Trick or Treat (1986)

Oh sure it's cheesy, but if this one could have kept up what it started in the first half of the film, "Trick or Treat" may have been one of my all time guilty pleasures. A high school loner and picked on metal-head named Eddie (yes, it's "Skippy" from Family Ties!) has had it up to here with all the asshole jocks at school. Eddie's only solace is cranking the albums of his favorite controversial rocker Sammy Curr, who drinks snake blood and other cool stuff. Eddie's devastated when after a rather tough day at school (the jocks kicked his naked ass out of the locker room and into a cheerleader practice) he comes home only to learn that his idol has died in a mysterious fire. Devastated, Eddie goes to the local rock station to talk about the events with a DJ and is presented with a real rarity in Sammy Currs unreleased album. Spinning the album at home, Eddie learns in true "devil music" tradition that by playing the album in reverse Sammy is able to come through from the other side and offer Eddie revenge on all those damn jocks. Of course, we soon learn Sammy's intentions are not really all that great in that he's none to particular about who he kills from beyond the grave. Soon old Sammy is out of control and it's up to Eddie to put a stop to him.

I must admit I was really into this flick in the beginning. I totally felt and could relate to the character of Eddie as the picked on loner and really wanted old Sammy to rip those bastards a new one! The pacing and story buildup are terrific in the first hour. You get to know and feel for all the characters and even a nice amount of tension is present. However, things just get way to out of hand in the second half with much to much happening on the screen. The f/x is sorta lame and the gore quotient is non-existent. Those that face the wraith of Sammy Curr merely get blasted with an electrical shock, complete with corny zap effects, from his deadly guitar. As for Sammy himself, he's your basic big haired, leather clad rocker only half his face is burned off. He also has some terrific and fairly gay looking dance moves as well. His scare potential drastically went down once his dancing was displayed, and the dude also gets his ass kicked by a toilet at one point! You're a little lame Sammy. As for the other characters everyone does there part well, and I was especially impressed with Marc Price as Eddie. He made me forget that dippy "Skippy" character, so kudos to him. Besides the decent acting, the film does a great job in recreating that whole PMRC, "rock is evil" vibe. There are some cool cameos by Gene Simmons and especially by Ozzy Osbourne as an anti-rock crusading preacher...good fun there. Even with all that, the second half of this one really ruined everything for me. If only this one could have kept up what it started we may have had something here. Not that it would have been a classic or anything, but it had the potential to be a nice little flick. Oh well. Now go out and spin "Stairway to Heaven" backwards everyone!! Here's to my Sweet Satan indeed.