Street Trash

Perhaps I'm old school now but the 1987 original had a certain charm to it, gooey effects, a wild script with a band of actors pulling together to bring it to life, for which all with great aplomb.

Rookie Director Jim Muro excelled with his steadicam work capturing every nuanced moment.

Now moving onto Ryan Kruger's remake or sequel or whatever it wishes to be. Despite some lovely little nods to the original, it quickly falls apart, true the effects remain suitable gross but it lacks the sparkle of what made Muro's an everlasting gem.

Poorly scripted with some wild misfires, the storyline is strained with a storyline that pretty much goes nowhere!

I do question why the character of Chef is Jewish when the movie is set in Cape Town, the actor playing Ronald seems to be acting as if he's in another movie, he seems decent enough but he doesn't belong here.

Having been looking forward to this, it'll never be watched again.

I have to say that I was not a fan of the 1987 movie "Street Trash", with not actually having watched it before now in 2025, so I wasn't particularly harboring much of any grand expectations to the 2024 version. But still, since it was a movie that I hadn't already seen, and with the years in between and hoping the effects would be improved, of course I opted to check out what director Ryan Kruger had to offer.

The storyline in this 2024 movie was at least a bit more solid than in the 1987 version, however, writers Ryan Kruger and James C. Williamson didn't exactly put together a script of Shakespearian contents. While I did manage to sit through the entire 85 minutes that the movie ran for, I can't claim that I was particularly impressed or overly entertained.

I wasn't familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list, aside from Gary Green, and that actually spoke well in favor of the movie, as I enjoy watching unfamiliar and new talents on the screen. The acting performances in "Street Trash" were fair.

The effects in the movie were quite good, definitely a major improvement from the 1987 movie. I do like the over-the-top gore and gruesomeness of the effects, as it is something you rarely see in movies. The special effects actually helped carry the movie a great long way, making it all the more bearable to sit through.

Watchable for what it was, but it is hardly a movie that warrants more than a single viewing. It is not a movie that I would recommend to horror fans, unless you are a fan of the 1987 version.

My rating of director Ryan Kruger's 2024 "Street Trash" lands on a four out of ten stars.

Who would have ever imagined that 37 years after low-budget cult body horror Street Trash, we'd be getting another dose of Tenafly Viper-fuelled craziness? Not me, that's for sure, but here it is - the follow up to Jim Muro's madcap melt movie.

What do we expect from a new Street Trash film? Lots of melting hobos and the occasional severed dick gag, that's what, and director Ryan Kruger more than delivers: this one is much messier and more manic than the original, with gallons of blood and multi-coloured goop splashed around as nasty Mayor Mostert (Warrick Grier) attempts to exterminate the city's homeless population with Tenafly Viper gas.

Only a brave group of down-and-outs can save the day: sex and drug addict Ronald (Sean Cameron Michael), Alex (Donna Cormack-Thomson), Chef (Joe Vaz), crackheads Wors and Pap (Lloyd Martinez Newkirk and Shuraigh Meyer) and crazy 2-Bit (Gary Green).

To put it simply, this film is bonkers. It took me a while to get into the spirit of things, but once I did, I had lots of fun with it. The characters are crazy, there's a lot more melting than in Muro's original, with excellent practical effects, and there's actually a better story this time around, as the street trash freedom fighters plot to overthrow the government to end their extermination.

Obviously, this type of film isn't going to appeal to everyone - it probably isn't going to appeal to most sane people, to be honest - but if you enjoy over-the-top trashy horror (think Troma at its most absurd) then you might have a good time. I actually enjoyed this more than the original, but then that one didn't have an invisible, blue, sex-obsessed, potty-mouthed creature called Sockle in it (stay right to the end of the credits to see just how filthy he is!).

6.5/10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

I hate to say this, because I love the original Street Trash, and I'm also a fan of B-movies, bad movies and Troma, but I just didn't enjoy this new re-boot/sequel whatever it is. I thought the humour was lame and it tries to be quirky but came across as stupid but not the kind of stupid I like. For many it's worth watching for the gore and melts, which to me I'm guessing, is what most people will want in a Street Trash rehash. And the FX are done well. The story and characters I didn't like. I can see it pays a lot of homage to the original. It just didn't hit the right nerve for me. Still I'm glad it exists as many will like it and it's probably a nuts enough of a movie for any trash movie or body horror fan.

The original Street Trash from 1987 is a monolithic case in the sense that it notably conjured some of the most iconic imagery in perhaps the entire history of TRASH CINEMA. It's concept is also as perfect as one gets for this sort of film. But, what people don't mention as much is that, outside of it's iconic hyper-colored melt sequences, it's a TERRIBLE movie.

So, here, 37 years later, we have a remake coming out of South Africa, and honestly, I think it's kind of exactly what I hoped it would be. Though it's still blatantly and seemingly purposefully a "bad movie", it's very self-aware, so much that the random blue puppet-like creature who only appears to crack bottom-tier jokes about fellatio when hobos are hallucinating after drinking too much "Viper" is fully fitting and acceptable. While it's often being marketed as a remake, I think it best to think of it more as a spiritual sequel, sort of like Evil Dead (2013). It's packed to the brim with bright neon melt sequences, bodies dripping every colored ooze you can imagine, front to back. Most of the jokes are so bad that you can actually appreciate them for being so consistent, even if you're not laughing, but bad jokes aside, the whole thing feels really inspired and pretty fresh. Even the characters, albeit strong acting ability, manage to each have quite a lot of charisma, often making this feel like some gnarly Saturday morning cartoon from the late 80's or early 90's.

For fans of trash horror, and cult classics in general, this is 100% worthy of your viewing. All fans of the original should absolutely see it as well. For anyone else, probably not. This is the epitome of a movie made for a SPECIFIC AUDIENCE.