Trick Or Treat

Trick Or Treat is a horror film that I remember from my childhood.

It's not a movie that I can remember fully. In fact, I don't recall much of the film at all. The reason why it draws me back to when I was younger is because I saw it when my American relatives were visiting.

My cousin - who was three years older than me - came running into our house on one of the days excited to have seen the video case of Trick Or Treat in the video shop.

He was a major horror movie fan.

And I wanted to be just like him.

He went on and on about how 'rare' the film was.

Rare! I was sold.

We both begged and hassled both our parents to get it and so they did.

And that is all I can remember.

I saw it in a Play.com sale a few years ago and bought it. I've never watched it since 1988 or '89 but I will in this special Halloween post.

To make it even more fun, I'll be commenting on the movie in real-time. Well, as real as I can get on this thing.

00:00 - The film lasts 1hr and 33mins. Just about the average for an 1980s horror film.

00:01 - Original music is by a band called Fastaway. Never heard of them!

00:02 - My cousins were into rock music back then and this film has Gene Simmons in it. Makes sense.

00:03 - It seems the main character in this film is the geek of the school and has to face the bullies and has no chance with the hottest girl in the school. Typical storyline. What are the chances he overcomes the obstacles in the end?

00:07 - The kid's favourite rock star - Sammi Curr - is reported to have died in a hotel fire. About time the hotel rooms fought back against the rebellious rock stars who trash them.

00:08 - The main character has now torn down all his Sammi Curr posters from the wall with 'Tear down the Walls' playing on the soundtrack.

00:09 - I have just established that the character who I have been calling 'a kid' is Eddie.

00:10 - Eddie was just given Curr's last record by a DJ friend of his. The plan is to play the record at midnight on Halloween. Which makes me wonder - doesn't that make it November 1st?

00:12 - Baxk to school, meets the hot girl in the corridor and he is nervous around her. She asks him to the pool party. I sense a double cross.

00:15 - The bullies have put a weightlifting weight into his rucksack and thrown him into the pool. I think it's the same girl from earlier who has just saved him. I remember this from when I first saw the film. Unless, of course, I saw a similar scene in another horror movie. You see, the same generic concepts are evident in many of these kinds of films.

00:18 - Eddie is playing the song while sleeping and it is skipping making a hidden message from beyond the grave (I think!).

00:20 - Eddie just started a fight with the main bully in the school canteen. They're chasing him around the building now. Classic eighties campus movie concepts here.

00:23 - Eddie's friend is at his house and they're playing the record backwards. The friend isn't convinced it's from beyond the grave.

00:25 - It seems he was right all along. The singer is talking to him every time the vinyl is turned around. He has told him to go to..... a design and technology room in his school. What the..?

00:28 - He's eating a Twinkie bar. Man, I miss those! Uh oh, here come the bullies.

00:30 - The main bully almost got his eye taken out by a drill thing. I remember this bit, too.

00:31 - I should have done something like Killer Klowns from Outer Space. I am sure I would have had more to write about with that film.

00:33 - Eddie's mother accidentally turned on the music and couldn't turn it off.

00:34 - Oh, I get it. Sammi Curr went to the same school as Eddie.

00:35 - Eddie has turned into a more confident stud overnight. Not sure how that can happen. Must be the messages.

00:37 - The bully's girlfriend is in the car listening to the walkman. Not sure how the bully got the walkman to begin with, I must have missed something. The girlfriend's clothes are getting ripped off by a mysterious green light. The green light has turned into a monster and has killed her. The bully runs back to the car and pulled the tape out of the walkman. Yeah, that's the first thing you would do in a situation like that.... but then again, green lights don't always turn into green monsters.

00:40 - Ozzy Osborne is playing a reverend on a TV in the background of this scene. He's complaining about rock music.

00:42 - The bully is at Eddie's house. It seems the girl is in hospital and not dead. Phew. The bully is angry, though. No phew.

00:43 - Eddie is asking the record what happened to Jeannie. Eddie wants to stop what they are doing. The record is telling him he can't quit on him. Reminds me of Little Shop of Horrors. The record is now telling Eddie he has to kill that girl who set him up. He is asking his mother not to come into the room and the record is playing his voice back telling her to come in. She is almost as confused as me.

00:48 - The hi-fi is making a lot of noise. I think Curr is coming back to life now. Yeah - he is. It took 47 minutes.

00:49 - How come his mother hasn't heard all this racket?

00:50 - There goes Ozzy. Sammi Curr took care of the TV. And here comes the mother!

00:52 - The friend is trying to break into the bully's car to get the cassette tape. He has it in his hi-fi and is about to play it. Eddie has just phoned him asking if it has been destroyed. Liar! And I bet the friend will be killled. Well, he isn't dead but has an order to carry out.

00:56 - This film is not as good as I remembered.

00:57 - I'm the king of understatements.

00:58 - The friend is following orders from the baddie. He is going to play the song at midnight during the Halloween party.

00:59 - The girl rings Eddie up from the party and he hears the music playing the background. He's rushing to get there now. Ah, but Sammi has possessed the car Eddie is driving now. Lame!

01:03 - Thirty minutes until this rubbish is over.

01:05 - Sammi has appeared on stage at the Halloween party. Come on finish your set, murder everyone and let's be having you.

01:07 - He's killing people by firing lightning bolts from his guitar. Mass panic. The doors are locked and nobody can get out.

01:09 - The bully has confronted the girl in the toilet.

01:11 - Sammi has just killed the bully in front of Eddie. The mission is to find the circuit breaker so they can stop his power. Just hurry up and find it, I am bored here!

01:12- The friend has hit the breaker with a bit of metal but it has given him an electric shock. I don't think it's over even though it looks like it is.

01:14 - The police are now chasing Eddie. He is the fall guy, I suppose.

01:15 - It's 11:59pm and they've just realised that the record is about to be played over the airwaves. I knew it was too good to be true.

01:16 - Sammi has just killed a cop. Well, I think he is dead. All that was left were boots.

01:20 - Come on kids, get this film over with. Destroy him! Sammi is having a bad reaction to the toilet. The girl has flushed him down it now.

01:21 - It stil hasn't destroyed him, though.

01:24 - They've finally made it to the radio station but there is an electrical force field protecting the tape/record and Eddie cannot stop it.

01:28 - Looks like it's alnost over. Eddie drove the police car he was driving - with Sammi in the back - and that enabled the girl to get into the radio studio to destroy the player.

And that's it.

I realised half-way through the movie that this was bad idea but - by then - it was too late for me to give up.

The things I do for this blog, huh?