Late Night Double Feature: Two Second Bananas From Family Ties Do The Horror/Comedy Thing

After Michael J. Fox gained on Family Ties, he was able to parlay that to the big screen. Sadly, none of his costars from that classic would be as lucky Two of them, Scott Valentine (Nick) and Mark Price (Skippy,) tried. They even took a page from Fox's playbook. One of his first big hits was the horror comedy Teen Wolf, so both Valentine and Price tried their hand in that same genre with diminishing returns.

My Demon Lover (1987) has Valentine starring as a homeless street musician who turns into a demon whenever he gets aroused. This curse causes problems for him when he falls for a sweet natured lady, Michelle Little, who suspects him of being a serial killer.

This is a harmless and somewhat fun little film. Valentine, who could have easily done a variation of his Nick character from Family Ties, is actually pretty good. Character actor Robert Trebor steals the show however as a nerd who pines for Little's character.

Trick Or Treat (1986) goes more for the scares than comedy. Price plays a bullied head banger teen who is mortified when his favorite heavy metal musician, Tony Fields, has passed away. To console him, a disc jockey buddy of his, Gene Simmons, gives him an unreleased album of the late musicians. Price decides to play the record backwards, which unleashes a demonic version of the dead rocker who is hell bent on revenge and has Price do his bidding.

Like Valentine, Price does his best to shed his Family Ties image. The real fun, and most memorable thing, about this film however is the cameo's from the metal biz, such as Simmons and Ozzy Osborne. This was the directorial debut of character actor Charles Martin Smith.

Not a great horror film, but an ok enough time killer.

Both are available on dvd.