Street Trash—the 1987 cult movie about the oozing havoc wreaked when bottles of toxic booze are unleashed into a crumbling New York neighborhood—is back with a sequel (also titled Street Trash) that continues its story in dystopian Cape Town, South Africa.
Though only the original has a guy melting into a toilet (as well as, in its most famous scene, a game of keep-away involving a severed penis), the new Street Trash boasts far more likable characters, as well as an energetic plot about a group of unhoused underdogs deciding they’re not going to let the city’s cruel, snooty mayor kick them around anymore. And gruesome special effects? Yes, it’s got plenty of those.
With Street Trash hitting streaming today through Cineverse, io9 got a chance to talk to writer-director Ryan Kruger (2020 sci-fi horror Fried Barry), who was a Street Trash fan back in the day and is excited for audiences to feast their eyeballs on his new version.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Cheryl Eddy, io9: What’s your own personal history with the original Street Trash—the first time you saw it and your first impressions of it? How did your involvement in the remake come about?
Ryan Kruger: Growing up in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, Street Trash was one of those films that me and my friends watched on video at like two in the morning or whatever—we had it on VHS and passed it around. It was a part of growing up.
So when the producers approached me to do this movie, I knew exactly what the film was. I went back and watched it, and as you get older, you pick up all this different stuff in the film. But when I was approached to do it, it was very important for me to—as a fan of the original, I didn’t want to copy that. I wanted to leave it alone, as a fan of the original. I didn’t want to replicate that. I wanted to give nods to it and take the things that people loved from it and make sure [they’re still in my version], like the prosthetics and the gore and stuff like that.
But for me, I wanted to make a sequel. So yes, it’s called Street Trash, like the original; it’s set in the same world, and for a new audience, it can be a standalone film. For the original fans, people like me, it’s more of a sequel. It was very important to capture the prosthetics, and have that gore, have that multicolored goo. [But also], it was making a different and strong narrative story; as with any film that I do, it was very important to have a really good cast that you can either relate to, or just go on this journey and have these fun-loving characters.
That is very important—and there’s a lot of genre films that don’t concentrate too much on the characters or they just concentrate too much on the gore. You’ve got to have a good story and you’ve got to have these characters. My first film, Fried Barry, it’s a very dark, experimental movie, but it still has a narrative—a beginning, middle, and end—and it still has heart. And even with this film, it was important that we love these characters, so that when somebody dies you feel for that character … I never thought I would ever be making a Street Trash movie, that’s for sure!
io9: The events of the first movie—which take place in 1980s New York—are mentioned, but your version shifts the story to 2050, and it’s set across all of Cape Town, the whole city, not just in and around a junkyard like the original. What made you want to widen the scope like that?
Kruger: For one, it was to get more creative and to do something different. I really admire the nostalgia of a cool ‘80s film, but like I said, I just wanted a stronger story. I think the main thing about the original is the gore, you know what I mean? If you took the gore out of the film, I don’t think everybody would love it as much. As a fan, that’s how I feel—and that’s what other people have said to me.
I just really wanted to have my own story, bring it to a new audience and to have these cool characters and these different characters. And also the setting in Cape Town, South Africa—to set it in that dystopian future, you can get more creative, whether it’s sound design, whether it’s production design, and there’s a lot of great cool locations in South Africa. I’ve always been a fan of any film that doesn’t look like modern day because it’s just boring … Even with the characters and the wardrobe that all our characters were wearing in this film, [there are a lot of] late-’70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s references. 2-Bit had the red dungarees and yellow gloves, which was Roger Rabbit. We had Chef, [who looks like] Stanley Kubrick. He’s got the glasses, he’s got the jacket, the fur and all that. The character Alex was Ripley from Alien. And then you got Slade and Clover from Escape From New York.
So there were all these references and little nods. Some people will get it. Some people might pick it up on the second time [they watch it]. But I think that’s just my overall love of ‘70s, ‘80s, or early ‘90s movies, to give those nods. It was the same thing with Fried Barry.
io9: As you mentioned, the gore is very important to the original Street Trash and there’s also quite a bit in your version. How did you plan out all the special effects?
Kruger: I think there’s five major “melts” in the original film. And with this we had at I think seven major melts in it, six or seven. But it was more than the original. Obviously I wanted to push that.
The makeup effects are all practical, all in-camera. Again, as a lover of ‘80s movies—the sad thing is, with modern movies today, there’s a lot of prosthetics people constantly working on major films. But it’s always mixed with like half visual effects … and it’s really quick and it’s really fast. [In the ‘80s], we were watching it. It’s not cutting away quickly. I always talk about in [the first] Terminator where he’s taking his eye out in the mirror. It’s all these things that, whether it’s animatronics or prosthetics, we miss that [in the] cinema. Making this film was just like being a kid again and trying to recreate the films I used to watch as a kid. It was a lot of fun.
… And that’s the thing. It’s making movies! It should be fun. Yes, there’s times where you’ve got to get serious and be like, we [really need to] get the shot. But at the same time, if you’re not having fun, then you shouldn’t be making it. [If you’re not having fun], the film’s going to look boring and feel boring.
io9: Street Trash is coming out through Cineverse, which is also behind the Terrifier movies. What’s it feel like to be part of this new wave of low-budget but super-gruesome horror?
Kruger: It’s awesome. I just watched Terrifier the other day. It was a lot of fun. I love the gore, and the gore is fucking great.
When Fried Barry came out, it was crazy how that film took off and how many fans reached out and how many people loved it. So I think with this film there were a lot of people that followed [Fried Barry] that want to see this. A lot of people that love the original Street Trash want to see this, and then it also makes them go watch the original again. Or if they haven’t seen Fried Barry, it makes them also go watch Fried Barry. So yeah, it’s amazing to be part of it. And with the horror genre and these crazy, wacky type of films, it’s got such a loyal audience and a fun audience that shows a lot of love. And I appreciate that. It makes me feel like I’m actually doing something right.
I just want to keep making movies. That’s what I do. I love what I do and I think maybe I don’t have a life and I just want to work all the time. But that’s what makes me happy. Also, I love different genres, so I don’t want to be stuck doing just one thing. It would be cool to branch out and do other types of films as well.
Street Trash is out on digital today, November 19.
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