Trick Or Treats (1982)
In an era where some would argue, came some of the best horror films, Trick or Treats was not one of them. To be fair, I got all of the nostalgia feels from this film, but it did not deliver on the "slasher" promise.
Released the same year as classics such as Halloween III: Season of the Witch, The Thing, Poltergeist, and Basket Case, Trick or Treats had a lot of stiff, no pun intended, competition.
Trick or Treats had the makings of a good 80s slasher flick, betrayal, deception, revenge, it just failed in execution. With only a budget of a little over $50,000 I guess they were limited with what they could and could not do.
The basic premise of the film was that Joan O'Keefe (Carrie Snodgress) had here husband Malcolm (Peter Jason) committed to a mental institution so that she could continue you her relationship with her lover, Richard Adams (David Carradine). With her husband out of the picture she marries Richard and shares in his wealth. Five years later Malcolm escapes the institution on Halloween and returns home to take revenge on Joan for having him falsely committed.
Sounds like it would be good right? Wrong! For starters it is not explicitly stated that Joan has Malcolm committed to be with Richard. It is safe to say that this is implied but I personally didn't like how he was detained with in the first 5 minutes without knowing the reasoning why.
Five years passes by and Joan and Richard are heading to Las Vegas for a Halloween party and call on the assistance of Linda (Jackelyn Giroux) to babysit for their son Christopher (Chris Graver) while out of town. Linda takes the job because as an actress trying to make her break she needs the money.
Christopher certainly makes Linda earn her pay as for the better part of the movie he plays mean tricks and sick jokes on Linda and she falls for them everytime! This was the movie. The jokes got old and got old quick. It is hard to get into a movie where, even after telling someone about the tale of the boy who cried wolf still falling for the same nonsense.
The film moves slow and the only real action that happens is foolishness between Linda and Christopher. That's it. No one dies, nothing. The audience wouldn't witness the first kill until about twenty minutes from the credit roll. Not very slasher-y. In fact the body count for the entire film is two.
Honestly the only saving grace for me is the fact that it does have quite the eighties feel. The Halloween decorations that adorn the house are the exact same things that hung in my house Halloween after Halloween growing up.
So with that said, I am able to give this movie 3 zombie Smoothies out of 5. (I am working on a graphic for zombie Smoothie). Would I recommend this film, yes, it is worth a watch at least once and you can view it right on YouTube! Is it worth buying? Well from what I have researched this was never on DVD and apparently was on Blu-Ray but that goes for around $45.00. For a collector looking to add this film to the collection I would have to recommend tracking the VHS release down, because as anyone who grew up in the age of VHS and the video rental stores, some of the most creative and eye-catching box art that ever graced any shelves.
I hope you enjoyed my FIRST review, and if you did take the chance to read all of it I thank you and hope that you let me know how you enjoyed it and any ways that I could improve.
-Smoothie
(Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trick_or_Treats#/media/File:Trick_or_Treats_poster.jpg)
Watch Trick or Treats here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh5_m8KXBd0
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