was evened out when Wes Craven lifted the entire concept for 1989’s Shocker.  So go ahead and enjoy this surprising snippet of satanic panic for what it is…and anything else you can read between the lines.

Red Shirt Home Video’s long awaited UHD is finally shipping through Synapse Films with a new 4K restoration from the original negative mastered in Dolby Vision and approved by the DP Robert Elswit.  It’s a colorful, cinematic-looking transfer that never trades resolution for distracting DNR.  This looks just right.  Extras begin with a feature-length Making Of that’s more than just a collection of long-winded interviews; this one tells the production story with thoughtfulness and style.  There’s also a tribute to Tony “Sammi Curr” Fields, a tour of filming locations in North Carolina, music video, trailers, TV and radio spots, vintage EPK and stills gallery.  Bringing things full circle is a full audio commentary with Charles Martin Smith and audio interviews from crew and critics.  And, yep, there’s a slip cover.

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