I can hear the groans. The usual suspects whining about remakes, reboots, legacy sequels, requels, whatever you want to call them. But there’s a light at the end of that tunnel. When you take a classic horror movie like the original Street Trash and you get a filmmaker who “gets it” like Ryan Kruger, you get magic. The new Street Trash isn’t necessarily a straight remake of the 1987 classic, it’s more a reimagining and also kind of a sequel. They mention the events of the first movie during the film, and there are nods to that film throughout this new version. Plus, it changes so much about the original film that it’s kind of ridiculous to decry this one as some remake garbage.

The stakes for Street Trash could not be higher. The basic premise is that homelessness and unemployment in the city is 90% or more. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. A group of homeless people Ronald (played by Sean Cameron Michael), Chef (played by Joe Vaz), Wors (Lloyd Martinez Newkirk), Pap (Shuraigh Meyer), and 2-BIt (Gary Green, of Fried Barry fame) all live and help one another. Their existence is upended when Alex (played by Donna Cormack-Thomson) stumbles into their lives. Ronald trades one of the most expensive things for her life, a battery. The attackers from the homeless leader, The Rat King, give them a week of safety, but vow to return for more payment.

Alex gets the introduction to the guys, including 2-Bit’s imaginary, or not so imaginary friend Sockle. A vulgar, gross, blue alien with a soul patch and a penchant for dick jokes. The villain here is Mayor Mostert, who has devised a plan to release toxic gas and food that will cull the homeless population to melty, gooey results. Along the way, we get gruesome scenes with various people melting and bodies falling apart. If you enjoyed the neon-splattered visuals of people melting in the original film, they recreate them here with even better detail.

You might come for the melty goodness of Street Trash, but you’ll stay for the performances and the John Carpenter-esque third act. These characters feel lived-in, like you’re looking in on a bunch of friends. There’s even a POV character, that the audience jumps into a couple of times, so it really feels like you’re following the action in person. Those relationships, but particularly the more subtle details make for a surprisingly emotional first half of the film. Ronald and Chef have a prior relationship from the army that ends up giving us one of the most emotional scenes in the movie. Ronald and Alex also have a heart to heart that shows off Sean Cameron Michael’s acting chops to pull off a heartwrenching scene with only a couple of words and some facial expressions.

Once you hit the third act of Street Trash, it morphs into something that feels like They Live. The have-nots rise up and take on the haves in explosive fashion. There’s a subplot throughout the film with Ronald going to a drug dealer that pays off in a hilarious way. That’s one thing that struck me about Street Trash. The movie should be depressing, the subject matter is horrifying. However, Ryan Kruger and Co. took all of this, said screw it, and made the most out of it with humor and action. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a story about class warfare and people melting in horrific ways. But the added dash of humor only works to strengthen the bonds we have with these characters as an audience. Whether that’s Chef constantly passing on conspiracy theories about Disney movies or just how delightfully evil Mayor Mostert is.

Just by how Street Trash looks, it’s much better looking than its budget would say. The cinematography and shot-on-film stylings all make for a beautiful looking film, even when people are melting all over the place. For those looking for a nostalgic hit that also gives you a new instant classic to watch, Street Trash is just that. This is the perfect way to do a “remake”, it takes whatever feelings and emotions the original had, and updates them for a new audience while paying respect to what came before it. It’s a remake in the loosest sense of the word, but you can tell that they wanted to pay the utmost respect.

Street Trash ends up as a movie that outdoes the original in plenty of ways. Ryan Kruger and the cast understood the assignment of updating the ’80s version for a new audience and they ended up with a surprisingly personable and powerful look into the lives of the have-nots, and they also made people melt in explosively colorful ways.

Street Trash will stream on ScreamBox in November 2024.

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