My head's gonna explode from all the awesomeness!!!

Howdy folks!

Back again with more More MORE. Almost the entirety of July, to be exact. Wasn’t able to watch as much as usual, but then, that gave me time to write more than usual. As for the horror flicks getting short shrift, ABCs of Death is more curiosity than film, Pacific Rim gets more and more sour the further away I get, and Beneath is from a filmmaker I love too much to properly skewer. Pretty much everything else gets the gala treatment – hope you dig the bounty.

As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!


HORROR:

ABCs of Death, The (2012) (1st viewing) d. Various (Various)

26 short flicks
26 genre directors
All OVER the map

Beneath (2013) (1st viewing) d. Fessenden, Larry (USA)

Giant fish monster
Strands tiresome kids on lake
But...the shore’s right THERE

Blood for Irina (2012) (1st viewing) d. Alexander, Chris (Canada)

Fango ed directs
Moody vampire flick sans words
Pure but divisive

**CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW**

Conjuring, The (2013) (1st viewing) d. Wan, James (USA)

Family buys spook house
In come the ghost chasers
Seen it all before

**CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW**

Game of Werewolves (2011) (4th viewing) d. Moreno, Juan Martinez (Spain)

Festival awards
But zero distribution
Where’s the Lobos love?

**CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW**

Gappa: the Triphibian Monster (1967) (2nd viewing) d. Noguchi, Haruyasu (Japan)

Tycoon steals baby
Mom and Dad ain’t having it
Dig that groovy theme

Hands of the Ripper (1971) (3rd viewing) d. Sasdy, Peter (UK)

Jack’s back in the flesh
Disturbed daughter picks up blade
Beware flashing lights

**CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW**

Men in Suits (2012) (1st viewing) d. Woodward, Frank M. (USA)

Long overdue doc
Meet yer creature feature stars
Screw you, CGI

**CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW**

Pacific Rim (2013) (1st viewing) d. del Toro, Guillermo (USA)

Monsters vs. ‘bots
More “wah-wah” and “huh” than wow
Clichés out wazoo

R.I.P.D. (2013) (1st viewing) d. Schwentke, Robert (USA)

Dead cops catch dead crooks
Better known as Men in Black
Jeff does True Grit...again

Q: The Winged Serpent (1982) (3rd viewing) d. Cohen, Larry (USA)

Large lizard in town
Moriarty’s off his nut
Sunbathers beware

**CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW**

We Are What We Are (2013) (1st viewing) d. Mickle, Jim (USA)

Family keeps close
Skeletons in closet, elsewhere
Sweet melancholy

**CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW**

I LOVE TRASH:

Street Trash (1987) (2nd viewing) d. Muro, James (USA)
Meltdown Memoirs, The (2006) (1st viewing) d. Frumkes, Roy (USA)


Tenafly tonic
Ooze, booze, crime, grime, sleaze, cheese, please
Plus feature length doc

**CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW**




CIVILIAN:

Call, The (2013) (1st viewing) d. Anderson, Brad (USA)

911 call gone bad
Tracking kidnapped gal on cell
Ending panders hard

Code of Silence (1985) (4th viewing) d. Davis, Andrew (USA)

Chuck cleans up Chi-town
Beats up chumps, outs dirty cops
With his robot pal

Heat, The (2013) (1st viewing) d. Feig, Paul (USA)

Missy and Sandy
Mismatched wacky cartoon cops
Fun for all but me


2013 Totals to date: 188 films, 171 1st time views, 103 horror, 58 cinema

Street Trash (1987) d. Muro, Jim (USA)

In spite of its status as one of the great "melt movies" of our time, it's important to remember the title is not "Tenafly Viper" - the noxious brew that leads several unfortunate souls to their oozy doom - but Street Trash. It's at its heart a character piece, one that in no small way resembles Elmer Rice's Street Scene in its presentation of a memorable motley band within a subculture that usually occupies the periphery rather than center stage. That such shocking and reprehensible incidents of necrophilia, murder, rape, theft, assault, shoplifting, racial slurs and blatant misogyny are handled with such buoyancy and glee is the film's secret weapon, especially when presented with such artistic flair.

Muro's assured Steadicam calls to mind such manic live-action cartoons as Raising Arizona and Bad Taste, while producer/writer Roy Frumkes (expanding from Muro and Mike Lackey's original short student project) populates the story with boldly drawn and thickly grimed characters, all possessing a moral compass pointing due south.

Right in stride with the excess on display are the ripe-to-bursting incarnations by the assembled cast, all of whom ride the line of absurdity to perfection: Lackey's skungy, grungy layabout, Bill Chepil's musclebound mean-spirited tough cop, shaggy lord of the junkyard Vic Noto, R. L. Ryan's obese and sleazy junkyard owner, Jane Arakawa's sweet sentimental ingenue, Nicole Potter's vanity-free, gorgon-like nastyfest as Noto's braying pseudo-bride, Tony Darrow's insult-spewing small time mafia boss and James Lorinz's scene-stealing acid-tongued doorman in his employ.

But as anyone who has experienced the film firsthand can testify, the film's true star is unreservedly Jennifer Aspinall's rainbow-hued splattery meltdown effects, bubbling and splashing across the scene with abandon.

Equal opportunity offenders include Vietnam flashbacks, severed penis/"hot potato" games, or a scene where black shoplifter Clarenze Jarmon - after stuffing his pants full of raw chicken, cantaloupe and salad dressing - accuses black shopkeeper Kevin Simmons of discrimination. Several instances of sexual violence against women are also showcased, though every offender meets a correspondent comeuppance in the end. Even so, there is such a sense of juvenile lunacy that it's difficult to generate any true righteous ire.

This is an enthusiastically overt exercise in ridiculousness, and even if we never develop any true affection for these awful people, we do find ourselves invested in their serpentine and interlocking fates. It might be a stretch to compare Frumkes' work here to Robert Altman's celebrated ensemble efforts, but it's a gentle stretch at that, especially while witnessing Lorinz and Darrow's fevered improvisational verbal jousting.

Of the plentiful supplements on Synapse's recent Blu-ray release - many of which ported over from their outstanding two-disc DVD issue in 2005 - the jewel in the crown remains Frumkes' two-hour retrospective documentary, The Meltdown Memoirs. No stranger to the format, the Document of the Dead veteran tracks down all the featured players before and behind the lens (including a young P.A. by the name of Bryan Singer), the notable exceptions being Muro (who still contributes a candid and informative audio commentary track) and Arakawa (who is showcased in a new interview of her own exclusive to the BR).

For many of these players, Street Trash represents the apex of their screen careers, although Muro has certainly gone on to bigger and better things as one of Hollywood's premier camera operators and Aspinall humbly makes mention of her status as "the Susan Lucci of the [makeup] Emmys." All are generous in their sharing of memories from the no-budget trenches, and the ramshackle, rambling structure suits its subject; if the movie wasn't endearing enough on its own, listening to the behind-the-scenes misadventures only heightens one's appreciation for the final result. Other assets to be tallied include a separate commentary track by Frumkes, the original short film, a half dozen deleted scenes, and several scandal inducing trailers.

Thoroughly underrated and criminally overlooked by all but the most dedicated and adventurous, now is the ideal time to dive deep into the Trash pile. For more information or to purchase, visit Synapse Films' website at http://synapse-films.com/dvds/horror/street-trash-special-meltdown-edition-blu-ray/

--Aaron Christensen, HorrorHound Magazine