Trick or Treat (1986) THE Rock N’ Roll High Camp Comedy Horror Classic

Over the past couple of years, I’ve felt like a gap has opened up in the UK physical media market; whilst we may be living in the prime era of collectors’ edition Blu-Ray and 4K UHD home video releases, it feels as though UK distributors have fallen out of love with the video-store horrors that launched labels such as Arrow Video and 88 Films, with most labels now dedicating their slates to either 4K re-presses of previously released titles or new releases of almost exclusively action flicks (which, whilst not necessarily a bad thing by any means, are by no means my area of expertise as a reviewer of film fan). This is part of why I was particularly curious when Arrow announced that they were launching a new sub-label, Toy Robot Video, which would return to their retro video-store inspired roots, with a keen focus on both modern and classic cult cinema.

Whilst Toy Robot Video’s first few release slates have contained titles from a variety of genres, I found myself particularly drawn to their horror titles, not least one which UK horror fans had been crying out for a shiny new release of for over a decade – the ‘80s cheese-and-sleaze VHS favourite Trick or Treat (1986), which had spent several decades trapped on fairly basic pan-and-scan DVD releases due to soundtrack rights issues. Toy Robot Video’s special edition of Trick or Treat marks both its 4K UHD and Blu-Ray debut in the United Kingdom, to the delight of many – but is the film worth the wait? Let’s find out.

The directorial debut of Charles Martin Smith – best known, hilariously, for the original Air Bud (1997) – Trick or Treat is arguably the most recognisable and beloved entry in the “metalsploitation” wave of the 1980s which saw rock music and schlock-horror combined for maximum appeal to the many teen metalheads out there who also enjoyed a good blood-and-guts fright flick; I don’t mean that with any degree of cynicism whatsoever, as I myself spent my teenage years falling in love with rock music and horror cinema, and if you’re reading this review of Trick or Treat on a website called The Geek Show, chances are you did too. It’s also notable for containing cameo appearances from KISS’s Gene Simmons and, more importantly, the late, great Prince of Darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne – the latter of whom provides a hilariously out-of-character turn as a televangelist and moral crusader who lectures on the evils of metal music, which is even funnier because of how deadly serious he plays the role. Even without going into any more detail about the narrative contents of Trick or Treat, that should surely be enough to sell anyone with even a vague interest in rock on the picture.

Trick or Treat follows Eddie ‘Ragman’ Weinbauer (Marc Price), a bullied nerdy teen metalhead who learns that his idol and role model – the big-haired shock-rocker Sammi Curr (Tony Fields) – was killed in an apartment blaze. The grieving fan is soon given a distraction from his heavy-metal hero’s passing after he receives a gift from the local radio host, Nuke (Gene Simmons) – the only copy of Sammi’s final unreleased album, “Songs in the Key of Death”, which is set to be played on-air on Halloween night. Listening to the record, Eddie discovers that it contains a series of “backmasked” messages addressed to him from the deceased rockstar which reveal themselves when the album is played in reverse, with Sammi’s spirit offering to aid him in getting revenge on his high-school bullies. However, things quickly take a turn for the sinister and satanic, and Eddie must race against time to stop Sammi from rising from the grave to play a deadly comeback show that the world will never forget…

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It’s hard not to be charmed by the premise of Trick or Treat – it’s a supernatural horror-comedy about satanic backmasking being hidden in heavy metal albums that was explicitly targeted towards ‘80s metalheads at the height of the satanic panic who would have not only known that was – to put it nicely – bullshit, but also found its implementation here extremely funny. It’s no wonder that Trick or Treat has such a loyal fan following in spite of its lack of accessibility on physical media until recently, because it is very much designed to be a teen metalhead’s dream horror flick, complete with a relatable underdog lead and a pretty great original hard rock soundtrack by Fastway – which may even have had more success upon release than the film itself. It isn’t a particularly serious horror flick, by any means, and is extremely of-its-time (which isn’t necessarily to its detriment), but some of its themes hold up unusually well by modern standards; following the recent announcement about Marilyn Manson being invited on tour by Slipknot, Trick or Treat feels rather prescient as a story about a metal-loving teen discovering that their favourite artist is secretly a monster who would love nothing more than to exploit and abuse them for his selfish personal gain.

Though the plot and style of Trick or Treat ostensibly bear some similarities to the previous year’s cult slasher sequel A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985) – in large part due to the fact that the two shared a fair number of common crew members – Charles Martin Smith’s film isn’t really the metal-infused teen slasher that one might expect, instead being more of a supernaturally-enhanced revenge-on-bullies tale a’ la’ Evilspeak (1981) or Christine (1983), even featuring its own Carrie (1976) style climax at a Halloween prom which ends in disaster. Viewers will be even more surprised to find that Trick or Treat, in spite of its BBFC 18 certificate, is entirely bloodless – beyond one nicely gooey bit involving a pair of headphones, the film is entirely gore-free, which I was somewhat disappointed by given how hard the movie leans into its metal aspects but seemingly shies away from its shock-horror potential. For all its charms and strengths, its killer soundtrack, and its brief bursts of interesting SFX work (some of which was crafted by Elm Street 2’s Kevin Yagher), I’ll confess that not all of Trick or Treat landed for me, not least because of its unusually slow pace and lack of bloodshed for what it is – I was frequently reminded throughout of better films such as Bruce Pittman’s Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987) or the aforementioned Christine which, lack of hard rock music aside, explore similar themes in a far more entertaining and accomplished way, and I’d likely pick those over Trick or Treat when deciding on Halloween viewing, even if that isn’t necessarily the fault of the film itself.

Still, Trick or Treat is an entertaining enough slice of seasonal viewing with a banging soundtrack, and Toy Robot Video’s release is a solid one packed with bonus treats. Those who already own the Region A Synapse release of the film should know that, artwork aside, Toy Robot Video’s release is practically identical, containing the same extras and high-quality 4K remaster – which isn’t a complaint about the release, as none of these have been previously released in the UK, so it’s good that nobody on either side of the pond is missing out on anything from either edition. The 4K restoration of the film is visually pristine, and the soundtrack is brilliantly crisp and clear, though Trick or Treat does occasionally suffer from an issue that a lot of American genre films from the 1980s do where the dialogue is slightly muddy and hard to make out, though that’s no fault of this new remaster.

The most notable extra included on this release is the feature-length documentary Rock & Shock: The Making of Trick or Treat (2024), which is full of interesting and valuable stories about the film’s production from members of the cast and crew; given that Trick or Treat is one of the more niche cult horror titles to get the feature-length making-of doc treatment from Michael Felsher’s Red Shirt Pictures, it feels just that little bit more lovely to watch it and know that the stories and experiences of those involved in making it are now available for countess future generations to hear when they discover and become fans of the movie. My personal highlight of the release was the shorter and quieter but no less impactful In the Spotlight: A Tribute to Tony Fields, a featurette in which friends and family of the dancer and actor who starred in the film as Sammi Curr discuss their memories of him, as he sadly passed away in 1995 at just 36 years old; it’s a deeply moving piece of viewing which had me welling up a little, and it helps to highlight just how talented a performer Fields was, and how much his casting strengthens the film. Also included is an episode of the webseries Horror’s Hallowed Grounds on the film, in which host Sean Clark provides a nice whistle-stop tour of the locations in North Carolina where the film was shot; given that Clark’s YouTube series is a fan-made affair, it is slightly amusing to see his on-the-fly attempts to gain access to locations and find out information in comparison to the officially licensed docs featured on this set, and the whole thing has a charming vibe reminiscent of something like Cinemassacre’s Monster Madness. The release also contains several commentaries, a collection of TV and theatrical trailers, and the music video for Fastway’s ‘After Midnight’, a very catchy metal tune made to accompany Trick or Treat’s end credits.

ROBYN’S ARCHIVE – TRICK OR TREAT