Street Trash

Ah, the Summer of 1985, when college kids my age were home from school drinking till they dropped cuz Spuds McKenzie told them to, rap music was that new, quirky sounding stuff and you could still go to movie theatres to catch midnight movies like STREET TRASH. I spent that Summer working on STREET TRASH in Brooklyn. I was there to watch director Jim Muro (now one of the leading Stedicam operators in the business) dictate where and when winos were to melt. The film has lots of gore, but surreal gore. People pull apart and melt in crazy primary colors in this film, so it's a blender-mix of Hershel Gordon Lewis and Salvadore Dali.

If you can, catch it on DVD, because I worked hard on the film, I think it came out great, and it's alot of fun.

Or whatever package it was contained in, when you purchased it. You watched it online/digital/via your implanted eye? Damn that movie is still being seen in a 100 years? Not bad at all (congrats Imdb for also still existing in whatever form that may be). But all jokes aside, this is not a masterpiece, it couldn't be on any scale or measure.

Having said that, the movie has so many merits it's tough to not like it though. If you have a heart for low budget filmmaking or films at all that is. Editing is key here, in combination with guerilla filmmaking at its finest. I can only assume that quite a few shots in the movie were made without permission. A lot of favors cashed in, framing that makes you forget what time of day it is, resources used to its fullest (especially when it comes to location) and quite the special effects ... really well made. The story and characters are paper thin at best ... but this is sleaze, this is trash and so are they. Be aware of what you watch and don't judge it on a different scale. This is not Citizen Kane (that's still a thing people say, right?)

Liquor store owner Ed (M. D'Jango Krunch) is nosing around in his basement when he finds some VERY old booze labelled "Tenafly Viper". He figures, what the hell, he'll sell it to his customers for $1 a bottle. But this booze is deadly stuff: when people drink it, they explode into goop in all colours of the rainbow. While the body count rises, the story focuses on two street denizens who are brothers: Fred (Mike Lackey) and Kevin (Mark Sferrazza) who take up residence in a spacious auto junkyard along with various other hobos.

"Street Trash" marks, to date, the only theatrical directing credit for James M. Muro, who went on to Hollywood and became one of the most in-demand Steadicam operators in the business. Basing this movie on a short subject he'd made, he clearly has some real fun with the material. The Manhattan-based production makes some excellent use of locations, and has some very striking characters. Among them is the almighty Bronson (Vic Noto), a psychotic Vietnam veteran with a bunch of flunkies. Sexy Jane Arakawa, a gal with a great pair of legs, is the secretary who takes sympathy on Fred & Kevin and their cronies. Pat Ryan ("The Toxic Avenger") is her horny, scuzzy boss. And Bill Chepil is the surly, hard driving detective working these streets.

The makeup effects are wonderfully gross and effective. There are scenes here so memorable that they remain favourites for fans: Burts' impromptu shopping trip, and the entire "penis keepaway" sequence. One brilliant gag occurs early on when Bronson manhandles a nerdy motorist. The two best characters are thuggish restaurant owner Nick Duran (Tony Darrow) and his smart mouthed doorman (James Lorinz of "Frankenhooker"). Muro and company know that their scenes are some of the funniest here, so they keep their story going during the end credits.

While "Street Trash" took about 13 weeks to shoot, its journey to movie screens took about three years. It proves that filmmaking finesse isn't always everything: sometimes gung-ho enthusiasm and the willingness to pull out all the stops can go a long way too.

Eight out of 10.

I saw this one years ago. You want necrophilia, dismemberment, gang rape, needless brutality, over-the-top violence, all in one package? This movie has it all and then some. Watch for the scene where the hardass cop beats the living Christ out of someone, drags him into a bathroom and then proceeds to stick a finger down his throat, bringing up a splatter of puke on the creep's face that looks like Four Brother's Chunky Tomato Sauce with stringy cheese in it! Yummy yum yum! It's a sick movie and it's not great but it's the equivalent of... hell, I don't know. Watch it if you dare. Lastly, this movie has one of the funniest animal reaction shots I've ever seen, next to Anaconda's black panther (read my review for that stinker). Watch for the black cat on the fire escape. You'll know it when you see it! Rating: *** out of *****.

Yes, I actually thought this was better than some recent horror/comedies I've seen. Certainly superior to Urban Legend or Scream. I'm positively stunned by the fact that people would see the cover for this movie, read the title and synopsis, watch it, and then complain that this flick is offensive. For crying out loud, what do you expect from a film whose promotional literature shows a melted transient's head in a toilet bowl? Casablanca? Anyone dumb enough to see this movie and be taken aback by its admittedly sordid contents has exactly what they have coming to them.