Census Flashback: More Movies Starring Musicians

On our Fright Flashback/Census Bloodbath crossover, every week this summer we'll be exploring an 80's slasher film that is in some way a spiritual precursor to the weekend's upcoming blockbuster.

In anticipation of Ocean's 8, which stars pop star Rihanna and pop-starlet-I'm-not-totally-convinced-is-a-thing Awkwafina, I'll be reviewing Trick or Treat, a supernatural rock 'n roll thriller that features cameo appearances from rockers Gene Simmons and Ozzy Osbourne (though from the DVD cover, you'd assume they were the leads, maybe even love interests).

Year: 1986

Director: Charles Martin Smith

Cast: Marc Price, Tony Fields, Lisa Orgolini

Run Time: 1 hour 38 minutes

MPAA Rating: R

The rock 'n roll horror flick is maybe the most sub-subgenre of them all, but it sure was a potent one in the mid-80's. Plenty of shock-rock bands saw the slasher craze as an opportunity to build their audience, and while I'm pretty sure it only worked for Dokken, that didn't stop a lot of others from trying. Way back when in 1984, we got Sorcery doing their best at a supernatural revenge slasher in Rocktober Blood, but 1986 - when our new friends Fastway got in the game - was a whole two years later. And more importantly, there was an Elm Street or two in the meantime to give them some ideas. Thus, Trick or Treat was born, and boy oh boy does it not star Gene Simmons and Ozzy Osbourne. Not even a little bit.

"I wish I knew how to quit you."

Who it does star is Marc Price as Eddie Weinbauer AKA Ragman, a rock-obsessed teen whose world is torn apart when his idol, rock god and alumnus of Eddie's high school Sammi Curr (Tony Fields, who also appeared in the Michael Jackson videos "Thriller" and "Beat It") perishes in a hotel fire. Eddie has been having some troubles with bullies, especially the Cobra Kai reject Tim (Doug Savant of Desperate Housewives), so when he discovers that his radio DJ friend Nuke (Gene Simmons) has a rare pressing of Sammi Curr's final track, he is delighted to find out that it contains backmasked messages (ooh, spooky) that resurrect Curr's soul into a demonic revenge spirit.

They shoot for Elm Street and end up at Shocker, with Curr zipping around through radios and electrical wires to murder people with the power of sheer thrashing rock 'n roll, but mostly by electrocution. Curr's attempts to poison Eddie's mind are somewhat hampered by Leslie (Lisa Orgolini), a straightedge chick who has sympathy for the boy. Curr's warpath ends at the Halloween dance, where a planned concert of his was cancelled by concerned parents. And... that's pretty much it.

Parents beware, rock 'n roll is here to slay!

Only that isn't it. Trick or Treat has a barbarically simple plot (rock 'n roll is bad and belongs to the Devil), but it's augmented with a whole lot of supernatural tomfoolery that is simply special. This movie is made by the little details, and it's chock full of them, from a spectacular yet not ostentatious moment where flames ignite in two jack-o-lanterns to the balls-to-the-wall effects showstopper where a girl unwittingly hooks up with a rubbery, tongue-lolling demon in the back seat of a car. It's so bonkers at so many points that it more than makes up for the repetitive nature of a lot of its early scenes (Eddie is bullied, he sorta considers killing a bully, he doesn't, rinse, repeat).

Unfortunately, while Trick or Treat is a lot of things, barely any of them is an actual slasher. This really was what I like to call a White Knuckle Census Bloodbath pick, because at every point that it feinted toward being a body count movie, it would pull back with an "oh, I'm alive, don't worry!" and go about its merry business. It wasn't until the Carrie-style carnage at the very end that it could even be considered a verifiable slasher entry, and even then it's dubious at best. But hey, I reviewed Road Games with its 1.5 murders as part of this project, so our parameters can be generous.

Even though it's clearly in the Elm Street vein, the backloaded kills are far from creative, as well. Pretty much everyone gets doled out the same demise: being electrocuted into a puff of smoke. I don't know whether this was due to a lack of budget or a lack of creativity, but either way it's a frustrating noncommittal approach that really hampers a film that already hadn't quite earned that extra fifteen minutes inflating the run time.

I could spend HOURS staring at this outfit though, so maybe it evens out.

But despite its deficiencies as a slasher, Trick or Treat is still a must-see for any fan of 80's cult horror. The effects spectacle is pretty much non-stop (a particular stand-out moment is when Sammi Curr scratches his fingerless gloved-hand across a TV, causing the talking head on screen to scream out in pain), there is a heaping helping of shirtless men for reasons I do not understand but do not question, and this movie has a title song. You can't go wrong with any 80's title track, but Fastway really pulls out all the stops with the demonically catchy track "Trick or Treat," which somehow makes their signature screech rock entirely bearable.

This movie isn't subtle at all, and it in no way explores the villain's motives other than "the Devil is in rock 'n roll," but you honestly don't need much more than that. And to be honest, Gene Simmons and Ozzy Osbourne aren't bad at all, the former as shock jock Nuke and the latter as the buttoned-up evangelist crusading against rock music. Simmons has a naturalism that makes me think he has a second career option up his sleeve, and Osbourne is completely transformed as his ironic opposite, tearing into the role like it's a delicious bat's head.

Overall, Trick or Treat is definitely a treat, even if my justification for including it in Census Bloodbath is wobblier than most. But hey, when people get murdered in droves in act three, you can rest assured that I'll be there. Here's looking at you, Evilspeak.

Killer: Sammi Curr (Tony Fields)

Final Girl: Eddie Weinbauer AKA Ragman (Marc Price)

Best Kill: They're all kind of the same, I love the way the bully Tim explodes when he's getting his electrocution.

Sign of the Times: Eddie's friend Roger is so excited to finally have Call Waiting.

Scariest Moment: One scene opens with Roger contemplatively staring up a girl's skirt and stroking his chin.

Weirdest Moment: While he's being chased by bullies, Eddie knocks over a mop bucket, causing one of the bullies to slip and fly out a doorway and down the stairs like he's Wile E. Coyote.

Champion Dialogue: "Do you think I'm a wussy f**king weaktit?"

Body Count: 11; but it doesn't really feel like it.

1. Guitar Player gets his face crushed by an arm that bursts from an amp.
2. Random Student #1 gets hit by a lightning bolt.
3. Random Student #2 gets hit by a lightning bolt.
4. Random Student #3 gets hit by a lightning bolt.
5. Random Student #4 gets hit by a lightning bolt.
6. Random Student #5 gets hit by a lightning bolt.
7. Random Student #6 gets hit by a lightning bolt.
8. Random Student #7 gets hit by a lightning bolt.
9. Random Student #8 gets hit by a lightning bolt.
10. Tim is electrocuted.
11. Cop is electrocuted with his own taser.

TL;DR: Trick or Treat is a bit overlong, but a fun crazy 80's B-picture nonetheless.
Rating: 7/10
Word Count: 1269

New Year's Resolutions: Stocking Stuffers

Let's finally put a nail in the coffin of the holiday season with a dose of mini reviews for some festive favorites!

Fred Claus

Year: 2007

Director: David Dobkin

Cast: Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, Elizabeth Banks

Run Time: 1 hour 56 minutes

MPAA Rating: PG

Santa Claus has a naughty older brother who is jealous of living in his shadow all those years.

Is there a word for holiday flicks where the plot’s every beat is pretty much telegraphed from the poster, and whose sole reason for existence is to act as cinematic comfort food during the Christmas season? I’m pretty sure there isn’t, but I would like to submit for your consideration the phrase “Fred Claus.” No moment or character in this entire film is original (save a totally arbitrary cameo by Ludacris as an elf DJ, but that’s only because the people who brainstormed that for previous holiday movies were fired), but that doesn’t mean it won’t wash down like cookies and a glass of milk.

The cast is admittedly pretty grand, including Kathy Bates, Paul Giamatti, and Kevin Spacey (in another one of those thankless roles he kicked around in while waiting for the world to invent House of Cards), but the script is so rote, nobody can make much of a dent in it. Surprisingly, the one performer who breaks from the pack is lead actor Vince Vaughn, because he (mostly intentionally) seems to be inhabiting a completely different universe than everyone else. His acerbic, quick-tongued performance is a reminder that the man can be genuinely good when he tries to be, creating a totally relatable, humorously durable con man out of thin air. It’s a bleak and humble character, and he’s remarkably arresting to watch.

The comedy outside of Vaughn’s sphere is largely a tacky fruitcake, leaning too heavily on cartoonish sound effects and too-safe character relationships, but Vaughn’s presence makes Fred Claus ten chimney loads more watchable than your average Santa Clause sequel.

Rating: 6/10

The Christmas Shoes

Year: 2002
Director: Andy Wolk
Cast: Rob Lowe, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Max Morrow
Run Time: 1 hour 40 minutes

A workaholic lawyer learns the true meaning of Christmas when a young boy enlists his help buying shoes for his terminally ill mother.

As a TV movie based on one of the most notoriously bad Christmas songs of all time, Sergio and I went into The Christmas Shoes expecting to get a barrel of unintentional laughs. Unfortunately, as happens so often with made-for-TV fare, we found that it refrained from erupting into the expected over-the-top antics, instead plodding through the same typical sub-Lifetime fare as any other on-air holiday trifle.

Sure, there are some sparkling moments, like the mom’s inexplicably shoe-centric backstory, the network’s insistence on playing the “Christmas Shoes” song over a climactic moment, or any scene where you get to watch Rob Lowe flounder through the syrupy dialogue, but for the most part, the movie puts its head down and trudges to the finish line. Save for one actress, the whole thing would have been an insipid wash.

That actress is Kimberly Williams-Paisley as the shoeless mother. She displays a frankly flabbergasting range showing off her natural charisma in her pre-illness scenes and stoically embracing the symbolic role she is forced to shoulder in the second half of the story. Considering that her role, while secondary, forms the emotional core of the entire piece, his is an indomitable triumph. The script may be slack, but she picks up the reigns and manages to make them sting, elevating Christmas Shoes’ shallow gruel into a still meager but at least tasty holiday meal.

Rating: 5/10

Black Xmas

Year: 2006
Director: Glen Morgan
Cast: Michelle Trachtenberg, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Lacey Chabert
Run Time: 1 hour 24 minutes
MPAA Rating: R

Sorority girls are celebrating Christmas, only to discover that the serial killer who used to live in their house has just escaped and is picking them off one by one.

Being a horror fan in the 21st century, one needs to get used to pointless remakes of beloved properties. And as much as I despise the likes of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010 or Rob Zombie’s Halloween, I always try to come to remakes with an open mind. And when we land on Black Christmas, a property I began to truly appreciate only recently, I figured a screening of the remake wouldn’t sting quite so bad as a franchise I had a much more abiding affection for. I was wrong. It was worse.

Black Xmas is a much more palatable bad remake than many that I’ve been subjected to, but watching it in close conjunction with the original masterpiece is like trying to pretend Red Lobster microwave rolls are just as delicious as the real thing. Hell, it’s like trying to pretend they’re just as edible as the real thing. There are absolutely reasons to recommend Black Xmas, but they are so divorced from the ideals of character and suspense that dominated the original, it is all the more devastating and unsatisfying.

When I was watching Black Xmas, I found myself not being able to tell the characters apart. It didn’t help that the actresses looked pretty much the same, but I don’t think there’s a single member of the sorority who has character traits beyond having skinny legs, wearing seasonably inappropriate clothing, and being kind of mean. And for every actual good thing in the film, there’s a niggling flaw latched onto it like a lamprey. For example, there really is an ambitious amount of gore in the film, but a lot of it is too demurely shot to actually make out what’s happening, and almost every kill utilizes a plastic bag. This is presumably 1) an homage to the original, and 2) cheaper than buying prosthetics. However, the end result is that the movie feels like a repetitive assembly line of carnage.

I closing, it’s obviously too much to hope for a good script (“Merry Christmas, motherf**ker!” Bracingly original work, right there.). It’s obviously too much to ask for good villains (the reveal is nonsensical and leads to a grossly unnecessary, overlong coda). But when I get a campy gorefest and it’s bogged down by limp characters that are distractingly supermodel hot, even by remake standards, it’s like getting coal in your stocking. Santa skipped my DVD player this Christmas.

Body Count: 18

1. Claire is smothered and stabbed with a pen.
2. Guard is stabbed in the neck with a candy cane.
3. Megan is smothered, stabbed, and has her eye ripped out.
4. Santa’s neck explodes.
5. Billy’s Dad is smothered and hit with a hammer.
6. Billy’s Stepdad is stabbed through the face.
7. Billy’s Mom is beaten with a rolling pin.
8. Dana gets stabbed in the back of the head with a three-pronged garden tool.
9. Eve is decapitated.
10. Heather explodes.
11. Mrs. Mac is impaled with an icicle.
12. Melissa is hit with an ice skate.
13. Lauren has her eyes gouged out.
14. Kyle is stabbed in the head with a glass unicorn.
15. Morgue Worker is bone sawed.
16. Leigh has her neck snapped.
17. Agnes is defibrillated in the face.
18. Billy is impaled on a tree topper.

Rating: 5/10

New Year's Eve

Year: 2011

Director: Garry Marshall

Cast: Sarah Jessica Parker, Jessica Biel, Ashton Kutcher

Run Time: 1 hour 53 minutes

MPAA Rating: PG-13

A veritable army of airbrushed celebrities attempt to find love on New Year’s Eve.

Garry Marshall’s Valentine’s Day was a crappy film. But it made money because it was cute and its cast included every known star this side of Alpha Centauri. Naturally, they were going to milk that for all it was worth. And thus New Year’s Eve was born. Notice that fours years have passed since that fateful premiere and there’s still no St. Patrick’s Day.

The bottom line is, New Year’s Eve stinks. It stinks like a sewer rat-gorgonzola sandwich. There are exactly five humorous moments in the entire film, two of which are unintentional, one of which is a thirty second Larry Miller cameo, another of which is Seth Myers being funny in spite of the script and his own body because that’s his natural state of being, and the last (and best) of which is a blooper that plays during the credits. And this is a film that’s two f**king hours long.

The thing about transplanting Valentine’s Day’s sprawling romantic comedy to the New Year’s holiday is that nobody in the world particularly cares about New Year’s Eve except as an excuse to dilute their bloodstream with as much alcohol as possible. Thus, the movie is forced to contort itself, plying a ridiculous amount of meaning to the day (“It’s New Year’s Eve. Anything is possible.”), frantically altering holiday archetypes (Ashton Kutcher plays a Grinch who despises New Year’s Eve, because that’s totally a thing), and straight-up inventing traditions (“Second chances expire at midnight.”) to the point that the holiday providing the film’s backbone is virtually unrecognizable.

Without a spine, New Year’s Eve is paralyzed, utterly incapable of even attempting to elicit laughter. Some gags fall flat on their face and some pop and fizzle like wet fireworks, but most of the time it’s hard to even identify an attempt to be funny. Do yourself a favor and make it your New Year’s resolution to quarantine yourself from this film. That’s one that I sincerely hope you keep.

Rating: 2/10

Word Count: 1566

Reviews In This Series
Black Christmas (Clark 1974)
Black Xmas (Morgan, 2006)