Street Trash Joint Venture, 1987

starring: Mike Lackey, Bill Chepil, Marc Sferrazza and Vic Noto

directed by: J. Michael Muro

the plot: Siblings Fred (Lackey) and Kevin (Sferrazza) have it rough—they live in a small junkyard hut, don’t have any money and don’t know when they’ll score their next meal. While out on a petty larceny spree one morning, Fred swings by his favorite liquor store and picks up a bottle of Tenafly Viper, a 60-year-old bottle of cheap booze that only costs $1 and smells worse than gasoline. But before Fred can drink it, another bum swipes it from him and chugs it down, only to learn that Viper melts those who consume it from the inside out. That doesn’t stop New York’s homeless from going to the liquor store for a bottle of Viper, and soon, bums, vagrants and hobos all over town are melting and exploding into a gooey, drippy mess. This doesn’t sit well with Bill (Chepil), a tough-as-nails cop who’s determined to figure out what’s killing the bums. Meanwhile, Bronson (Noto), the bum-king of the junkyard where Fred and Kevin live, is on the hunt for Fred, who owes him some cash. Bronson, a Vietnam vet who suffers from psychotic flashbacks, indiscriminately slices, dices, kicks and punches his way across the city in search of Fred. When Bronson, Fred, Bill and a bottle of Viper all come together in the junkyard, the result is a gloppy, take-no-prisoners showdown.

why it’s good: Some movies are artfully engineered to win awards and appeal to the largest audience possible. And then there are movies like “Street Trash,” purposefully crafted to offend as broad a section of the populace as many times as it can. “Street Trash” is racist and misogynistic and makes fun of: the homeless, alcoholics, the mentally ill, the elderly, yuppies, veterans, cops, dead people, Italians and just about everyone else. In short, it is a wickedly gory, blackly comedic horror-fest that ditches subtle scares for splattering guts and exploding heads. “Street Trash” is firmly in the league of Troma’s low-budget fare and grindhouse flicks like “Slime City,” but “Trash” sets itself apart with excellent special effects and better-than-expected performances by the whole cast. Of course, the real attraction here is the excessive gore, which director J. Michael Muro supplies in spades. Bums melt and explode, people get stabbed and shot and, just when you think it can’t get any worse, a group of homeless guys chop off someone’s penis and play catch with it.

why you should own it: Fans of low-budget horror and shock cinema will need to see “Street Trash” at least once. Synapse Films recently released a two-disc “Meltdown Edition,” featuring a two-hour documentary on the making of the film, the original 16mm precursor to “Street Trash” and your very own Tenafly Viper stickers.