By JEFF SZPIRGLAS
Starring Marc Price, Tony Fields and Lisa Orgolini
Directed by Charles Martin Smith
Written by Joel Soisson, Michael S. Murphey and Rhet Topham
Red Shirt Home Video
There was a period in the early ‘90s when the hyperbole of heavy metal drowned in a sea of grunge. But time has a way of leveling things out, and the power chords and big hair of TRICK OR TREAT remains as eye- and ear-catching as ever as it re-emerges in glorious 4K luster.
If you’ve never seen the film, chances are you’ve come across the iconic poster art featuring dancer Tony Fields as shock rocker Sammi Curr exploding out of a flaming jack-o’-lantern. The mashup of Halloween, heavy metal and horror is an unusual mix courtesy of producer Dino De Laurentis, and it was clearly something that took three credited writers (and two uncredited) to work out. While the resulting narrative doesn’t entirely succeed as a fully coherent or dramatically rewarding story, many of the individual contributions are standouts.
Charles Martin Smith was a well-known actor prior to this (American Graffiti, Never Cry Wolf), but you’d never think this was the work of a first-time director. He establishes a somber tone that showcases just how bullied protagonist Eddie “Ragman” Weinbauer (Marc Price) is, particularly in an uncomfortable early scene where he’s completely stripped down and thrown out of the boys’ changeroom into a girls’ PE class. Price, who’d already made a name for himself as “Skippy” on Family Ties, plays to an entirely different kind of vulnerability here, and there’s a real rawness to his anger and rage. When he’s given a one-of-a-kind record of his favorite rocker, Sammi Curr, by a radio DJ played by Gene Simmons, all hell breaks loose as the backwards playback of said LP unleashes Curr’s demonic ghost.
The late Tony Fields absolutely rocks his performance. While the character’s motivations come across as murky at best, Fields milks the role for all its worth, flashing evil grins and pirouetting off the stage in the concert scenes. It’s a great contrast to Price’s anguished performance, in which Fields takes the best elements of the hair metal bands and distills it further. His wide-eyed scenery-gnashing comes so close to crossing the line of parody but pulls it back just enough.
What a stroke of luck to end up with British rockers Fastway for the score. Not only is the soundtrack all killer and no filler, but the consistency of the one band unifies the whole endeavor. Although some songs only appear in fragments, thankfully Charles Martin Smith saw fit to let Sammi Curr play the title track all the way through in a sequence that feels like the best homage to Brian De Palma’s Phantom of the Paradise and Carrie.
There is a full Halloween bag’s worth of extras loaded on here as well. Most notable is the new doc, Rock & Shock: The Making of Trick or Treat, a feature-length talking heads affair that brings in most of the cast and crew (namely Price, Smith and composer Christopher Young) to recount the inception and production of the film. It’s funny watching Gene Simmons dis the film (a surprising addition on the doc), which is contrasted with the crew and cast raising eyebrows at his blasé attitude towards the production. Additionally, there are a bevy of commentaries, including one by RUE MORGUE’s own Paul Corupe and Allison Lang.
It’s hard to say if TRICK OR TREAT is the best of the heavy metal horrors (I’d nudge Black Roses to the top spot), but the deluxe new package from Red Shirt Home Video makes a strong case for it.
The 4K disc (and other versions) of TRICK OR TREAT are available for purchase through Synapse Films.
