A movie deffinately not made for the faint of heart (or the weak of stomach), STREET TRASH will remind any cult flick fan of the great exploitations and mindless fun of Troma. Actually, speaking of Troma, one of the actors in STREET TRASH is R. L. Ryan, the fat evil mayor of THE TOXIC AVENGER (though credited as Pat Ryan) and the fat evil nuclear plant owner of CLASS OF NUKE 'EM HIGH, two of Troma's most tasteless classics! STREET TRASH is also the debut film of director Jim Muro, who later went on to do... uhm... well, nothing as of yet, but I'm sure he'll find work somewhere.

Our story follows the legend of Fred, a man who was so determined to see the beauty of the United States live on, that he journeyed across the entire United States of America, planting apple seeds, fomr which would grow magnificent trees that would forever display the glory and majesty of this great nation! He also would go on to do countless telethons to support the poor children stricken with a disease of some kind, calling his foundation of heroes "Jerry's Kids"! Oops, little mistake there. That was actually a distorted recalling of the story of Johnny Appleseed and Jerry Lewis. So, who am I talking about again?

Oh yeah, Fred. Fred is a member of a trend that reached it's peak popularity in the '80s and early '90s: New York City's homeless. Also, Fred looks like Charles Manson. Fred's luck is near non-existent to say the least, and his popularity amongst the other STREET TRASH is just about as good. In fact, the opening of our story follows Fred as he manages to piss off a whole flurry of people, setting a mob in the works to chase him through the streets of Brooklyn, managing all this in a matter of mere minutes! Fred escapes their angry clutches though, before continuing his stroll to the local liquor store. Just moments before Fred's arrival, the store's overweight and underdeoderized owner stumbles upon a case of 60 year old booze labeled "Tenafly Viper" in his basement. Figuring anything in a bottle is worth trying to sell, the owner slaps a $1 price tag on the bottles, putting them up for sale! Now, enter our hapless hero Fred, who, using an unlegged fellow hobo as a distraction, swipes his own bottle of Viper Fred's plans of intoxication are foiled however, as another bum manages to pull the urine stained wool over Fred's eyes, swiping the boy's ill gotten hootch. The joke's on this other bum though, because when he swigs down some of the evil looking alcohol, the shit breaks down the dirtbag's molecular structure until he's nothing more than a pile of rainbow goo with a face! Looks like Fred's luck may be working after all.

The majority of our homeless cast reside in the local garbage dump (run by Ryan's character), sleeping in abandoned cars and socializing around barrels of burning refuse in their own little hobo town. However, not everyone is all happy and cheery about being filthy trash pickers, most notable of which being the shell-shocked 'Nam vet Bronson, who fancies himself leader of the mangey pack. Back to Fred, during his wanderings through the city one night, he runs across a heavily drunken slut, whom he takes back to his place for a late night date rape! After he passes out drunk sloshed himself, Bronson's goons steal the whore for their own, tearing up Fred's bachelor shack in the process!

The next morning, the dump's owner (again, the fat and greasy Ryan) finds the broad dead, probably raped senseless before hand, then proceeds to do what any fat desperate man in his shoes would do: he violates the corpse himself. Elsewhere in the dump, Fred rallies the anger of Bronson, who chases our hero down with the intent of slashing him into pieces! The chase scene is cut short and Fred's life is spared, when another bum inadvertantly pisses on Bronson! Not one to play human toilet, Bronson hacks off the porr slob's pecker! The detatched member then gets tossed around the frolicking hobos of the dump, in one of the most grotesque games of "Hot Potato" ever to be seen on screen! And it's a five minute scene!

From here we meet the sugar daddy of the dead whore: a greasy dago who fancies himself a big time Don Corleone. Not happy with drunken hobos making off with his women, the guy puts a hit out on poor Fred! A hitman eager to collect follows Fred into a bathroom, where he is then foiled by local "tough as nails" cop, Bill! Bill proceeds to beat the shit out of the bad guy, then vomitting on him and finishing him off by stuffing him head first into a dirty urinal! Afterwards, Officer Bill winds up in a confrontation with Bronson, ending with Bill as the permanent loser, and Bronson celebrating his victory by whistling "Taps" and pissing on the man-in-blue's corpse.

Okay, back to Fred again, he's returned to the liquor store, where he swipes some more Viper, not knowing what he's in for. One guy who could tell him what he's in for is another hobo who got his hands on some of the tainted juice, who winds up swelled and blue like Varuca Salt in WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY. But, unlike Varuca, this dude explodes, yet another victim of Viper. You'd think the FDA would've looked into shit like that before it was produced, but I guess that's not the point. The majority of the bum population seem to have gotten their hands on their own Viper, all winding up in subhumanoid meltdown, except for Fred, who seems to get foiled time and again! Now, to finish up Bronson's involvement in the flick, he goes after Fred' younger brother Kevin, who's been making nice with one of the dump's attractive female employees (hottest girl I've ever seen slinging trash). Tired of his dirty hobo sluts, Bronson decides he deserves a piece of the babe's ass, which Kev objects too, as does the woman herself! Outmatched, Fred comes along to help Kev out, ending when Bronson gets decapitated by a stray tank of compressed air that's sent flying across the room!

The flick ends here with our closing credits, though if you're still in the mood for the humor that comes with melting people, we do get an amusing wrap up for Mr. Duran (the wanna-be mafia boss), who winds up sucking on some Viper and getting the same goo treatment as the hobos, leaving his Italian crime "empire" in the hands of a shmuck kid he was planning on killing painfully. I guess this can be interperated as a message that, no matter what race or social standing we may be in, we are all the same inside: a puddle of technicolor sludge. Though STREET TRASH was necessarily a pointless romp and an exercise in bad taste and shock comedy, you have to be heavily amused by it! Well, provided the sites of melting people, excessive gore, rape, necrophilia, and a flying dick aren't too much for you to handle. Also, Jim Muro shows us his eye for taste, as he uses the "monster perspective" style coined by Sam Raimi in EVIL DEAD in his creation of "Dork Vision", allowing us to see the world through the prescription glasses of a hurtled dork! Should anyone of any sway at Troma see this review, I suggest they seek out Mr. Muro and offer him gainful employment! After something like STREET TRASH, I think he could do disturbingly good things at a place like Troma Pictures! Hell, he does Troma better than Troma does Troma! A truly sick bastard for a truly sick world.

On a final note, I'd like to remind everyone to "learn to respect the Wiz", because remember, like the commercials say, nobody beats the Wiz!

Sequels: None

If You Liked This Flick, Chek Out: THE TOXIC AVENGER or CLASS OF NUKE 'EM HIGH