How the ‘Street Trash’ Sequel Uses Nauseating Gore and ’80s Sleaze to Tell a Provocative Story About Homelessness

J. Michael Muro’s 1987 cult classic “Street Trash” is on the Mount Rushmore of “melt movies,” a sickening horror subgenre marked by bodies literally dissolving into goo, with skin peeling off and skeletons deconstructing as outlandishly as possible. In the film, homeless people are poisoned and killed by a mysterious liquor named Tenafly Viper. “Fried Barry” writer and director Ryan Kruger has helmed a same-name sequel (out Tuesday on VOD via Cineverse) that keeps the gonzo practical effects as a group of charming homeless misfits battle against a fascist government actively trying to exterminate them with a gaseous version of Viper. Kruger, who also co-wrote the movie and shot it in his native South Africa with producers Not the Funeral Home, spoke to Variety about balancing the message in the movie while still having fun, the difficulty of mopping up melted bodies and the possibility of a sequel.

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What made you want to direct a sequel to this classic underground movie?

It wasn’t my choice originally. The producers approached me after they saw “Fried Barry,” and a lot of people were randomly mentioning that I’d be good at this film. When they approached me, obviously I knew the film — I grew up with “Street Trash” — so I was like, “Oh, this is awesome.” But at the same time, as a fan of the original, I didn’t want to do a redo. I didn’t want a copy of the original whatsoever. I wanted to take some of that flavor and give it a few nods. It’s a sequel in that same world for a new audience.

How did you first start visualizing the gore for this movie?

Obviously a big part of the original was the prosthetics. It’s that ’80s nostalgia. I grew up on those ’80s films. We had the chance to shoot on 35mm, which was awesome, and I think just lends to that mold. All the effects, all the prosthetics were in-camera. Another big thing about the original is the fluorescent colors of the blood and goo. So it was very important to have those things, that ’80s feel to it and a lot of nods and references to the original. You know what this Viper does, and that’s why we brought the government thing in trying to get rid of the homeless people. I think that worked pretty well to do something different in the same world, just later on.

Do you have an estimate of how much practical gore you used?

There was a hell of a lot of clean-ups after filming. When it comes to blood, when you go into certain locations you gotta do a big clean up and not leave anything on the floor. I can tell you the actors struggled a lot playing the melts because it was winter in South Africa, and a lot of people said, “The pipes are leaking, it’s coming down and it’s freezing.” They’re just shaking with a towel on them in between shots. But it was a lot of fun.

For me, it’s very important for me to have characters you like and can relate to. So the cast was very important — we had fun with it. We even had nods with wardrobe, like we had 2-Bit (Gary Green) with the red dungarees and the yellow gloves, which is Roger Rabbit. Chef’s character was Stanley Kubrick. Then we had Ronald, the main character … He was like Robin Williams in “The Fisher King.” Alex was like Ripley from “Aliens.” There’s a lot of cool little details there. What I wanted, with the music and for what it is, was almost like if John Hughes made a melt movie. I wanted it to still capture the ’80s and these fun characters.

The backbone of the story is social satire, with a lot of attention paid to how homeless people are treated in society. What were you hoping to have audience members think of while watching the movie, beyond the fun time they’re having?

There are two ways to look at it. First off, a film is a film — you sit there and you enjoy it and that’s it. But also there are 100% messages there. We all went through COVID. We all went through the government saying you gotta do this, you gotta do that, you gotta take this, you gotta take that. When shit hit the fan, all that was happening, and then after COVID, we had an even bigger problem with homelessness. After COVID, there were a lot of people who lost their jobs, lost their work and their livelihoods. There are definitely those messages that are there for a reason, but at the same time, it’s just a film. You can have fun with it and just enjoy it. It’s a melt movie at the end of the day.

Could you see yourself interested in another sequel?

I did have a lot of fun making this. I would be open if we had the right story. There are a lot of people who have watched it already and are asking if there’s gonna be another one. I really don’t know, but we’ll see what happens. But I love all genres, so I don’t want to just be doing one specific thing. If you look at “Fried Barry,” it has a darker, experimental sort of vibe. Then this was a bit more open to a bigger audience.