No movie gets championed around here quite like 1986’s Trick or Treat. And why not? It’s everything we’re on about over here. It’s a Rock ‘N Roll Horror movie that takes place around and then on Halloween. An undead rock star electrocutes an entire gymnasium of teenagers with a real electric guitar. It’s got Gene Simmons. I mean, what more do you need?
The Super Soundtrack, which I thoroughly recommend listening to the day before Halloween, features loads of songs by Fastway, including tonight’s penultimate selection of the season.
When a movie like Trick or Treatis throwing a Sweet Song at you like After Midnight, how can we ignore that?
The one that started it all. This is a Super Soundtrack The Shindig has bumped for years. Upon a recent listening, we thought “Hey, we should post this. Maybe everyone that likes Trick or Treat will dig this deluxe version.” Don’t ask and you still might receive, I guess.
Trick or Treat is a special movie with a pretty special soundtrack. Not only is it a Halloween movie with a Referentially-Inclusive-Halloween-Title-Track, but it has an entire album’s worth of tunes for an almost out-of-the-box Super Soundtrack. This makes it a great choice to kick off our Super Soundtracks feature.
What’s also fun is how expository these songs are. Without being a musical or even a rock opera, this soundtrack describes almost exactly what’s happening on screen while it’s happening.
Eddie’s getting mad and ripping all his posters off his wall?
“Tear Down the walls! Tearing ‘em down!”
Eddie’s feeling so beaten down he just wants to give it all up?
“Don’t stop the fight! Don’t die now!”
Eddie’s finally getting a little revenge?
“Get tough! This boy’s had enough!”
It’s just so awesomely explicit.
Some of these songs though, provided by 80’s butt-rocker’s Fastway, barely get enough screen time. One song, Hold On to the Night (a personal favorite) only appears in the film backwards. For shame!
So we chopped, diced, sliced and spruced this Super Soundtrack to feature the entire album rearranged linearly with a ton of movie clips, plus an extra special addition that doesn’t appear on the original release!
It’s the closet thing to watching Trick or Treat without actually watching Trick or Treat, which you should also do this October.
Once in blue Moon (or maybe 3 times in roughly 230 tracks) a song comes along so awesomely perfect that it defies my categories. It flagrantly rebels all, encompasses, and becomes more. It demands representation and it’s exclusion from any Halloween playlist is a crime against the holiday, so perfectly suited is it.
It’s a +1 to the trinity; it’s from a horror movie, its about the movie, it’s the movie’s fucking Title Track, and against all odd, it’s about Halloween too.
Are you kidding me? Nope. It’s a Referentially Inclusive Halloween Title Track, or a Great Pumpkin. I’d call it the Holy Grail, but there’s a couple of these fuckers on the Shindig.
While Trick Or Treat isn’t the ultimate example of such a song, it does appear before that track, so it gets the lead-in.
That’s not to say it’s any slouch though. Lets look at the stats:
It’s a Title Track, already 3 shots to it.
In that it’s called Trick Or Treat, is played live by an undead rock star in the movie, at a Halloween party, on Halloween, while he’s killing teenagers with a guitar that shoots lightning, is effort enough to earn it’s keep at the top of the heap.
You have a Halloween playlist and it doesn’t feature this song, you’re doing it wrong.
I love Trick Or Treat and it’s definitely an annual watch somewhere between October 1st and 31st.
Metal head dork Eddie Weinbauer accidentally resurrects his recently deceased rock hero Sammi Curr by unwittingly playing his final and unreleased album backwards.
At first Sammi aids Edward in his game of revenge, but when Sammi’s game becomes too real, Eddie pussies out and Sammi takes matters into his own hands. Awesomeness ensues.
The soundtrack, presented in the form of Sammi Curr’s music, is provided by butt-rockers Fastway, whom I’m not sure achieved much notoriety beyond this Soundtrack.
Either way, it all adds up to a pretty fantastic Heavy Metal Halloween. Enjoy!
TRACK #239: 
