Review of Trick or Treat (2014) by Adam F — 28 Oct 2008

Thanks to smart direction and modest pacing, a plot that might've been pure camp (an evil rocker is resurrected as a demonic heavy after his final recording is played backwards) is able to be taken in both at its outrageous face value and as a solid outcast coming-of-age story.

The genius of the inappropriately titled Trick or Treat is not its goofy set-up, but the poise with which it is executed. It is a film that could've been a series of cheap thrills, but, by taking the time to establish its characters and pace said thrills, creates such an absorbing world that by the end, a dead rocker with electric superpowers doesn't seem that implausible anymore.

All in all a great example of smart genre work.