Year: 2024 (UK Release 2025)
Director: Ryan Kruger
Screenplay: Ryan Kruger, James C Williamson, Roy Frumkes
Starring: Sean Cameron Michael, Donna Cormack-Thomson, Joe Vaz
In the age of content rehashing, it’s difficult to watch a
remake of a cult hit without feeling a pang of cynicism. The first question on
the lips is often “What’s the purpose of this?” with the answer being the IP
being cheap far too often. The original Street Trash was an infamous 80s
exploitation feature, part of an extremely specific pool of films described as
“melt movies”. In these movies, toxic substances or similar materials would
simply liquify characters in the movie into thick, viscous gloop. The original
Street Trash played out like a series of vignettes in which a group of unhoused
people fall afoul of some toxic alcohol and begin to disintegrate. There’s some
vague plot involving a violent leader of a gang experiencing Vietnam
flashbacks, however, the film is more of an exercise in offence, while also
drawing focus on a sub-culture of people who were left out of mainstream
cinema's indulgence in excess. Ryan Kruger's remake tries to delve into similar
annals of shock value but is held together with more plot threads.
The year is 2050 and Cape Town is experiencing a gilded age.
A large sector of the city is now homeless, with a smaller segment still being
able to live well. The city’s major has come up with a scheme to wash
away the city’s homeless problem: melt them with drones. It falls to Ronald and
his rag-tag group of friends to risk all they can and fight against a society
and government who wish to exterminate them.
Whereas the original Street Trash dealt with neglect of the
poor, this new remake has a lot more to say about the Government just plain
wanting them dead. Street Trash redux makes some smart plays in its back
pocket. Moving the action from Brooklyn to Cape Town has a lot more immediacy.
The conspiratorial focus on shady government types looking to kill off the
poor with toxic spraying drones holds a kernel of relevancy within its
far-fetched shell. It’s chaotic multi-channel montage opening riffs on films
like Robocop (1987) and District 9 (2009), and the general feeling is that the
film isn’t merely giving you the same thing as before with a spit shine. Street
Trash redux keeps the nostalgia pandering low and does what it can to stand
outside its predecessor’s shadow.
However, the original Street Trash was cult for a reason.
Its incessant need to try and offend with puerile humour got grating fast. The
best thing going for it is its visuals and effects. The original has a decent
moment of craft behind it. Even though it fills the screen with bland casual
racism/sexism, it does so with a strong amount of visual flair. There was also
a sincerity to its boorishness. This new version tries to follow suit but
suffers from being born into a brave new world. Its attempts to be un-PC are
even worse. Not because it’s more offensive. Considering the film is set in
South Africa, the new trash feels more sensitive to race than the Brooklyn
Trash, with the distinct feeling that the filmmakers were worried about
watchful eyes. The original Street Trash’s humour felt baked in and organic.
There was a devil-may-care nature to the original film that the second film
doesn’t feel brave enough to ascribe to.
The most effective thing about the new Trash is that it has
more gloop, gore and violence. Kruger has more resources allowing him to invest
in more florescent gut-busting. There’s a lot of Friday night beer fun to have
while watching the film's effects. The film's main plot, while still
scattershot, is still tighter than the original film, with the narrative
lending itself to films like Brian Yuzna’s Society (1989). However, despite
this, while consistency wasn’t a major part of the original trash, it certainly
felt less scattershot. Kruger’s film is happy flinging things at the wall to
see what sticks, including imaginary friends, Peep Show-like characters only
seen in first person perspective, and surprisingly more stakes. Donna
Cormack-Thomson’s female lead is seemingly in place to be an audience surrogate
and give more emotional heft. It’s hard not to feel like her character is here
to have people forget how badly the women in the original film were treated.
That said, the more disintegrating bodies also look like they’re trying to do
the same thing.
There’s still a small amount of fun to be had in places. The
performances have a lot of gusto, while some of the more deadpan lines are also
tittersome. And while visually the new Trash doesn’t have the same energy as
the original, the film looks good for the most part. However, it’s probably not
enough to recommend Street Trash. Its social relevance is welcomed, but it
doesn’t have that much to say. The film has some bad taste but feels reluctant
to go full throttle with things. But ultimately while Street Trash gives itself
enough purpose to separate itself from its original movie, there’s not enough
here to make it that memorable.
Street Trash will be in UK Cinemas from 10th January and on Digital and Blu-Ray from February 17th
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