Horror in Bowery Street

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.

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 *****.

One day someone said, "I'd like to make a movie featuring a bottle of hooch that makes people melt into multi-colored ooze. I think I'll also add "sub-plots" about insane homeless vets, murder, necrophilia, gang-rape, castration, and police brutality. Oh, and it's a COMEDY."

Anyone who blasts the movie probably had no idea what they were getting into. Yeah, the story - if you want to call it that - is flimsy at best, but the film is punctuated by some inventive effects, some nice camera work, and a hysterical mostly-improvised Doorman character played by James Lorinz.

Summed up, if you like your movies dispicable, reprehensible, obnoxious, offensive, crude, and downright nasty, pick this one up. You won't be disappointed.

Street Trash is an amazing little surprise of wonderful cinematography, hilarious satire, cheesy performances, fantastic old school special effects and gore, and total entertainment!

This is what the 80's was all about, true independent film making that didn't need to follow rules and still manages to entertain more than most of the Hollywood crap that comes out today.

UK based distributors, Arrow Label, have released such a beautiful DVD and Bluray package that includes reverse sleeves, original artwork, with a host of extras and digitally remastered version of the classic!

I really enjoyed Street Trash. It is exactly what it says on the tin, bright and colourful, loud and nasty, hilarious and gross.

Well worth the watch!

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.