Street Trash (1987), directed by J. Michael Muro and co-written by Muro and Roy Frumkes, epitomizes a melt film. With its unforgettable cover depicting a man melting into a toilet and over-the-top practical effects, its status as a cult classic was established years ago. Now, writer-director Ryan Kruger has reimagined the film for fans, both new and old.
The film is set in the not-too-distant dystopian future of South Africa. The homeless crisis has reached such a critical level that the government has decided to liquidate the problem (literally). It’s up to a ragtag group of homeless individuals to fight back before the entire population of homeless people is rounded up and liquefied.
We talked with Kruger about reimagining the classic and its wonderfully gross practical effects. You can check it out now on Digital and on Screambox this Decemeber.
HGL: As someone who saw Street Trash way too young, it surprises me that it got this treatment—of all ‘80s horror movies. How did this come about?
Ryan Kruger: I never randomly wrote a script on Street Trash. It’s basically after Fried Barry came out, there was a lot of people that were mentioning, “Oh, Ryan Kruger would be a great fit for a Street Trash remake,” re-imagining, or whatever. Eventually, Justin [Martell] and Matt [Manjourides], the producers that had the rights, approached me and said, do you want to do a Street Trash movie? And straight away, I was like, fuck, that’ll be cool. I’d love to write that film.
Luckily, I knew what it was, because same as you, as a kid, it was one of those films on a Friday or Saturday night, watching it in my bedroom, on the little TV, with my friends or whatever, on the weekend. Or we had the VHS and we’d pass it around. It was all about the melts.
When I was approached, being a fan of the original, I was like, yeah, cool. I knew what the fuck it was. I knew what the world was. And over the years, I went back and watched it. And it was one of those things where, when you’re older and know more about life and filmmaking or whatever, you look back like the camera work’s really cool, all the steady cam stuff.
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My biggest thing was I wanted to do more of a loose sequel. I don’t want to copy the original; I want to make it my own thing. What is great about the original that people love? As a fan myself, obviously, you got to have the multicolored goo. You got to have the ‘80s prosthetics. It’s got to be about the homeless. I wanted to write a completely new story in that world, just later on. And we actually mentioned the original film in the movie.
I fucking loved gore films when I was a kid. But the other big thing for me was to have a strong narrative and strong characters that you could go on this journey with. We shot on 35mm, which is amazing. It gives it more of that feel and grit, going back to the original film.
HGL: Horror is no stranger to remakes and legacy sequels. I love it when a filmmaker takes that original film as inspiration but makes something strong enough to stand on its own.
Ryan Kruger: I feel that way. I’m one of those fans of ‘80s movies where you go, fucking leave it alone. That’s why I said straight away that I wanted to make it more of a sequel. I want to do something completely different.
Anybody that watches this film can see that there’s plenty of respect and nods to the original, but it’s completely different in the sense that it’s a different story. It’s more narrative. It’s strong characters that we go on this journey with and follow. And it’s got a shitload of gore.
HGL: There is SO MUCH GORE I couldn’t watch while eating! I had to pause and come back to it, so kudos. Your crew accomplished some cool tricks with the bubbles and oozing. Did they have to figure some things out on the spot?
Ryan Kruger: A lot of it was planned. While shooting the movie, working with prosthetics takes time. It’s like, okay, we’re gonna snap the ankle first, or we’re gonna have the bubble on the neck. Every time we did a melt, we had two cameras at the same time, and then sometimes it wouldn’t work. Then we were like, we got to reset the prosthetic, and that might take an hour or two, and then we have to do it again. So there’s all these things.
Sometimes, those things are meant to pop, but they don’t or inflate more. And there’s those cool little mistakes that happen, and they end up going bigger, not popping, and then popping. So yeah, it’s always fun to work with prosthetics.
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What was hard while shooting prosthetic scenes, it was winter in South Africa. So it was really fucking cold. These actors had pipes. Some of them were in pre-makeup for like six hours or more, and underneath their skin, they’ve got pipes. If we did a take, and it’s still dripping underneath the clothes, it’s freezing.
With the cast and crew that we had for this film, Sean Cameron Michael as Ronald and Donna Cormack-Thomson as Alex, and getting Joe Vaz as Chef and Gary Green from Fried Barry as 2-Bit, we had a great cast and it was a lot of fun. I think anybody that watches this movie can see that we had a good time. We had the blessings from the original Street Trash guys, so it was really nice. And it was a lot of fun; probably the best time I’ve ever had making a movie.
HGL: That’s great to hear! One thing I love about horror is the ability to integrate social commentary while telling a fun story. Street Trash is a perfect example because, yes, it’s funny, gory, and zany, but its core is about real social issues. Was it important to you to keep that message in your film?
Ryan Kruger: Yeah. I love layering scripts and layering stories. It’s important; there’s so much shit that’s just meh or bland or whatever. It’s nice to have that depth and layers within a story or script. There’s a lot of that social commentary, like the government taking over and saying, you can’t do this, or you have to do that, or we’re gonna have to do this. And we’ve all lived through it. Nobody really speaks about it anymore, but it’s COVID. Like, you gotta take this job; you can’t travel. It just shows you that governments do fucking control things.
Everybody was on lockdown. We weren’t allowed out. So it’s not that far off, you know what I mean? After COVID, worldwide, even before, but more so after COVID, a lot of people lost their businesses, and a lot of people lost their homes. There’s a massive homeless problem in the world. It’s crazy in South Africa. I went to the States, and it’s crazy there. When I go back to England, it’s crazy. There’s a lot of homeless people. So, I put it in the film. Some people will pick it up, and some people won’t, but it’s there, and it’s layered.
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But, I can also take a step back and go, it’s a fucking melt movie. Don’t take it so serious. Yes, there are serious little elements in there, without a doubt. But overall, when you watch it, it’s a fucking melt movie. So, enjoy it. It’s a popcorn melt movie. It’s about the blood and guts. It’s about fun characters.
HGL: I know you’re deep in this release right now, but is there anything else on the horizon that you can talk about?
Ryan Kruger: Yeah, there’s a few films in talks, and you never know when the budget comes by, and we can end up making it. Right now, I’m actually going to release a collection of experimental films that I’ve literally shot over the last seven years. Some have been to festivals, and some haven’t, but I just want to get that out because it’s been literally like a seven-year project.
I am making a little black-and-white indie movie. I’ve been shooting it every now and then, also with Gary Green from Fried Barry.
