As further evidence that 1987 was one of the worst years in film history, this week’s edition of Eric’s Bad Movies at Film.com covers “The Garbage Pail Kids Movie,” an astonishingly misbegotten failure from August of that year. (True fact: It came out the same day as “Dirty Dancing.”) This is the sixth movie from 1987 to be addressed in 52 editions of Eric’s Bad Movies; only 1997, with seven entries, has been represented more often.
I was just the right age, 11 or 12, when the Garbage Pail Kids trading cards came along, and I LOVED them. All the kids did. (All the boys, anyway.) Our idle moments in school were spent looking at them and discussing them and trying to find the elusive cards that would complete our collections. Everyone was also eager to find a card featuring their own name, and I remember being disappointed when there was finally an Eric card and it was so lame: Eerie Eric, a werewolf boy. Not even a good pun or anything, just alliteration. Meh.
I am the same age as you and I did collect them also. I must say…….if you take away the ears- Eerie Eric looks a lot like you!
I was also a huge collector of GPK’s, and I remember I was stoked to see this movie (I was 9, whaddaya want from me?) But as far as I know it was never released theatrically where I live, and to this day I’ve never seen it in a video store. If it weren’t for a brief mention in a magazine years ago, I would swear the movie never actually existed (until now).
I too used to collect them. Brings back memories… I also did not get the opportunity to see the movie. Something I regret because, if I were to see it now, I’m sure I would hate it. At the time, I probably would have loved it…
I can’t believe it’s not a horror movie.
I”m pretty sure that the trailer at the end of the column has a shot of the Alligator-headed one taking a bite out of a stripper’s rear-end. That’s…kinda weird.
Is Eerie Eric wearing a diaper?
Just like regular Eric, Mrs. Roth.
On the subject of GPK, though — you have to admire the business savvy of releasing TWO cards with IDENTICAL ARTWORK, just different names. Now the buyer HAS to have the matching set, and you only had to pay an artist ONCE. Genius.
If I am found dead in my lab, it is because I died laughing at this sentence:
The first question anyone making a Garbage Pail Kids movie must ask himself, after “Why?” and “What have I become?,” is how to visually portray the title characters. The obvious route would be animation. But building giant foam heads and putting them on midgets is much faster and cheaper, as foam and midgets are two of Hollywood’s most abundant natural resources.
There’s laughing, lol-ing, and then there’s “ohhh man, I am so glad I am not in a public place right now.”
“Foam and midgets” . . . mercy . . .