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.

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!

Two derelict brothers struggle to survive in an automobile junkyard that's ruled by dangerously deranged Vietnam veteran Bronson (fiercely played with fearsome intensity by Vic Noto). In addition, a batch of toxic hooch causes anyone unfortunate enough to drink it to melt into hideous gooey puddles.

Director Jim Muro makes great use of the grimy junkyard main location, maintains a blithely sordid and warped tone throughout, and pulls out the show-stopping stops for several spectacularly messy and revolting over-the-top gore set pieces. Better still, Muro and screenwriter Roy Frumkes obdurately refuse to sentimentalize the homeless characters who populate this movie; these bums for the most part are quite vile, mean, and despicable. The uncompromising pitch-black humor pulls zero punches: We've got uproariously ultra-offensive jokes about rape, shoplifting, and necrophilia as well as an unforgettable sequence involving a game of toss with a severed penis. Moreover, it's acted with considerable zest by an enthusiastic cast: Jane Arakawa adds plenty of spunk as the feisty Wendy, Bill Chepil cuts a formidable figure as brutish cop Bill, Pat Ryan contributes a hilarious turn as irate junkyard owner Frank Schnizer, and James Lorinz steals every scene he's in as a smartaleck doorman. David Sterling's fluid and vibrant cinematography boasts loads of neat smooth and sinuous gliding Steadicam shots. A supremely scuzzy treat.