By Mo Moshaty
Street Trash (2024) ⭐️⭐.5
A group of homeless misfits must fight for survival when they discover a plot to exterminate every homeless person in the city.
If Ryan Kruger’s gonna give us anything, you best believe it includes batshit characters, gruesome effects and grotesque action, and it comes in spades in his reimagining of Street Trash (2024); a gooey and gritty exploration of Cape Town’s homelessness crisis. The film begins by running down the roster of our central gang.
Ronald (Sean Cameron Michael), the loveable curmudgeon with a heart o’ gold. Ronald has been having some trouble keeping his community safe from The Rat King (Suraya Rose Santos), keeping them sound and just shy of starving. His partner in crime, Chef (Joe Vaz), keeps the odd couple comic relief going as the voice of reason. Couch cushion dwelling Wors (Lloyd Martinez Newkirk) and Pap (Shuraigh Meyer) the very much Heckle and Jeckle-coded brothers in arms help to round out the comedic corner. Never shown on camera Reggie leads our POV, and lastly, there’s the wholly eccentric 2-bit played by Gary Green (returning for another Kruger special) whose imaginary (eh, or maybe not) friend, Sockie adds toilet humor and a pounding surrealism to the mix.
The gang is getting along just fine, striving to survive day to day on what they have for who they’ve got – until angsty newcomer Alex (Donna Cormack-Thomson) who’s joins the gang seeking guidance after Ronald rescues her. As the gang uncovers a sinister plot by the corrupt Mayor Mostert (Warrick Grier) to eradicate the homeless population using a deadly substance known as “Viper,” they’re thrust into a fight for survival.
Street Trash‘s greatest strength lies in its practical effects, which deliver the grotesque body horror fans of the original expect, as slime, melting faces, and pulsating pustuous wounds abound! The character dynamics, like the bond between Wors and Pap or Chef’s efforts to provide comfort through cooking, inject moments of humanity amidst the carnage. Where the film struggles is trying to balance its absurdist and gross-out humor with the weight of its social commentary. While the themes of socio-economic oppression and survival are gripping, they feel underdeveloped, leaving the story a bit disjointed.
Giving what you know the die-hard fans of the original want comes with a cost, as those nostalgic callbacks overshadow opportunities to create something new, making the film feel like an homage that’s struggling to recapture the gritty charm of its predecessor.
Mo Moshaty is an acclaimed horror writer, lecturer, and producer whose work combines visceral storytelling with the psychological insight of her Cognitive Behavioral Therapy background. She has lectured internationally, including as a keynote speaker at Nightmares from Monkeypaw: A Jordan Peele Symposium (Prairie View A&M), No Return: A Yellowjackets Symposium (Horror Studies BAFSS Sig), The Whole Damn Swarm: Celebrating 30 Years of Candyman (University of California), and with the Centre for the History of the Gothic (University of Sheffield). Mo has also presented at the BFI, Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies, and Final Girls Berlin Film Festival’s Brain Binge on women’s trauma in horror cinema, Cine-Excess on The Creepy Kid Horror Subgenre and Mother/Daughter Trauma in Horror, and Romancing the Gothic on Cosmic Horror’s Havoc on The Body Electric Her short film, 13 Minutes of Horror: Sci-Fi Horror, won the 2022 Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Short Film. As a core producer with Nyx Horror Collective, Mo co-created the 13 Minutes of Horror Film Fest and partnered with Shudder in 2021 and 2022, while also establishing a Stowe Story Labs fellowship supporting women creatives over 40+ in horror. A member of the Black Women in Horror Class of 2023 and featured in 160 Black Women in Horror, Mo’s short fiction appears in A Quaint and Curious Volume of Gothic Tales (Brigid’s Gate Press) and 206 Word Stories (Bag O’ Bones Press). Her debut novella, Love the Sinner, was released July 5, 2024, with Clairviolence: Tales of Tarot and Torment released in October 2025. The first of her five-volume non-fiction series, The Annex of the Obscure: The Afterlife, will be released in 2027 from Tenebrous Press. As the Editor-in-Chief of NightTide Magazine and founder of Mourning Manor Media, Mo champions marginalized voices in horror. Under her leadership, NightTide plans to launch a film festival in 2028, furthering her mission to reshape the genre through inclusivity and representation.
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