Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Trick or Treat



Plot Synopsis: Sammi Curr was a famous, devil-worshiping rock star who died under mysterious circumstances. Now he wants to come back to life. Doing so requires possessing radio wave & automobiles and making a few human sacrifices. 

     Remember the show Family Ties?  Remember Skippy, the nerd who had a crush on Mallory?  Well turns out Skippy got so tired of being rejected by her he decided to do what most 80's outcasts did.  Start smoking dope and listening to Heavy Metal Music, the shittiest hair band metal music out there at the time.  He idolizes a singer named Sammy Cur, who went to the same high school Eddie (That's Skippy's name in this film) does, and much like Eddie was an outcast.  See no one likes Eddie.  I don't blame them.  He has shitty taste in music, and wears those stupid Ozzy, and Montly Crue concert shirts.  Obviously Eddie is the only guy in this school who listens to this music.  He get harassed by the cool kids, led by Doug Savant, of Melrose place, and Desperate Housewives fame.  They don't beat him down columbine style or anything, they do those wacky 80's things.  Like poke a hole in his milk so it dumps on his shirt.  Take off his towel during gym and shove him in the girls room. And rub his hair until it stands up.
  So as no one likes him, and believe me I hated him by this point, and the film is only about 8 minutes old now, he hangs out with Nuke, a local DJ played by Gene Simmons.  Simmons knew Sammy Cur from high school so he tells Eddie story's about him.  Turns out Sammy was scheduled to play the high schools Halloween dance, but the school board wont allow it, as he's a devil worshipping heavy metal singer.  Here's a question.  If this guy was picked on, in a school that obviously hates heavy metal music, in a town he couldn't wait to get out of, why the hell would he go back to play at a high school dance?  Were his last albums sales that bad, or does he have the worlds worst manager?
  Anyway he was obviously so despondent about this he decided to kill himself in a hotel fire while chanting in a pentagram.  Turns out he recoded this and gave Gene Simmons the record, and Simmons, in return gives it to Eddie, as he's this guy's biggest fan.
  So Eddie goes home and plays the record and stars dreaming about Sammy dying.  Then he decides to play the record backwards.  See back then people were convinced that singers were hiding devil worship prayers on the records and too hear them, you had to play the album backwards.  I know so many idiots who did this.  I was 12 years old at the time and new what the deal was.  Studios wanted you to play your record backwards, screw it up, then have to buy a new one.  Anyway he plays it backwards and Sammy tells him how to get even with the kids who are picking on him.
  So he ends up listening to the record again (He made a tape of it) and rigs the school with spilled water, a few well placed chairs, and a couple of closed doors.  he then flips a tray at Doug Savant and his crew in the lunch room and take off running.  They chase after him, and in a wacky 80's chase scene and fall every turn.  They end up getting caught, and sent to detention.
  The next day they find Eddie, and actually go to beat him up, when his Walkman starts playing, and the metal point blade in shop class comes to life, well actually it just turns on, and grabs Savant by his tie.  Side note, I never knew why he wore a tie to school.  Eddie turns it off before it kills Savant and the guys run off.  Not sure why they didn't just beat him up then.  So he goes home and talks to his record player again. And it tells him to make another tape.  he does and slips in in Savants locker.
  Later that night Savant's girlfriend puts the tape in her Walkman, and it causes her ears to melt.  I doubt the tape was possessed, the music is just so bad, it would cause anyone ears to melt.  So Savant yells at Eddie to stay away from him.  Rather then being grateful, and talking to his record play some more he decides he doesn't want any part of this.  Not sure why.  He was picked on all his life by these guys, the record helps him, now he yells at the record player.  Sounds like an ingrate, and a real shitty fan if you ask me.
  He asks his friend to get the tape back, and as hes his only friend he helps him out, then plays the tape, and suddenly Sammy Cur comes to life and kills his friend.  He then sticks his hand into the TV and kills a preacher talking about evil heavy metal music.  The priest is played by Ozzy Ozbourne, in a humorous turn. He should have went and killed Eddie, as he really wasn't a supportive fan.
  Sammy then shows up at the Halloween concert, starts singing, and then for no reason he starts shooting lightning out of his hands killing people.  Skippy figures out at this point that if the music is played over the airwaves Sammy will come back again.  So he destroys the record tower and crashes a car with Sammy in it to save the day.  This all leads me to the same question I have fat for 25 years.  What the hell was the point?  Why did Sammy kill himself?  Why did he want to come back from the dead?  What was his plan when he did?  They never say.  Did he just do it for fun?  I mean what did he want to do?  Take over the world with his shitty big hair and awful music?  Did he need to kill people over the airwaves because of a deal he made with Satan?  I mean if he wanted to punish, and kill people why didn't he not kill himself, and just continue to play that god awful heavy metal crap?
  I was 12 when I saw this, and unfortunately went to school with tons of little kids who listened to this crap, and tried to act like little stoners in their fake concert shirts.  I was smart enough to have ben listening to Black Flag, DRI, Misfits (Greatest band ever), Ramones, and Sex Pistols.  So the music aspect didn't thrill me one bit.  I was smart enough to know the whole Heavy Metal devil worship connection was done to sell records.  But the film is fun.  I mean its dumb as hell, but also very entertaining.  I watch it year around this time.  The best part is Gene Simmons has a 3minute part, and Ozzy has about a 1 minute part, but as their the 2 biggest names there featured on the front cover of the DVD,  Check this film out if you want a good Heavy Metal Horror laugh, or if you like this crappy music. It really is fun.  It would have been more fun however, if this took place in the school Michale J. Fox went to in Teen Wolf.  Then Michale J Fox could have turned into a werewolf and fought Sammy at the Holloween Dance.  Or he could have set His Delorian back a few months, gotten up to 55 Gigawatts and stopped Sammy from Dying in a fire.  I guess what really would have made this better if Michale J Fox, or anyone else would have played the lead.  The novelty of seeing Skippy as a stoners stops after about 2 minutes.

Overall 3 out of 5 Stars!

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