Street Trash is a 1987 Black Comedy Body Horror film directed by J. Michael Muro. The film has acquired a status as a cult classic independent horror-comedy and is one of a number of films known as "melt movies".
A case of contaminated alcohol has a debilitating effect on the vagabonds haunting the streets and junkyards of Brooklyn.
The owner of a liquor store in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York City finds a case of cheap wine ("Tenafly Viper") in his basement. It is more than 60 years old and has gone bad, but he decides to sell it to the local hobos anyway. Unfortunately, anyone who drinks the Viper melts away in a hideous fashion.
At the same time, two homeless brothers find different ways to cope with homelessness while they make their residence in a local junkyard while one employee, a female cashier and clerk, frequently tends to both of them.
Meanwhile, an overzealous cop (Bill Chepil) is trying to get to the bottom of all the deaths, all the while trying to end the tyranny of a deranged Vietnam veteran named Bronson (Vic Noto), who has made his self-proclaimed "kingdom" at the junkyard with a group of homeless vets under his command as his personal henchmen.
The film is littered with darkly comedic deaths and injuries. It also contains the notorious "severed privates" scene where a group of homeless people play catch with the severed genital of one of their number, as he futilely attempts to recover it.
Plot[]
In 1980's Brooklyn, New York, A homeless bum named Freddy enters at the unkempt shop of an easily-angered man, where he steals some money and a \alcoholic beverage. Fred runs away as he is chased by the man and by a fellow bum named Wizzy who is enemies with Fred and who Fred had stole money from during the chase and prior, however, he eventually escapes through a burning apartment complex and into the back of a garbage truck for safety.
Meanwhile, an overzealous cop named Bill is trying to end the tyranny of a deranged Vietnam veteran named Bronson, who he believes is responsible for the recent mysterious deaths in the city. Bronson who has made himself the proclaimed "king" at the junkyard with a group of homeless bums under his command as his personal henchmen threatening them if they choose to rebuff his wishes by force including his lover Winette.
At a nearby local liquor store where Fred and the bums typically go looking for cheap alcohol, the store owner, Ed, is searching in his storage cellar below the store when he discovers a hidden compartment in the wall containing a crate of a strange liquor called "Tenafly Viper" which is from the 1920's, over 60 years old, and is far past the expiration date. Ed examines the bottles that are clean and not covered in mildew and decides to make a quick buck and sell it to the bums for a dollar each bottle.
Back upstairs in the store, Fred enters the shop after losing the money in the garbage truck as he examines the strange liquor. Fred and Ed insult each other and Ed offers him a bottle for a buck. Fred, knowing he is broke, pockets a bottle of it when Ed is distracted by a handicapped customer and swiftly leaves without Ed noticing.
As Fred walks back to the junkyard, Wizzy watches from afar as Fred sits down to enjoy the drink when another bum named Paulie approaches and sits next to Fred. During the talk, Wizzy approaches as Paulie uses his bad breath to steal the viper off Fred so he can't notice him as he leaves soon after as Wizzy jumps Freddy and attacks him.
Nearby, Paulie enters a abandoned construction zone and relaxes in a open stalled porta potty on the seats rim where he takes a sip of the viper. However, he soon becomes visibly disgusted as he experiences a nasty aftertaste. He suddenly begins to tremble and shake as he coughs up blue liquid. Discovering the viper has seemingly turned toxic and lethal, Paulie screams out as he begins to melt away into nothing but blue, green, yellow, red, and purple neon colors of toxic liquid. In the process, his legs' bones melt and breaks at the ankles with the feet only remaining nearby the potty. As he melt, Paulie slowly sinks in the toilet and in a desperate attempt to pull himself out of the toilet, he grabs the toilet's flush chain but his arm breaks at the level of his wrist due to his body melting. Surprisingly, Paulie remains alive in the form of a grotesque, limbless puddle of melted flesh with his face bearly recognizable. He is only capable of hardly breathing, though it's possible he melts completely and die later on.
Frank Schnizer, the sleazy owner of the junkyard where Freddy, Bronson, and the other bums reside in, threatens his assistant, Wendy, because she defends the bums and cares for them. Fred is trying to help out his equally homeless younger brother Kevin who has made the junkyard his home by building a pile of used spare tires to make shelter. Wendy has taken a liking to Kevin especially and often allows him inside the junkyard break room and engages in sexual activities with him.
In the same place as earlier, Fred recovers from the beating from Wizzy as his best friend, Burt, encourages him and tries to tell him to stand up to Wizzy and to stop looking for sympathy, the two share a good laugh about Wizzy's beating as Fred suddenly realizes his viper is missing and that Paulie must have been the one who stole it as he brushes it off to Burt and says he could probably get another bottle just as easily.
Another bum purchases a bottle of the viper and leaves the store as he strolls near a crime scene where Bronson murdered a man by slamming his head through his windshield in front of his wife when he is forcefully grabbed by Bill
who is on the scene and questions him about Bronson and his whereabouts and activities before eventually giving up and letting him go on his way.
The bum relaxes on a fire escape and mocks a black cat that is up there as he lifts the bottle before drinking it. Immediately after, he begins to tremble and chokes on the toxic brew as he begins to melt in yellow neon colored toxic liquid and attempts to scream for help as a passing businessmen is struck with a glob of the liquid goo as it falls from the escape.
From a distance, Bill hears the commotion as the man is seen covering his face and screaming in pain as he runs aimlessly around the road to block off the pain as a crowd of people follow in concern. Bill lowers the man onto the closest curb as he moves his hands revealing his face is burned and melting as the yellow toxic goo continues to burn the man who finally succumbs to the effects of the burns and dies on the curb as Bill and the others watch and argue about what happened.
In the junkyard, Bronson and Winette are fooling around when he spots Kevin and Wendy laughing and walking as he appears jealous and angry as he walks away from Witnette who he rebuffs after seeing this. Meanwhile, Burt, who had met with Freddy and Kevin, goes to the store to get dinner for all three of them. Realizing he doesn't have enough money for anything, he shoplifts and stuffs his baggy pants full of food including frozen chicken. Despite being reported and snitched on by a old lady, Burt flees the store and escapes with the food.
At the police station, it's revealed Paulie's remains were discovered and that Bill who examines the strange toxic liquid on his shoes and remaining arm and deduces it has something to do with Bronson not knowing about the viper which was also found as the true cause of it. Bill's partner, Jimmy, arrives and informs Bill of Bronson's backstory and information regarding his history in Vietnam. That night while Freddy, Burt, and Kevin enjoy their dinner, Bronson has a nightmare where he is back in Vietnam fighting and shakes in discomfort and horror as it happens.
That same night, Bill picks up Wizzy who is on the payroll of Bronson and in exchange for a shower, clean clothes, and some more hard liquor, he agrees to inform Bill where Bronson lives. Also during the later part of night, Freddy is back out in the streets when he discovers a lady in a red dress puking in alley way outside a club and when he attempts to help her, she mistakes him for her date and asks him to take her home and have sex with her.
Freddy proceeds to take her back to the junkyard but runs into the clubs doorman who looks skeptical at the situation as he watches Fred and the women walk away. It's then revealed the doorman works for a mob boss named Nick Duran who is also being consistently pestered by Bill but can't get any evidence against him and that the girl that went with Freddy was his mistress.
The cook tells Duran he saw her go with Freddy but the doorman denies seeing them go in that direction and assures Duran she is perfectly fine and promises he would never lie to him. He insults him and walks off as the cook calls him a piece of shit and goes back inside.
Back at the junkyard, Fred takes the lady to him and Kevin's home where he throws Kevin out of their tire shelter and has rough sex with her which attracts the other junkyard bums who tear down the tire shelter after and drag away the naked and screaming woman to gang rape her while Fred flees.
The next morning at the junkyard, Frank attempts to force himself onto Wendy who is able to get him off and leave in a fit of anger and horror. He then walks around the junkyard and yells at the bums while smoking a cigarette when the woman is found dead near the outside of the junkyard by Frank who has sex with her dead corpse despite the evidence that she was gang raped and murdered by the other junkyard bums.
Meanwhile, the dead woman is found and brought to the morgue after Frank calls it in where Nick Duran identifies her as his mistress to Bill. Duran wants to take matters into his own hands to avenge her death, while Bill just wants to find Bronson whom he still thinks is responsible for the mysterious deaths. Despite his wishes, Duran hires a hitman to kill Freddy. At bathroom area near a repair shop near the junkyard, Freddy is confronted inside by the hitman as he reveals he knows who he is and what he did as Freddy flees the bathroom.
Bill appears looking for Bronson and defends Freddy and talks the hitman into a one on one fight with no weapons as he drops his gun, the two engage in a fish fight and ends when Bill fatally beats the hitman to death before dragging him into the bathroom and puking on him as he warns Freddy to be careful and to stay out of trouble.
Bill goes to the area of the junkyard where Bronson is currently residing and attempts to arrest Bronson, only to find Winette who acts a distraction allowing Bronson to attack first as the two engage in a long fist-fight until Bronson stabs Bill in his back with a knife made from a human femur bone and chokes Bill to death.
Fred finds a dollar on the street and wanting to just relax with a drink, enters the liquor store and curses at Ed who calls him a smuck as he exchanges his dollar for a bottle of the viper which is still unknown to have turned toxic and he leaves the store as Ed notes that the viper is making the bums mentally ill and questions what could be in the stuff unaware that Fred never drank it in the first place or that it was actually hazardous.
Fred rests and prepares to finally drink a bottle of viper but before he can, a fat bum is seen drinking the viper on the other side of a pile of crushed metal when he suddenly gets bad indigestion and begins to burp uncontrollably as he watches in horror as his stomach swells up on the verge of bursting as Fred hears this just before he took a sip, Fred discovers him and notices the leaking bottle of viper on the floor near him. Fred jumps to avoid the blast and lands behind a nearby parked car as the bum explodes yellow and red liquid. Freddy, who is still holding the viper realizes it's effects and that it's severely tainted.
A shocked and terrified Freddy realizes he has to tell Ed before he sells anymore and flees to the liquor store. Along the way, Freddy spots Wizzy who is still clean and in new clothes searching through garbage cans as he decides to trick Wizzy into drinking it. He walks in plain view and mocks Wizzy who he knows can hear him as Wizzy suddenly jumps him again and steals the bottle from him as Freddy fakes discomfort as Wizzy laughs at him.
However, Burt appears and attacks Wizzy and takes the bottle back and checks on Freddy as Freddy tells him to give Wizzy the bottle back, but before he can respond, Wizzy returns and attacks Burt with a pipe and knocks him out as he takes the bottle as he insults Freddy one more time and takes a sip.
After drinking the viper, Wizzy develops a sharp pain in his neck as he begins to convulse and moan in pain as Freddy jumps to his feet and laughs at Wizzy who is in visible pain now. Freddy's amusement turns to horror quickly when Wizzy screams louder in pain and begins to fully melt against a nearby building wall in purple, red, yellow, and orange toxic liquid as Freddy watches with remorse and regret.
Freddy checks on Burt before running back to the liquor store to warn Ed after seeing more of it's effects. Back at the store, with the store empty, Ed further inspects the viper, shrugs, and drinks it. Freddy arrives too late as Ed stumbles out of the shop delirious and stumbling as Fred yells at him that the viper is bad before he realizes Ed had drunk some as he starts to melt and squirt orange and yellow toxic goo as Fred backs away and onto a parked car with the driver inside.
When the driver on the car sees Ed melting, he shouts in disgust and drives off with Freddy still on the back and they flee leaving Ed behind to melt as he attempts to crawl seeking help even though it's too late. Soon after, Ed finally collapses and succumbs a few feet up from his store. The driver stops and Fred rolls off the car as he chases him off as Fred rushes back to the junkyard to warn Kevin and the other bums about the viper.
Back at the junkyard, Bronson begins to have more flashbacks when one of his henchmen gives him a bottle of viper he somehow obtained and Bronson sends them away so he can be alone for a while. As he is about to drink his drink, Winette grabs it from his hand and berates him for disregarding her and for pushing her around as she chugs his drink and laughs at him.
However, her amusement soon turns to horror when she appears in discomfort as she feels a sharp pain in her chest and pulls her shirt down revealing her chest is melting into blue and yellow goop as Bronson appears horrified as she continues to quickly melt away now in a mixed green, blue, and yellow goo as Bronson then spots Wendy taking Kevin with her to mess around which finally pushes Bronson past his breaking point.
Inside, Wendy begins to remove her top when Bronson busts down the locked door and prepares to attack and kill Kevin and get Wendy all to himself as he chases the pair through the repair shop and junkyard eventually leading to him standing at the top of a set of stairs in the repair shop as Kevin and Wendy continue to flee. Along the way, a repair worker runs into Bronson and is subsequently murdered by the latter who uses his bone narrow knife to stab him in the neck.
As Bronson is descending the stairs, Freddy suddenly arrives and throws a closed bottle of viper at Bronson hitting him in the left cheek as the spot he hit burns and melts his cheek away partially and burns some flesh off his hand when he tried to block it. Otherwise unharmed and now even more pissed off, Bronson begins to repeat words and mummers death threats to Freddy.
Freddy attempts to run but Bronson catches him and lifts him above his head ready to kill him but Kevin who had stumbled back in fear, sees a air tank and proceeds to hit it repeatedly causing it to fire incredibly fast towards and decapitate Bronson which kills him ending his reign of terror as Wendy checks on Kevin and Freddy who is still alive.
In the last scene, Nick Duran is seen to have tied up and is preparing to kill the doorman who continues to shit talk him, which ends when Duran finds a bottle of viper on the door man and upon taking a drink begins to melt away off screen in a seemingly goopy mess as the doorman mocks and insults him as the associates of Duran appear horrified.
List of Deaths[]
| Name | Cause of death | Killer | On Screen? | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed husband in car | Smashed head-first through his car's windshield by Bronson. | Bronson | Yes | |
| Paulie | Melted alive after consuming tainted Tenafly Viper | None | Yes | |
| Unnamed Male Bum | Melted alive after consuming tainted Tenafly Viper | None | Yes/No | |
| Unnamed Male Business Man | Succumbed to a severe facial burn from the male bum's melted and steaming flesh | Unnamed Male Bum (Indirectly) | Yes | |
| Duran's Girlfriend | Gangbanged and later succumbed to her wounds/injuries | Unnamed multiple Male Bums | No | |
| Unnamed Hitman | Beaten to death by Bill | Bill | Yes | |
| Bill | Badly injured and eventually choked to death by Bronson | Bronson | Yes | |
| Unnamed Fat Male Bum | Exploded hot and melted flesh after consuming tainted Tenafly Viper | None | Yes | |
| Wizzy | Melted alive after consuming tainted Tenafly Viper | None | Yes | |
| Ed | Melted alive after consuming tainted Tenafly Viper | None | Yes | |
| Winette | Melted alive after consuming tainted Tenafly Viper | None | Yes | |
| Unnamed Male Worker | Stabbed in the throat by Bronson and later bled out | Bronson | Yes | |
| Bronson | Decapitated by a air tank shot off by Kevin | Kevin | Yes |
Cast[]
- Mike Lackey as Fred
- Bill Chepil as Bill the Cop
- Vic Noto as Bronson
- Bruce Torbet as Paulie
- Benard Perlman as Wizzy
- M. D'Jango Krunch as Ed
- Jane Arakawa as Wendy
- Mark Sferrazza as Kevin
- Tony Darrow as Nick Duran
- Clarenze Jarmon as Burt
- Nicole Potter as Winette
Production[]
Roy Frumkes wrote the screenplay. In an NBR profile he later said: "I wrote it to democratically offend every group on the planet, and as a result the youth market embraced it as a renegade work, and it played midnight shows." The film was based on a ten-minute student film directed by J. Michael Muro and starring Mike Lackey. Bryan Singer worked on the film as a grip.
Deleted scenes include a junkyard dance sequence and a sub-plot involving the relationship between Fred (Mike Lackey) and Bronson; these sequences are included in the documentary Meltdown Memoirs.
Release[]
The film was given a limited release theatrically in the United States by Lightning Pictures in June 1987. They also released the film on VHS the same year.
In 2005, Synapse Films marketed an all-new, digitally remastered version of the film. Included with the DVD were sticker-type "labels" of the Viper wine featured in the film. In 2006, a second release by Synapse Films was announced, featuring the documentary Meltdown Memoirs by writer Roy Frumkes. The feature includes interviews with most of the surviving cast and crew with the exception of Jane Arakawa. It also contains the original 16mm short version of Street Trash.
In 2010, Arrow Video released a 2 DVD set in the UK featuring the documentary Meltdown Memoirs along with a previously unavailable featurette with Jane Arakawa and the booklet 42nd Street Trash: The Making of the Melt written by Calum Waddell. Since then, the movie has been released also on Blu-ray in numerous countries.