On this day August 21 1987, The Garbage Pail Kids Movie premiered in theaters and left audiences confused, curious, and in some cases horrified. Inspired by the popular trading cards that parodied the Cabbage Patch Kids craze, the movie attempted to bring the gross out humor of the cards to life with a story about a group of misfit creatures who try to help a bullied boy find confidence.
The film featured crude puppetry, bizarre costumes, and slapstick gags aimed at children but delivered with an odd tone that even kids found unsettling. It followed the Garbage Pail Kids as they escaped from their canister and tried to fit into human society, all while avoiding capture by the sinister State Home for the Ugly.
Despite the popularity of the trading cards, the film was a critical disaster and quickly became known as one of the most infamous flops of the decade. Yet over the years, it developed a cult following for its sheer weirdness and the way it captured the weirder side of 80s pop culture gone wrong.
80s insight: This movie is often remembered not for success but for daring to bring something so strange and offbeat to the big screen at the peak of 80s merchandising.
The film featured crude puppetry, bizarre costumes, and slapstick gags aimed at children but delivered with an odd tone that even kids found unsettling. It followed the Garbage Pail Kids as they escaped from their canister and tried to fit into human society, all while avoiding capture by the sinister State Home for the Ugly.
Despite the popularity of the trading cards, the film was a critical disaster and quickly became known as one of the most infamous flops of the decade. Yet over the years, it developed a cult following for its sheer weirdness and the way it captured the weirder side of 80s pop culture gone wrong.
80s insight: This movie is often remembered not for success but for daring to bring something so strange and offbeat to the big screen at the peak of 80s merchandising.
