Horrorfest 2020 Presents: Trick or Treats (1982, Gary Graver)

Speaks for itself

Ah, Halloween. My favorite holiday currently, or at least high up there anyways. I love this time of year, and I reflect on how because of horror movies I will never take a baby sitting job as long as I live. Slasher films have taught me that when you watch kids, a maniac wielding a knife always shows up every time. Without fail. Trick or Treats adheres to that formula and never waivers the entire time, which is admirable.

Jackelyn Giroux plays Linda, who gets stuck watching the kid from hell while his step-dad played by David Carradine and his wife leave her with their little brat over the Halloween weekend. Does her psycho ex husband played by Peter Jason show up to try and get his revenge for being committed? You bet! Does the kid drive Linda to the edge of her sanity with evil tricks? Oh yes. This movie more than lives up to its title.

While the death count is a bit low for a slasher movie, the ending was pretty good. Giroux is likable and you root for her to win against a demon child that would be at home in a The Omen sequel. Also not enough horror movies are set on Halloween, although perhaps it is a result of not wanting to be compared to a certain famous franchise starring one famous slasher villain. Too bad.

Horrorfest 2015 Presents: Q The Winged Serpent (1982, Larry Cohen)

Out of all the monster films I’ve watched over the years Q: The Winged Serpent is rather bizarre. After all this is a movie about a cult that brings to life a freaky God creature that flies around and devours people. Plenty of awesome and entertaining moments there, not to mention Cohen once again directing a film set in New York where people are being killed by a strange force and the police are investigating.

What makes this film also interesting is the performances of Michael Moriarty and David Carradine. Moriarty plays a criminal piano player that stumbles onto the creature’s nest and being a crook naturally demands money for leading the police to the monster. Carradine’s police officer is a man too smart for his own good, who runs up against the fact that the police don’t like conspiracies. Much easier to simply tackle a beast flying around Manhattan as it kills people.

Despite being rather cheesy and not being quite as developed or as well made as some of his films this one is still rather solid. Also the creature effects are claymation, which is a nice touch. The 1980s didn’t have enough big monster movies save for the ones from Japan and a few others, which is kind of a shame as I love me a good big angry monster movie.