I remember seeing pictures of Trick or Treat in Fangoria but I never actually saw the film in the ’80s. I don’t know why I didn’t even rent the VHS, but 40 years later I’m finally crossing it off the list, and on 4K UHD to boot.
It’s a fun ‘80s horror movie, basically heavy metal Freddy Krueger with some early Final Destination hints. Destination co-creator Glen Morgan even has an acting role as the best friend.
On 4K I’m certainly seeing it more vividly than VHS would have been, and possibly even film prints in the local theaters in the ’80s. It still has a sort of grindhouse feel where it never looks totally polished, but just being on 35mm gives it more class than today’s VOD knockoffs.
The behind the scenes retrospective is 81 minutes itself. They even got Gene Simmons to talk about his cameo, so it’s that thorough. A 15 minute tribute to the late Tony Fields is touching and informative and the glossy slipcover art pays loving tribute to his performance as Sammy Kerr. The episode of Horror’s Hallowed Grounds devoted to Trick or Treat is well documented.
But I am especially impressed by the collection of commentaries on this film. Director Charles Martin Smith’s commentary focuses on his transition from acting to directing, including his difficulties on Boris and Natasha. Even when he turns to scene-specific commentary, he’s talking about how movies get made, not fluff.
Writers Michael S. Murphey and Rhet Topham have stories of Bob Shaye (Murphy produced Nightmare 2) and Dino De Laurentiis, even Penelope Spheeris wanting to direct. Even their production stories are different from those on the main documentary.
Satanic Panjc authors Paul Corupe and Allison Lang inform about the social climate in detail down to specific recovered memories of SRA and debunking them. It makes the movie work even better as a satire to document how absurd the actual political moral panic over heavy metal and role playing games actually was.