Trick or Treat

(1986) ***1/2

Trick or Treat is a special flick. Anyone who was ever picked on by the jock A-hole, or anyone who was ever into different stuff than other people and suffered because of it, can find resonance in this movie.

The story follows high-schooler Eddie Weinbauer, played with energy and sensitivity by Marc Price (SKIPPY!). Eddie is a pariah at his suburban high school because of his love of heavy metal music. He's got a very small cadre of pals, friendly and sound of mind; he lives in a perfectly normal home with his mom, who raises him with obvious concern and obvious care. There's really nothing objectionable about the kid. But his meathead classmates, not knowing what to make of him and his different clothes and music, are at best accusatory and at worst downright sadistic. He takes great solace in the lyrics of his idol, rocker Sammi Curr, who endured similar torments at the very same high school a few years earlier.

Then Eddie hears the news that Curr has died in a hotel fire. Distraught, Eddie is comforted by a generous gift from a DJ friend of his (none other than Gene Fuckin Simmons!) --- the studio master, the only copy, of Curr's last album. Like any 80's metal album worth a damn, this one is crawling with backwards messages. Eddie listens to them and, in following their instructions, he stages a magnificent retaliation towards the jock a-holes.

It's a testament to the tenderness with which Eddie's character has been handled thus far that I found myself clapping heartily when Eddie has his moment.

But as the action ramps up, my enthusiasm flagged a bit. I don't blame the FX --- it's the 80's; they did the best they could. And it should be obvious that my issues were not at all with performance or direction, or even script. The dialogue is smart and all of the technical aspects are handled quite professionally. Admittedly, the movie's main weakness was something unpredictable at the time and it's this:

Heavy Metal music from the 80's just isn't scary.

It was thought to be by wimpodites and grandmas everywhere, but here we are 20 years after the release of this film and we've seen all of these guys get old and wrinkly and they are all now, quite simply, laughable people. Nobody, and I mean nobody, still looks at Alice Cooper and thinks, "man, what a scary dude." That's the leverage Trick or Treat had at the time, was that all these guys were still young and still slinky and edgy. Now, their Samson hair holds no more power. The illusion ended the moment of the first rock n' roll plastic surgery. (I mean the first one that wasn't performed on Little Richard.)

So the metal climax of this movie is sort of a goofball exercise, with Sammi Curr exploding in a ball of electricity all over town, wreaking thunderous rock n' roll destruction wherever he lands. All I could think, watching him flop around in his lusty leather pants was, "Ice-T is going to show up in five years and kick this guy right in the nuts."

Anyway, I really liked Trick or Treat and wanted to give it just one more half-star, but the anachronistic subject matter makes that just a bit too much of a reach.

ps - Keep a close eye out for the director cameo (Charles Martin Smith -- the little mousey dude from the Untouchables and American Graffiti) and for Ozzy Osbourne, himself, in a role as a rock-hating bible thumper.