30 Years Of Garbage reveals everything you ever wanted to know about Garbage Pail Kids

By Mike Vanderbilt  |  May 16, 2016 | 7:19pm
Film Features Film


Back in the ’80s, grossing out parents was the favorite pastime of kids in commercials. Madballs, Boglins, Mad Scientist Monster Lab: They all encouraged youngsters to scare their sisters, and everything came packaged with slime. One of the most popular items in that gross-out renaissance were the Garbage Pail Kids, and because everything’s got a documentary these days, 30 Years Of Garbage: The Garbage Pail Kids Story is coming to theaters this month.

The film—partially funded by an IndieGoGo campaign—tracks the rise, fall, and eventual resurgance of the popular card line, featuring interviews with the creators, artists (including Andy Warhol’s nephew, James), and cast members of The Garbage Pail Kids Movie

First released by Topps in 1985, the Garbage Pail Kids set their satirical sights on Cabbage Patch Dolls, a shortage of which incited riots in department stores around Christmas of ’83. The Garbage Pail Kids played on the phenomenon by creating disgusting characters with silly names such as Bea Sting, Adam Bomb, and Hairy Gary. The Kids were very popular with the kids and like anything that was cool back then, from bubble gum beepers to Simpsons T-shirts, schools eventually banned Garbage Pail Kids for being a “distraction.”

30 Years Of Garbage: The Garbage Pail Kids Story will have its world premiere July 1 at Anthology Film Archives in New York City.

 
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