I know that referring to a horror film as sweet and innocent is a bit weird, but that is really the only way to describe this movie. I remember that I went to see it with my friend Arthur (not his real name) back in 86, we were both 14 and Artie had been pretty excited about seeing TT, because Ozzy and Gene Simmons were in it. Arthur was a heavy metal fan with long hair and Dokken T-shirts, I was a punker (who had a low opinion of metal until much later), but we went and had a good time.
Arthur was a lot like Eddie (the main character played by Marc Price), he was sort of a nowhere-going outsider, who found solace in the misogyny and homo-erotica of the heavy metal movement. I suppose that was fine, but this film evoked that image very well.
Eddie was just this loser who did not fit in and who no one really liked or paid attention to; his life was a mess as he was trying to deal with school, bullies, his unrequited love for some 'hot chick' and the disembodied soul of satanist, heavy metal star Sammi Kerr, who had been unintentionally released by Eddie when he played Sammi's final album backwards.
There are a lot of such inside jokes (Ozzy as a televangelist, etc.) and they work within a certain context, but I am not convinced that they will necessarily work on a contemporary audience (who have access to Marylin Manson and Nine Inch Nails videos). However, those of you who lived through this period, or who had an Eddie (or an Arthur) in your lives should enjoy this film. If you already saw it, you should see it again. This is a very well done little flick that really deserves a cult following.
Again, I just find it amazing that a 'dead-teenager' movie about heavy metal and satanism, managed to communicate the real character of the heavy metal fans of the 80s. These were not 'cool' people for the most part, but alienated, acne-covered depressed kids whose only cry for attention was long-hair and T-shirts with lame metal bands on them. Eddie was this character to a T. I think that is what impressed me the most about Trick or Treat, it seems to have been written by someone who actually knew something about metal and about its fans and made a genuine effort to relate to them rather than to relate to the MTV image of them.
This movie really made a tremendous effort to create sympathetic characters and to relate them to their core audience. This was a very cute and sweet film that managed to capture a moment in cultural history and to exploit it effectively as a gory horror movie.
It still just reminds me of sitting on the hood of my parents car, listening to Fastway (the band that did the soundtrack) on the boombox and watching Arthur headbang and flash his satan symbol at me while sticking his tongue out; I hated the music but really dug seeing Arthur groove to it. That was my 80s, and if it was yours, I think you will like this film.
Arthur was a lot like Eddie (the main character played by Marc Price), he was sort of a nowhere-going outsider, who found solace in the misogyny and homo-erotica of the heavy metal movement. I suppose that was fine, but this film evoked that image very well.
Eddie was just this loser who did not fit in and who no one really liked or paid attention to; his life was a mess as he was trying to deal with school, bullies, his unrequited love for some 'hot chick' and the disembodied soul of satanist, heavy metal star Sammi Kerr, who had been unintentionally released by Eddie when he played Sammi's final album backwards.
There are a lot of such inside jokes (Ozzy as a televangelist, etc.) and they work within a certain context, but I am not convinced that they will necessarily work on a contemporary audience (who have access to Marylin Manson and Nine Inch Nails videos). However, those of you who lived through this period, or who had an Eddie (or an Arthur) in your lives should enjoy this film. If you already saw it, you should see it again. This is a very well done little flick that really deserves a cult following.
Again, I just find it amazing that a 'dead-teenager' movie about heavy metal and satanism, managed to communicate the real character of the heavy metal fans of the 80s. These were not 'cool' people for the most part, but alienated, acne-covered depressed kids whose only cry for attention was long-hair and T-shirts with lame metal bands on them. Eddie was this character to a T. I think that is what impressed me the most about Trick or Treat, it seems to have been written by someone who actually knew something about metal and about its fans and made a genuine effort to relate to them rather than to relate to the MTV image of them.
This movie really made a tremendous effort to create sympathetic characters and to relate them to their core audience. This was a very cute and sweet film that managed to capture a moment in cultural history and to exploit it effectively as a gory horror movie.
It still just reminds me of sitting on the hood of my parents car, listening to Fastway (the band that did the soundtrack) on the boombox and watching Arthur headbang and flash his satan symbol at me while sticking his tongue out; I hated the music but really dug seeing Arthur groove to it. That was my 80s, and if it was yours, I think you will like this film.