Blu-ray Review “The Garbage Pail Kids Movie” Collector’s Edition

“The Garbage Pail Kids Movie” Collector’s Edition
Blu-Ray, DVD
Rated: PG
Studio: Shout! Factory
Film Run Time: 97 minutes

Media Mikes Score: 4.5 out of 5 stars

It Doesn’t Get Any Grosser Than This… Especially in High-Definition! Your favorite grime bandits come to life in this hilarious film full of “gross-out humor” (The New York Times). Based on the wildly 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 the kids are accidentally released from their magical trash can prison, all smell breaks loose. Despite their offensive personal habits – and attitude problems – Dodger (Astin) soon becomes fond of the Kids. But when Messy Tessie, Foul Phil, Valerie Vomit and the whole crew join his fight against thuggish bullies, their efforts just might land them behind bars!

Upon hearing that “The Garbage Pail Kids Movie” was getting a Collector’s Edition release I couldn’t wait to check it out in person. I remember renting this movie from the local video store and watching it over and over until we had to return it sometimes just to re-rent it. The latest version of the film’s release which I picked up in Blu-Ray format didn’t really add to the films initial quality including added clarity or sound as portions of the film still remained a bit grainy and the sound a touch on the tinny side however I found those minuet short coming only added to the films appeal as it was a bit reminiscent of the worn out VHS rental cassettes of the mid/late 80’s. It was great to see classic characters such as Ali Gator, Messy Tessy and of course my personal favorite Windy Winston.

As an added bonus to the collector’s edition there are several really cool sections which includes new interviews with the films Special Makeup Effects Creator John Carl Buechler and Makeup Effects Artist Gino Crognale as well as with the films lead Mackenzie Astin, Arturo Gil (Windy Winston) And Kevin Thompson (Ali Gator) among some other great features. Once again the great people at Shout! Factory delivers with this 80’s classic which I couldn’t be happier with.

Book Review “Garbage Pail Kids”

Author: The Topps Company
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Abrams ComicArts
Release Date: April 1, 2012

Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars

I grew up like most kids in the 80’s collecting these amazing trading cards.  Actually, I should say secretly collecting, since I wasn’t allowed to have them during my pre-teen days.  This book is a great collection of these collectible stickers produced by Topps in the 1980s.  It is a must purchase for anyone that was a collector of these cards. The book overall is so amazing and brings back such amazing memories of growing up.  To make it even better the wax-paper dust jacket and the illustration of the shattered stick of gum on the back cover easily makes this book a must have.

This book includes artwork from avant-garde cartoonists and humorists including Art Spiegelman, Mark Newgarden, John Pound, Tom Bunk, and Jay Lynch.  For the first time ever in one place, all 206 rare and hard-to-find images from Series 1 through 5  are included in this collection.  The images are so crisp and colors are well presented.  Also included is a physical set of four limited-edition, previously unreleased bonus stickers. If you are a fan of this book reach out to Abrams and let them know we want more. It is absolutely amazing that fans continues to embrace this pop-culture phenomenon, in fact Garbage Pail Kids stickers are still being published today.

Garbage Pail Kids do not seem to be going anyway in the future.  According to Deadline, Michael Eisner’s The Tornante Company is set to finance and produce the development of a new Garbage Pail Kids movie.  Also I need to give some respect to the Art Spiegelman for kicking off this amazing book with an even better introduction and  John Pound is responsible for closing this book with a proper afterword.  If you are reading this Abrams ComicsArts, we want MORE volumes!!