The Garbage Pail Kids Movie

1987
PG
1h 40m

IMDb RATING

2.7/10

YOUR RATING

Play trailer2:04

3 Videos

44 Photos

Adventure Comedy Family Fantasy Musical

Dodger must confront the struggles of life as he is visited by the Garbage Pail Kids and intimidated by some older bullies.Dodger must confront the struggles of life as he is visited by the Garbage Pail Kids and intimidated by some older bullies.Dodger must confront the struggles of life as he is visited by the Garbage Pail Kids and intimidated by some older bullies.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

2.7/10

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 4 nominations total

Trivia
John Carl Buechler was considered to direct the film. His version of the story was going to be a straight up horror film. The Garbage Pail Kids would have spawned from radioactive sludge that had found its way to a garbage can filled with broken dolls, turning them into serial killers.

Goofs
In the cinema, Messy Tessie has a bag of popcorn full to the top. She then sneezes and half of the popcorn flies over the cinema, yet in the next shot her bag of popcorn is still full to the top.

Quotes
Foul Phil - Suit: My tummy hurts!
Greaser Greg - Suit: What did you eat?
Foul Phil - Suit: Everything!
Greaser Greg - Suit: That makes sense!

Alternate versions
The UK video version was cut by 26 secs for a PG certificate with edits to imitable techniques and to remove all shots of Greg's flick knife. The DVD features the same cut print. Only in 2024 was this censorship waived and the BBFC rating is now 12.

Connections
Featured in The Borrower (1991)

Soundtracks
Electricity
Performed by David Lawrence
Produced and Arranged by David Lawrence

User reviews137

Review

Featured review

1/10

It Hurts

Everyone involved in the making of this movie, from the coke-vacuuming, muckraking scum who financed it to the gaffer's newest apprentice, is going directly to hell.

This isn't just a bad movie. It's a psychotic, surreal journey into the realm of the profoundly grotesque. The Garbage Pail Kids themselves are terrible in their deformity, with exaggerated facial features and apparent elephantitis of the cranium making them hurtful to witness. Poorly-done animatronics make them all appear as if their facial muscles have been injected with lidocaine. They have a collective IQ of approximately 58.

It's not pleasant to watch. It's not funny, it's not kitschy, it's not camp. The dialogue is pat and smarmy, the characters stupid and forgettable, and the whole slimy mess reeks of greedy bastards trying to make a fistful of money on the flavor of the week. TGPKM is another example of how depressingly low the common denominator really is...and this was BEFORE the reality TV craze.

It hurts.