‘Trick or Treat’ 4K offers a tight package of an era [Review]

The new Synapse Films 4K release of the classic metal horror film Trick or Treat is a snapshot of an era. Sure there’s a great transfer of the hard-to-find 1988 slasher classic with cameos by Ozzy and Gene Simmons, but the extras offer those who remember a trip back in time. For those who weren’t around yet, it’s a nice look at the way it was.

Trick or Treat offered up an all-new slasher killer in Sammi Curr (the late Tony Fields). Curr in the storyline is a just-deceased heavy metal artist who’s left behind plans for a vicious return. Fields, of the music show Solid Gold, stepped in when stars like Simmons passed on the lead.

Marc Price (Family Ties) is tormented high school metalhead Eddie Weinbauer. When he’s humiliated by classmates, headed by Doug Savant of Melrose Place, Eddie plays Curr’s final album backwards, and on the night of a big Halloween dance, Sammi begins to wreak havoc.

The 4K release presents the film well, preserving its ‘80s look nicely via the original 35mm camera negative mastered in Dolby Vision. The tale is exciting, with a ticking clock that presents its young leads—Eddie finds an ally in the compassionate popular girl Leslie Graham (Lisa Orgolini)—with a dark battle once they realize Sami is out of control.

Is it the best slasher pic? Not quite. Weinbauer delivers a strong turn as the tortured Eddie, and Fields offers a great, even stellar, performance and gives Curr a fabulous visual look. But he doesn’t get quite enough opportunity for a Freddy-style personality that might have made a memorable recurring villain.

Still, the film’s well worth a look, and the 4K release is filled with extras. The standout is a feature-length behind the scenes doc, Rock and Shock: The Making of Trick or Treat. With insightful interviews with cast members, director Charles Martin Smith and producers, it’s a key to the moment in which the film was created. Scenes of Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider’s testimony before a hostile Senate hearing in 1985 present the censorship environment.

The Trick or Treat script was created within that atmosphere of music censorship, and many producers reveal their frustrations and sense of rebellion in crafting a dark metal villain.

Other extras add insight and enhancement to this home release:

• Audio commentary with director Charles Martin Smith, moderated by filmmaker Mark Savage
• Audio interviews with writer/producer Michael S. Murphey and writer Rhet Topham, moderated by film historian Michael Felsher
• Audio conversation with Paul Corupe and Allison Lang, authors of Satanic Panic: Pop-Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s.
• In The Spotlight: A Tribute to Tony Fields, featuring interviews with the late actor’s family and friends
• Horror’s Hallowed Grounds: The Filming Locations of Trick or Treat with Sean Clark featuring a look at the Wilmington, NC backdrop.
• The music video “After Midnight” music video
• Theatrical Trailers, TV Spots and Radio Spots
• Still Gallery featuring optional audio interview with still photographer Phillip V. Caruso
• A vintage electronic press kit
• Region free for worldwide playback

If you have fond memories of Trick or Treat or if you’re a slasher or metal horror purist, this is a good addition to the home shelf, and there’s a reversible package cover so you can choose the face of the film you want to display.

The 4K Synapse release date is March 11, 2025