From pitch to poster, Gary Graver’s slasher satire seemed destined for success. However, as Dave details, the film was massacred by critics and nearly bankrupted its creator…

“I’ve dealt with three distributors who have cheated me,” complained a clearly irate Gary Graver to Harvey Chartrand, in an illuminating one-on-one in Penny Blood magazine. “In the middle of the night, they have all literally backed up a truck, emptied their offices and driven off – gone out of business.” [1]

Though good fortune is defined by Graver’s cold call to the Beverly Hills Hotel in 1970 – a dialing that led him to his master, Orson Welles – the flip side to such fortuitousness is that a lot of the filmmaker’s most personal projects were saddled with some unimaginable bad luck.

On paper TRICK OR TREATS (1982) feels like it should have been the one that went to plan.

A cheekily derivative theme.

A ‘safe’-ish investment, what with its low budget of $55,000, half coming from Graver himself.

A cast comprised of friends and family.

And a wide theatrical opening, just in time for Halloween.

Alas, it wasn’t to be.

“I made Trick or Treats to make money,” remonstrated the director to Chartrand. “The distributor, who was my partner, never gave me a dime. I said to him: ‘How can you not make money on a $55,000 horror movie?’ He told me he had all these expenses. Then I couldn’t get the guy on the phone for over a year.” [1] [2]

Graver described Trick or Treats as a comedy, and believed it suffered from being marketed as a horror film. Lead actor Peter Jason, however, has a slightly different view of the film’s creation:

“Gary said Trick or Treats was going to be a kids’ horror movie, so I said OK, fine,” said Jason to author Andy Rausch. “He said Orson was going to do the tricks in it. My pal David Carradine was going to be in it, and Steve Railsback is a buddy too. Carrie Snodgress is a friend as well, so it sounded like fun. I got a couple of my friends cast in it too, like Dan Pastorini and Tim Rossovich. The believability factor is kind of ridiculous though. It just didn’t do it for me. It sold some things, and people liked it, so who am I to say it’s no good.” [3]

Jason plays Malcolm O’Keefe, a man who seems like the human embodiment of white picket fence America. Malcolm’s wife, Joan (Snodgress [4]), has other ideas and has her husband sectioned and carted off to the local nuthouse. Fast-forward a few years and Joan has remarried to Richard (David Carradine). It’s Halloween, and they’re off to a swanky soiree – leaving their troublesome eight-year old son, Christopher (Graver’s son, Chris), in the care of Linda the babysitter (Jacqueline Giroux). Already testing, the night is about to get infinitely worse for the attractive childminder, because Malcolm has escaped from the asylum, and he’s intent on paying a visit to his former marital home….

“You have to have a good script,” stated the film historian Joseph McBride. “And Gary was not a good screenwriter. I didn’t think Trick or Treats was very good.”

Despite – according to McBride – some last minute script doctoring from Orson Welles, Trick or Treats was met by savage criticism from the newspapers. Robert C. Trussell in The Kansas City Star questioned how it went before cameras, remarking that “one look at the script should have tipped off the producers that this effort could never have been anything but a bomb” [5].

Thing is, if you’re a Graver aficionado, you’ll likely find Trick or Treats hysterical. Chock-full of cameos from familiar faces like Jean Clark, Paul Bartel and Catherine Coulson, as well as cinematic in-jokes (Graver’s wife Jillian’s turn as an editor is divine), a song by Horizon (who did the music for Suzie Superstar (1983)), and a seriously impressive performance from Chris (with Welles serving as the lad’s magic consultant, no less), there’s a lot to enjoy providing you don’t walk in expecting a John Carpenter knock-off.

The film’s shortcomings are clear. More speed, less haste might have been a benefit. There’s a rushed aspect to some of the scenes, and the occasional adlibbed sequences don’t really pay off. Notably, Graver was under the cosh from the get-go, tied to shooting between the hours of 6PM and midnight over the course of three weeks. Spending the daytime in the lab and putting on the catering by himself, in addition to editing and photographing.

For Graver, even as late as 2004 he felt Trick or Treats needed a little attention:

“It’s too long at 90 minutes. I’ve taken ten minutes out of it in my director’s cut. Now I own the film. I have the negative.” [1]

Eldest Graver boy, Sean, tried to invite a rabid physical media market to give Trick or Treats a timely reappraisal.

Sadly, it still fails to reach the sort of appreciative audience it deserves.

[1] The Man Who Shot Everything by Harvey Chartrand, Penny Blood, #11, Fall 2008.
[2] In the audio commentary for the film’s Blu-ray, Jason recalls Trick or Treats grossing $75,000 in its opening week.
[3] Conducted for the forthcoming – yet currently untitled – Gary Graver biography, written by Andrew Rausch, Matty Budrewicz, and Dave Wain.
[4] The film was shot in Snodgress’ own home. One night during filming, Snodgress’ ex-boyfriend, Neil Young, turned up, oblivious to the fact a movie was being made.
[5] Trick or Treats: Sick Trick, No Treat by Robert C. Trussell, The Kansas City Star, 10^th October 1982.