By Chris Summerfield
This movie without doubt is definitely one of the great cult movies of the eighties, and in my opinion at top of the stack…
The movie follows the lives of the homeless people in Manhattan, where survival depends upon what you can steal and rob from anyone and everyone. Focuses upon the lives of the two brothers Fred (Mike Lackey) and Kevin (Mark Sferrazza) that live within a scrap yard, having to share it with other homeless folk, most of which are being dictated and controlled by, Bronson (Vic Noto) ex Vietnam veteran whom is frequently haunted by memories of the horror he saw in Vietnam. As for the yard they all live within, it belongs to the obese, Frank (Pat Ryan) who plays a married seedy and sleazy guy with the hots for his assistant, Wendy (Jane Arakawa) Wendy being a decent girl, who worries about the homeless and tries to help them as much as possible, especially the young Kevin.
Then there’s, Ed (M. D’jango Krunch) the owner of a liquor store, who discovers the booze named, Viper while in his basement and decides to sell it to the homeless folk…
Kevin is the first to buy some and is fortunate not to drink it, having it stole from him by fellow homeless guy, Paulie (Bruce Torbet) He takes one swig, and that is all it takes before he begins to melt, disappearing in to a toilet…
Viper then claims the life’s of others, arousing the suspicions of the hard faced, tough talking cop, Bill (Bill Chepil) who then goes all out to find out who is behind the deaths.
There is plenty of shocking moments within this movie, such as, gang rape, necrophilia, a severed manhood being thrown around and of course plenty of melting people… This movie was obviously set out to shock us, and in a twisted way, make us laugh…
Another character I liked within this movie was, Burt (Clarence Jarman) a gentle giant of a man, and in one scene does a little free shopping within a supermarket, filling his pants with as much food as he can manage to store in them.
As for the ending, a show down with, Bronson and the brothers, Kevin and Fred, and wow what an ending it was…
So it leaves me to say, this movie portrays horror as it should be, shocking, gory and disturbing, however with a little fun along the way, so rightfully so this movie deserves…
Rating: 10/10
