Trick Or Treat (1986)

Not to be confused with the recent horror anthology Trick R Treat, Trick Or Treat is a wet dream for horror fans and metal enthusiasts alike (Gene Simmons plays a radio dj, and Ozzy plays a preacher).

It's the story Eddie, more importantly known as Ragman. A enthusiastic metalhead just trying to be himself and work through the difficulties high school bring for being different. The trouble begins when Ragman's rock idol, Sammi Curr(who grew up in the same town and went to the same high school) dies in a hotel fire.



Ragman loses a part of himself. Things begin to look up when Ragman visits his friend, a local radio dj (Gene Simmons!) who gives Ragman the only copy of Sammi's new, unreleased record. It's a study demo, the only LP to exist of the work. At school that day Ragman gets asked by a girl, who feels bad for him due to his bullying, to come to a pool party the same night. When he gets there she's no where to be found but before long he's confronted about his appearance. While his torements are basically carrying him out, they drop a steel weight into backpack and he falls into the pool, sinking to the bottom quickly. Leslie, the girl who invited him jumps in and helps him free. Ragman loses it, and swears he'll nail those who've wronged him.


While listening to his album Ragman falls asleeo but dreams of a fiery house with Sammi Curr in it. He's speaking backwards and seems perhaps as something less than dead, and less than resting in a peaceful place. Sammi's record speaks to Ragman and tells him the location for vengeance. When Ramgman's bully shows up in the shop room where Ragman's eating his lunch, he gets more than he expected. His tie gets caught in the machinery and pulls his towards a drill. Only when a hole is almost drilled into his face does Ragman shut it down. This is only the beginning.

With a John Hughes type feel, Trick Or Treat has great voice overs and is considerably well shot for the type of film and the time it was made (horror has mass appeal and with that came truckloads of bad attempts). Ragman is particularly well developed and as he grows into the film from innocent, to victimized to confident to vengeful to guilty to heroic, it's hard not to blur out your surroundings and change with him. Having played the part brilliantly, you really feel everything Eddie does, and soon realize how good of an actor this kid is.

With a great soundtrack by Fastway, consisting of the current Flogging Molly singer, and a former guitarist of Motorhead, it's beyond perfect for the film and is amazingly adequate and appropriate.




The really fun part about this film is how authentic it feels. Yes, Ragman likes metal but it's clear that either the writer or director was a metal fan due to it's cameos, and set design ( we see tons of metal posters in Eddie's room, such as Anthrax and Judas Priest).

If you're down with campy eighties horror, and like a well thought of soundtrack then Trick Or Treat is for you.

You won't find a copy of this anywhere but it's not too hard to find online.