The Garbage Pail Kids Movie

The Garbage Pail Kids Movie

The Garbage Pail Kids Movie (1987)

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He was handed a minimal budget and the task of building seven animatronic mutant children who had to emote while vomiting, urinating, and breaking into musical numbers about being yourself.

THE GARBAGE PAIL KIDS MOVIE (1987) was directed by Rod Amateau, a television veteran whose credits stretched back to The Burns and Allen Show.

The animatronics were built by MacKinnon and Saunders, who would later go on to far more dignified work on Tim Burton's Corpse Bride and Mars Attacks!

The plot involves a bullied teenager, a magic garbage can, an antique shop, and a fashion designer villain who wants to skin the Kids for their hides. There is a song called "We Can Do Anything" performed in a nightclub. There is a sequence in a State Home for the Ugly. There is a character named Valerie Vomit.

The film was marketed to children. It was rated PG. Parents who took their kids were, by most accounts, horrified.

Topps had produced thirteen episodes of a Saturday morning cartoon as a tie-in. Parent advocacy groups pressured CBS into cancelling it before it even aired.

The film was pulled from theaters quickly and savaged by critics. Siskel and Ebert devoted an entire segment of their show to it, with Ebert calling it one of the worst films he had ever seen.

About the Film

Out of the garbage pail and into your heart!

Directed By
Rod Amateau
Runtime
96 minutes
Released
August 22, 1987
Certification
PG
Country
United States of America
Starring
Anthony Newley, Mackenzie Astin, Katie Barberi, Phil Fondacaro, Ron MacLachlan
More Credits
Genres
Adventure, Comedy, Family, Science Fiction
Language
English
Origin
US
Studios
Topps Chewing Gum, Atlantic Entertainment Group
Written By
Rod Amateau, Linda Palmer
Produced By
Rod Amateau, Thomas Coleman, Michael Rosenblatt
Cinematography
Harvey Genkins
Music
Michael Lloyd
Also Starring
J.P. Amateau, Marjory Graue, Debbie Lee Carrington, Kevin Thompson, Bobby Bell
Budget
$1,000,000
Box Office
$1,576,615

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  1. I wonder if the rarity of it, and negative reviews (most for good reason), are what created an attraction to it as well. It’s strange how some things that are notoriously bad, seem to draw a following for some reason. I don’t know if this was related, in any way, to the “Wacky Packages” cards, but they were huge in popularity.

    1. Michael Cipriano They actually were connected! My understanding is that the GPKs spun off from a proposed Wacky Packages Cabbage Patch Kids parody. It featured some of the same creatives (like John Pound and Art Spiegelman, who won the Pulitzer for his Maus graphic novels).

  3. Mackenzie Astin was one of the nicest stars I ever met even though I only knew him from this movie. He says he still keeps in touch with some of the little guys in the costumes like Phil Fondacaro.

    1. Jason Glenn to be fair, siskel and ebert hated almost everything. It was rare that they both liked Something. That’s why when they did like a movie, it was considered a huge deal

      1. Joe Talbottwo yeah I remember them and some of the movies they thought were terrible I loved and vice versa. Whereas, Garbage Pail Kids last year, celebrated their 40th anniversary which was pretty awesome!

    2. Chris Mosir But he’s been in legitimately good films as well as some great B movies, like Troll and Ghoulies 2.

      I would love to meet Phil, but not for Garbage Pail Kids the movie.

  12. I saw it in rhe theater. It wasn’t great, but it’s one of those movies I find myself going back and rewatching periodically. It’s funny to laugh at. Also, I enjoy seeing Sean Austin’s brother in the film.

  15. Yes. It is as bad as they say. Yes, it is worth watching. You’ll never see anything like again. It is disgustingly beautiful, and horrifyingly unique. And that is the message and point of the movie.

  22. So, parents were not aware of what their kids were collecting (GPK stickers , trading cards, ect), which in turn helped to bring this film into being? It slightly reminds me of that Dad who yanked his kids out of the Addams Family 3d toon and made a rant video, because he had no idea about the dark humor, which has been with series, forever.

    1. Ken Harrington I bought my son the trading cards and stickers for his stocking one year for Christmas and we love everything Adams family so I must have been the cool mom 😎🤣

  29. I loved this movie as a kid. I used to collect all the cards.One of my friends had his entire wall covered with the stickers. We were so excited when the movie came out. So we loved watching it .I made sure to buy it when it came out on video

    1. Adam Ciesielski agree would like to see this. But you’re thinking in today’s toxic political terms. Cancel culture didn’t exist back in ‘87 dude. Little bikinis and yeah even bare breasts flashed on TV every once in a while. If parents wanted something removed it’s because THEY ALL WANTED IT REMOVED. Had nothing to do with politics. It was the nice thing about the 80s. Parents were parents regardless of politics.

  33. Lol I remember being scared the alligator would bite my toes if I didn’t have my feet covered when I sleep. 🤣🤣 And I’m still traumatized by it lol 🤣 even though it’s not real

  59. It was honestly terrible. I remember being so excited when my parents rented it for me as a kid but it was so bad I lost interest. But now as I’ve gotten much older it’s reached the nostalgia phase and I have it simply for that. I think they should try to do it again but make it more in the Shrek style with some pop culture references.

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