Hugs and kisses to the Rat King!
Opening with an eye-bleeding and gut-retching scene, Street Trash - much like the original film from 1987 - challenges the decent taste of its audience. This time, though, director/co-writer Ryan Kruger infuses a bit more hilarity into the hallucinogenic offerings as the homeless are once again targeted by a corrupt agency.
This is rock ‘em schlock ‘em entertainment through and through and special effects supervisor Kevin Bitters (Mad Max: Fury Road, Tenet, F9: The Fast Saga) gives body horror fans plenty of scenes to go bananas over as Mayor Mostert (Warrick Grier) initiates his plans to liquidate - and I mean that quite seriously - the homeless in Cape Town, South Africa.
With numerous dick jokes and plenty of disgusting effects in between every scene mentioning a discarded dildo, Street Trash is a relatively straight-forward narrative with plenty of cracked-out characters sprinkled in this every-man-for-himself scenario as melting human flesh becomes the new normal.
Its over-the-top entertainment and hounds of horror, needing their fix of practical effects, will be completely satiated by the events as the homeless population begins to disappear. Suddenly, a gang of drug addicts and deviants find themselves uniting for their cause.
And the results are gloriously goopy as this Troma-like story unfolds with all of the ridiculousness you’d expect . . . if it were the 1980s. But it’s not. The narrative takes place in the year 2050 and, boy oh boy, are we ever a cruel lot by that time. This is guilt-free and blameless entertainment; the type of film that exists solely to entertain anyone who has dared to imagine the unfiltered desire to EAT THE RICH . . . or at least melt them all into a messy puddle of their own flesh.
Maybe, this version of Street Trash is too aware of itself. It’s possible, considering some of the narrative derailments, but it’s not a bad entry when it comes to practical effects. It’s just the mantra of “they don’t make ‘em like they used to” makes perfect sense here and, yes, skid row was a bit better when J. Michael Muro was unapologetically behind the camera.
The curious can stream Street Trash now in the U.S. including Screambox, Amazon Video, and more. Street Trash had a limited theatrical run in the U.K. beginning January 10th, with digital being made available starting on February 17th.
MPAA Rating: Unrated.
Runtime: 85 mins
Director: Ryan Kruger
Writer: Ryan Kruger; James C. Williamson; Roy Frumkes
Cast: Sean Cameron Michael; Donna Cormack-Thomson;Joe Vaz
Genre: Comedy | Horror
Tagline: Melt the Rich
Memorable Movie Quote: "Bring in volunteer #85"
Distributor: Cineverse Entertainnment
Official Site:
Release Date: November 19, 2024
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
Synopsis: A group of homeless misfits must fight for survival when they discover a plot to exterminate every homeless person in the city.