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A young boy accidentally frees the Kids from their magical garbage can and wild adventures follow.  This movie is a shining example of why Topps should stick to printing trading cards.


PS:  Reader Ethan Logue also reviewed this film, his article can be found here. (http://www.badmovies.org/othermovies/gpk/)

Great review!   :thumbup:

I like the bit you wrote about how beating your head against a tree is more fun than watching the video clip.
I watched the video clip.   :buggedout:

I haven't seen this movie in years.  I was probably about 16 or 17 the last time I got to see it.
Funny thing, I went over to my sister's house the other day to bring a movie back to her.  When I got there, I looked at her movies to see if there was anything else I could borrow that I hadn't seen in awhile.
Lo and behold, the DVD at the very top of the rack was none other than a brand new copy of The Garbage Pail Kids Movie!

I asked her why she would buy that. 
She said because she likes it. 
I was dumfounded.

I didn't borrow it at the time but now I'm gonna have to.

I got this for a friend as a joke for his birthday when it came out on DVD.  I haven't heard from him much since.

Never seen it as a kid, because I couldn't get my mom to pick it up from the only rental store in town that had it. Thought maybe she was just being a prude, but realize now she just did it for my and my sister's own good.

Had to buy the DVD the first day it came out, and watched it twice to make sure it was as bad as I thought it was.

The part about the kids who were in the SHFTU that were crushed before they were rescued screamed bad last minute script change to me. Maybe there were plans for other GPK's to be in the movie, but the budget just didn't allow it, so they changed the script just a bit to work around it.

Oh man this film is freakin' painful.  I caught it a few years back after not having seen it since I was a child.  There are no words to describe just how bad this film honestly is.  Andrew, you are a braver man than I to try and review this.

52 mins - Ladies and gentlemen, that was the funniest part of the whole movie.

I have to ask, what part was this?

Also, as anyone could guess by my avatar, I was a big collector of GPKs when I was kid.  (Heck, bought several of the old series off eBay and I even buy the NEW series of cards that are now coming out when I was some extra money..)

When I was a wee one, I used to have this flick on a VHS tape that also contained "Harry and the Hendersons." I watched them both religiously until my niece stole it back (I borrowed it and enjoyed it for several years and kept it hidden in my room but damn it, she found the tape!!!). Once it hit DVD I picked it up immediately in order to relive a lost part of my childhood. Amazingly, I survived and walked away contented. I didn't think Garbage Pail Kids was all that bad. Is there something wrong with me?!?!?!  :question:  :wink:

Manzini is trying to create a magical spell to force the Children back into their garbage pail and makes a reference to Mary Poppins.  That one line actually made me laugh.

Of course, after that it was back to the unending pain.

Dear lord this movie sucked.  I recall around 5 years ago, my wife (then girlfriend) worked for a video store that had VHS copy of this flick.  That was when I watched it for the first time.  Being a fan of the collector cards in the 80s, I really couldn't see how or why this movie could have been made. I didn't see it when it first came out, my parents didn't want to shell out the money.  Watching it years later, I can see why. 

As said in the review, it's literally a one-hour and a half fart joke built around a vague plot line.  And of all things they could have built a vague plot line around, they decided to go with 80s fashion and the kid's expertise in it.  Made me wonder how sweatshops feel about this film.

If there is one thing that made the movie for me, it was watching Dodger get his @ss handed to him by the thugs.  I laughed pretty hard at the part where he was drenched in human waste.  The thugs simply toss him around like a redheaded stepchild and perhaps it's my sadistic nature but it was damn funny.  The kid is such a wuss and literally cries at the end when he finds out the fashion chick was using him.  WTF! 

Once again Andrew, I must thank you for inspiring me to go home and dig this one out.  Now let me inspire you.  The other day I rented a DVD of Garbage Pail Kids The Cartoon.  A lesser known gem of the 80s for awfulness.  Let me know if you search for it.   :buggedout:

"Juice - Look at the tough gang leader in his minivan!"

I laughed out loud, seriously.  Juice actually seemed to be in good shape and like he might put up a good fight ... for me, which anyone with one or more functioning limbs should be able to do.  The other "tough" guy I'm almost certain I could take.  And when *I* am fairly confident I could beat you up ... well, then, it's time for you to get out of the tough-guy business.

I really can't tell you how much or even exactly why I love The Garbage Pail Kids Movie.  Maybe it's because you can tell the midgets and dwarves inside the suits were trying so hard.  Seriously, look at Phil Fondacaro's body acting.  That man was giving it his all.

On a side note, I showed one of my friends this movie and he became somewhat obsessed by Blythe, to the point of researching the actress.  He eventually discovered, or so he claimed, that she was actually a German porno actress.  I have no idea if this is true or not, nor do I really care.

they had this at a Hot Topic a while back, but it was waaaay overpriced, and Ive been buying to may movies that have turned out to be crappy lately.

The worst always brings out the best in Andrew. Another too funny review from Andrew.

At least the poker game in the film spares us one thing. It spares us having to see them play strip poker.

As for "Will most fourteen-year-old boys take a bath in front of an audience?" I can't speak for most fourteen-year-old boys, but, for me, it would depend upon who was doing the bathing. If I was still a teenager, I can think of a couple of films for which I would volunteer to be the person being bathed in the tub.

I personally though about buying this movie, since I heard it was so.  No I am not so tempted to buy it now.  I think I would go through my last surgery without being sedated would be A LOT more fun than watching this film.
 

Apparently it's way popular with the Hot Topic crowd.

I've shopped there, but some of what they sell seems to be a tad bit on the 'crappy' side.  Not all.  They have some good merchandise.

I'm all for Bad/B-list cinema, but looking at the box cover alone, I thought, "If anything, I'll rent it."  Hot Topic had it for a high price.

If the Marines showed the troops this...thing...before the Surge, that explain the high Al-queda body count. Ya know, pain brings on a need for revenge...add the fact the want to smack down  al-queda already,and the bad guys are doomed.

And no, I did NOT watch the video. My spider sence tingled to beat the band, abd its never wrong.

You know, just watching the poker clip really made me want to take a belt sander to my eyeballs.  But thats just me.  Wonderful review, but I would not watch the film for anything.
-Ed

Damn you.

I know I'm going to rent this.

Watch this.

Hate you.

Then myself. :bluesad:

Oh, I love this bad movie, its a childhood classic of mine, along with HOWARD THE DUCK.

Then again, I'm a collector of the cards, so of course, I'm going to love & cherish the movie.
I just wish a soundtrack for the move was available.


"We can do anything by working with each other!"  :cheers:

I can't believe that I never heard of this movie. In 87 I was 14 so I imagine that  I was concerned about things like girls, my computer and being a freshmen in high school. Even with all I'm surprised that this is my first exposure. I am thankful though.

   This is one of the worst ideas ever.  I am an avid bad movie lover, but the Garbage Pail movie was too far.  No offense to the fans, but I didn't like the trading cards while I was in school either!  :thumbdown:

 I always had a crush on the Blythe character since I was a kid. I love Blythe.

I personally find this movie hilarious and awesome. Though if you dig it up purely for nostalgia, you will be really slapped in the face! haha.

Outstanding analysis. Kudos to Ethan for the spot-on review, and to Andrew, for holding the gun to Ethan's head and making him press PLAY.  :bouncegiggle:

I saw this... thing on Showtime back in '89, and I was stupefied. Literally. The film totally sapped my will to change the channel, turn off the TV, or even get up and just run like hell as fast and as far away from it as I could. Instead, I just sat there, zombie-like, as my gorge rose higher and higher still, and I could feel my eyeballs... crystallizing. Yet I could not budge. I felt like Alex deLarge in the Ludovico chair.  :buggedout: 

Ohhh, I viddied well, my brothers. And when it was finally over, and the very last production credit (and for pity's sake why would anybody take CREDIT for this???) had crawled, like a fat malevolent slug, up the television screen, I looked to the merciless heavens and thought, "By all that is holy, I have just witnessed the worst piece of excrement ever committed to celluloid this side of the Vogon empire. And NO ONE IS GOING TO BELIEVE ME!!"

So, I thank you... Andrew, Ethan. Thank you confirming my incomprehensibly hideous experience at the hands of the Topps Chewing Gum suits, and the infinite room full of monkeys they so recklessly employed.

Oh yeah, and lemme tell you something, Mister B. Call Gitmo. Get ahold of the president.  F'God's sake tell 'em: forget about waterboarding. USE THIS MOVIE. Those sumb***hes will tell you EVERYTHING you want to know!

But seriously,
David Drummond

I first saw this movie shortly after the VHS release when I was 8 or 9, rented by my mom, who would have been in her mid-40's at the time.

I remember laughing out loud many times, but the memory that gets me is that MY MOM was laughing so hard that she had tears streaming down her face. 

Years later, she refused to watch "Jackass" because it looked "too obnoxious".  However, she loved "Road Trip".  :question:

Whoever thought it would be a good idea to make this film should be congratulated on a job well done.  Garbage Pail Kids the Movie has greatly affects my every day life in that I apply the life lessons taught throughout the film: stealing tools from the poor, being a complete a***ole, being a  drunken rude fool is completely acceptable in today’s society.  The choice of characters in this film is pure theatrical genius.  The script is well written and each seen is implemented with such grace.  Bravo!

"Concentrate and What you do - Buckle down it's up to you" Nat Nerd
"This sucker's got gut's - he's with me!" - when Windy crashes through the bar room window like a maniac and unleashes a can on a few bikers
"Here's to all the little sucker's in the world" - when the bikers are toasting Windy and Ali Gator

I saw a huge cardboard advertisement for this in '87 at my local megaplex in PA but it never opened. I had to wait until Feb. '88 to rent the video. As expected, it's a huge piece of 1980s crap! I can't believe this is on DVD and "Howard The Duck" is not. WHY?!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is one of those "family movies" that no parent in their right mind would allow their children to watch!

Uuuuggg....Howard the Duck doesn't ease my stomach pains any less.

I watched this movie for the first time tonight, and while it was positively awful I could not bring myself to completely hate it.  The film itself was bereft of humor, good acting, and plot, but there was something about the 80's-ness of this film that kept me from despising it. 

Fortunately for me, this franchise's craze was before my time!  The characters on the cards were ugly, nasty, and above all, unsettling!  And then to recreate them as midgets in masks, eughh!  There's something quite disturbing about puppets and guys in costumes trying to look like humans and be nasty like them as well!

What it all comes down to is that this bandwagon was never meant to be a feature film!  It should have never went outside of the trading cards!

Appropriately, while other franchises of the 80's, like Care Bears, GI Joe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and others have re surged in popularity, I have yet to see these kids come back!  Heck, I didn't even know such a thing existed until the Nostalgia Critic reviewed this movie!

Why did this movie suck so bad?
Did the film-makers just not know who their audience were?
It could've been a Cult flick like "Meet the Feebles" if they wanted it to be, but never a family movie.
What were they thinking!

Actually, they are back, they've had several new series of cards come out, mainly parodying stars of today.  Dunno where one can find them though, Wal-Mart and Target, for whatever reason, quite selling them. www.garbagepailkids.com (http://www.garbagepailkids.com)

Oh, well I guess I just never paid attention to it.  I might be living under a rock, but considering this film, maybe I'm one of the lucky ones!

I would applaud them making these kids resemble their animated versions, but by having midgets in rubber suits?  That's just wrong!
Usually, I would say the mistake was making a live action adaptation of a cartoon, as has been the case with most such films.  In this case, however, the mistake was in the source material.  The Garbage Pail Kids are disgusting, unsettling, and downright unlovable!  It may have been ok for a Cartoon series, but not much else.

Didn't someone on "Family Guy" buy this? :lookingup:

Yes, it was Adam West on one of the crappy newer episodes. He was daring himself to watch it without the lights on, which was funny, but then again Adam West is always funny.

This movie is one of the few that almost defeated me, I love the cards, but this was a nightmare.

I pride myself in my ability to watch and at times enjoy the worst of the worst, but I still haven't taken on the champion, Manos.

Calling this literal trash "A Bad Movie" is an understatement. Garbage Pail Kids is the only bad movie from 1987 to be WORSE than Jaws: The Revenge.

Just a quick update, I've long since watched Manos, and I loved it (way better than this). That being said, I don't think it's the champion, it has too much of its own charm, like a fever dream. No, the reigning supreme demigod of truly bad movies, at least to me, has to be...Birdemic: Shock and Terror, which makes Garbage Pail Kids look like freaking Star Wars.

Exhume Ed Wood, give him a ton of bad acid, show him all of the campaigns against neurological or disability discrimination, and the film he makes might come out something like this. Except better.

I think the problem with this film is, essentially, for a film that is meant to be about the ultimate outsiders and how they are treated by the mainstream, it is way too dispassionate and cynical. Ed Wood would have made a film in which he cloys at the audience for about 90 minutes that these disgusting (and, truth be told, quite unnervingly-realised) characters have something to contribute to our world. That they might do, but in the film proper, any attempt to make that case is quickly forgotten in a slew of gross-out gags. Essentially, it is just a geek show (in the true sense of the term, not "geek" as in the moronic "culture") for the children who had been collecting the cards at the time. Every attempt to make a point about discrimination and its endemic nature in society is lost because it is delivered in an unsubtle and clueless (as well as classless) way.

Ed Wood's Garbage Pail Kids film would probably have at least one of the titular children being murdered by what Devo refer to as a jocko homo. Same level of subtlety, but far more elegant in delivery. I cannot believe I just said Ed Wood would make a more elegant film than someone...

There's a Garbage Pail Kids movie.... Oh god, please help.  :buggedout: