DVD Review: Street Trash (1987)
Street Trash (1987)
Studio: Arrow Video
Release Date: January 11, 2010
Directed by: Jim Muro
Starring: Mike Lackey, Bill Chepil, Vic Noto, Mark Sferrazza, Jane Arakawa
Reviewed by: Ben Bussey
Gloop. That’s the main thing associated with Street Trash, and with good reason. Gushing globules of gloop, at its absolute gloopiest. And I don’t mean Augustus Gloop. (You know, the fat kid from Charlie & The Chocolate Factory.)
When a movie’s most iconic image is a melting corpse disappearing down a toilet bowl, and the key plot device is a lethally toxic liquid that causes anyone who drinks it to suffer a hideous, painful, and ridiculously gloopy death, it’s probably to be expected that said gloopy deaths are the movie’s most memorable feature. But don’t be misled: there’s a great deal more going on in Street Trash. The gore may be gleeful, but the worldview on display is anything but. Unequivocally an 80’s movie in every regard, this is a movie that shows the flip side of the Reaganite dream in all its hideousness. Splatter might be the sales pitch, but it’s quite clear that satire is the real agenda. With the Empire State Building peeping into view now and then, proud and austere and miles away, Street Trash grabs us by the scuff of the neck and shoves us face-first into the metropolitan world’s dirty, sweaty underbelly, a world of losers, lowlifes and – above all else – winos.
To say this film paints a bleak picture of inner city life is putting it mildly. From the opening moments, pretty much every character we encounter (and there are quite a few, this being something of an ensemble piece) is an alcoholic, and/or a criminal, and/or psychotic. The main base of operations is a junkyard populated largely by the homeless, including two twenty something brothers – one something of a dullard, the other with a bit of a Charlie Manson look going on – plus a number of creepy old guys, and the big boss of all, a raging Vietnam vet, ravaged by flashbacks and losing grip on reality. Into this already plenty fucked-up world comes Viper: an old, cheap, fortified wine that’s been gathering dust in a liquor store basement for God only knows how long. The liquor store owner thinks nothing of putting it on sale; his customers are only looking to get fucked up, after all. And fuck them up Viper does, but not quite the way they’d like…
Beyond that, there’s not a great deal to tell plot-wise. Take away the gallons of multi-hued gore and slime and what you’re left with to an extent is a depressingly plausible look at the lives of those who live rough, bottle by bottle. And thoroughly depressing Street Trash might well be, if not for the jet black comedy piled on even thicker than the splatter. So excessive are proceedings, and so low on redeeming features are the characters, that you can’t really take things too seriously. On top of vagrancy and alcoholism, we’ve got date rape, police brutality, misogyny, racial hatred, petty theft, bodies both live and dead getting pissed on, and – just to tick all the boxes – necrophilia and castration get a look in too.
All this adds up to perhaps the quintessential splatterpunk movie. It’s very apt that the killer booze be named Viper, as Street Trash is positively oozing venom from every frame. Like I said, the level of gloop is what is most likely to be remembered, but ultimately that’s nothing compared to the level of contempt for 80’s America on display. With this being released on Region 2 DVD hot on the heels of Silent Night, Deadly Night back in November, Arrow Video really are doing well by 80’s horror at the moment. Both these films go to show that this oft-maligned decade was not without horror films with brains, invention and social conscience to go along with the gore. But hey, even if you’re not looking for anything more than gore at its most absurd – and far be it from me to criticise you if that’s the case – then you still need look no further. Street Trash has a little something for everyone, with the exception of good taste.
