The Garbage Pail Kids Movie (Collector’s Edition) [Blu-Ray] 
Director: Rod Amateau
Cast: Anthony Newley, Mackenzie Astin, Phil Fondacaro
Release Date: Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Now Available
A Review By: Kevin Lovell
Disc Rating: 8/10
Synopsis:
Your favorite grime bandits come to life with all the farts, snot and vomit you can take in this hilarious film full of “gross-out humor” (The New York Times). Based on the wildly popular and irreverent trading cards, The Garbage Pail Kids® Movie stars Mackenzie Astin (Iron Will, Wyatt Earp) as a perfectly nice teenager who discovers the Kids…to his great disgust!
When Dodger (Astin) accidentally releases the Kids from their magical trash can prison, all smell breaks loose. Despite their offensive personal habits – and attitude problems – Dodger soon becomes fond of the Kids. But when Messy Tessie, Foul Phil, Valerie Vomit and the whole misfit crew join his fight against thuggish bullies, their efforts just might land them behind bars at the State Home for the Ugly!
This grossly entertaining cult classic features great makeup effects by John Carl Buechler (Troll, Dolls, Ghoulies) and co-stars Phil Fondacaro (Troll, Ghoulies II), Katie Barberi (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) and singer/songwriter Anthony Newley (Doctor Dolittle).
Believe it or not, the (mostly) family-friendly film version of everyone’s favorite gross-out trading cards has arrived on Blu-ray. Based on the popular trading cards from Topps which nearly anyone including myself who was a child during the 80’s is likely more than familiar with, the film follows young loner Dodger (Astin) who in love with a local girl named Tangerine (Barberi ) is constantly bullied and robbed by her male companions yet refuses to relent. When a conflict with the punks results in Dodger in trouble, a group of strange kids with some disgusting specialties previously trapped in a garbage can and called ‘The Garbage Pail Kids’ come to Dodgers rescue and as they begin to form a friendship they try and help each other deal with some looming unresolved issues.
Silly, goofy and oddly family-friendly from what fans of the cards might have initially expected from a film adaption prior to its release, ‘The Garbage Pail Kids Movie’ isn’t by any means a good film, nor is it as unbearable as some may claim. It’s a cheesy yet surprisingly fun B-Movie take on the classic trading cards and surely many fans of the cards and those who grew up during their popularity will be thrilled to have the opportunity to add this cult classic to their Blu-ray collections. For those completely unfamiliar with the cards or the film on the other hand, this one probably won’t do a great deal for you.
Fans of the classic gross-out Topps trading cards and this off-beat 80’s film adaption will quite likely want to make sure to pick up a copy of Scream Factory’s ‘The Garbage Pail Kids Movie’ Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release to add to their collections. Marking its first time ever available on Blu-ray, the release delivers solid high definition video and audio presentations in addition to some notable new extras including Interviews with Actor Mackenzie Astin, some of the actors who portray the Garbage Pail Kids themselves and more (more detailed information regarding the bonus content can be found in the special features section of the technical specification coverage below) which should make this one a must own for many of the fans out there.
VIDEO:
Scream Factory’s Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release of ‘The Garbage Pail Kids Movie’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the film’s original 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks pretty great as a whole, delivering a sharp, detailed and solid presentation which suffers no notable faults, yet does retain some mild grain, pops and other artifacts of the its original film source. It holds up impressively at every point, never causing anything occurring on screen to become negatively affected or rendered indiscernible even during the darkly lit or fast moving sequences. Overall, this is a more than competent high definition video presentation that should easily please most fans of this 80’s cult classic.
AUDIO:
The Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release features a lossless 2.0 Mono DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This lossless soundtrack sounds surprisingly fantastic considering what one might expect, providing a clean, smooth and overall solid audio presentation throughout, never resulting in any conflictions from the entirety of the audio elements sharing the channel and never causing any auditory effects and dialogue which may be occurring simultaneously to result in anything becoming distorted or rendered inaudible. Overall, this is a solid 2.0 DTS-HD MA soundtrack that holds up in every way required of it.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Scream Factory’s Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release of ‘The Garbage Pail Kids Movie’ includes some fun new extras. Included on the release are a number of new interviews that explore the film behind the scenes including: ‘The Effects of The Garbage Pail Kids Movie’ (running approximately 12 minutes in length), ‘On the Set with 1st Assistant Director Thomas Irvine’ (approximately 6 minutes), ‘The Artful Dodger with Mackenzie Astin’ (27 minutes), and ‘The Kids Aren’t Alright’ (21 minutes). The ‘Theatrical Trailer’ (2 minutes) for the movie is also included.
*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They additionally will suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.
Disc Rating: 8/10
‘The Garbage Pail Kids Movie’ is now available to own on Collector’s Edition Blu-Ray from Scream Factory.
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