Slime City (1988)

Let's be realistic.

Expected more

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

I agree the numerous comparisons with "Street Trash" are very justified, but personally I think "Slime City" is a far more interesting and 'better' film because the characters in this film are at least sympathetic and the overall elaboration is definitely more appealing than "Street Trash", which is – in my humble opinion – a hideous and nearly unwatchable production. At least "Slime City" benefices from a much more pleasant & cheerful atmosphere, greatly inspiring music and the light-headed direction by Greg Lamberson! This is a terribly poor and laughably inept film, of course, but it certainly doesn't fail to entertain fans of cheap 'n cheesy 80's smut. The camera-work and editing are rudimentary and very amateurish, but the gore effects are incredibly grotesque and the storyline is too demented for words. The promising young painter Alex moves into an old apartment building, unaware that the other tenants are reincarnated disciples of a Satan-worshiping alchemist who committed suicide in the building's basement. Through eating bright-colored pudding, drinking vaporous wine and enjoying sexual contact with the luscious neighbor, Alex mutates into a sticky monster who kills homeless guys, prostitutes and ghetto hoodlums. His only hope for rescue lies in the hands of his virgin girlfriend Nicole, but she loves Alex too much to ever hurt him. "Slime City" surpasses the average 'so-bad-it's-good' 80's horror film; it's a genuine trash and crap FEAST! We're talking characters (like the hilarious prostitute) that patiently wait around for monstrous Alex to kill them, obtrusive spiritual media that pop up unasked and out of nowhere, incompetent police detectives that couldn't even prevent a crime if it happened right under their noses and body parts that continue to function after being separated from the torso. The climax is particularly outrageous (in a gooey way) and over-the-top hilarious. The acting performances are abominable, but you wouldn't expect it any other way, the whole thing is simply too insane to feature any tension and the vintage 80's soundtrack is too fabulous for words. If you like Troma films, Frank Hennenlotter's Indie-flicks and other no-budget crap from the 80's, "Slime City" is the ideal purchase for you. It would be a crime against good taste to rate this movie any more than 5 out of 10, but this is one of those times you shouldn't exclusively focus on the rating.

Nice guy art student Alex (decently played by Robert Sabin) moves into a cheap, but clean and livable New York City apartment. After having sex with seductive tramp Nicole (the luscious Mary Huner), Alex becomes possessed by the pernicious spirit of evil occultist Zachary and transforms into a hideous, disgusting, homicidal dripping slime monster who embarks on a murderous spree, bumping off bums, hookers and back alley hoodlums with ferocious abandon. It's up to Alex's sweet, virginal girlfriend Lori (also portrayed by Huner) to save his soul before it's too late. The first fifteen-odd minutes of this entertainingly cheesy indie fright flick are pretty slow and awkward, but fortunately the film kicks into gear and delivers the delectably down'n'dirty schlock horror goods when the possession plot comes into play. J. Scott Coulter's wonderfully repulsive special make-up f/x pour on the gore, gunk and grue by the literal bucket, drenching the screen with a revolting tidal wave of hardcore ghastly and graphic blood'n'guts splatter (the delightfully over-the-top pull-out-all-the-stops excessive climax in particular seriously smokes). Peter J. Clark's rough, grainy cinematography, Robert Tomaro's infectiously bouncy throbbing rock score, and the adequate acting add substantially to this baby's ingratiatingly tacky charm. Sure, this picture has its flaws, but there's a certain endearingly clunky sincerity evident throughout which makes this honey quite engaging and enjoyable low-grade junk just the same.

I can't say I enjoyed Slime City too much, but it does have an element of trashy fun to it. The atmosphere is similar to Basket Case, only trashier and on a lower budget. There are some cool death scenes early on, but then the pace seems to plod for ages. There's a good erotic dance scene from one of the ladies which some may enjoy. The only reason I would recommend Slime City to anyone is for the scenes at the end, which are priceless. The girlfriend of the guy turning into slime hacks his head off, and the head splits apart and his brain tries to escape by slithering across the floor. Seeing that she is in front of him, the brain turns around to slither in the opposite direction. She then hacks him up. If you can tolerate low budget trash this may be your sort of thing, just don't expect too much.

Slime City (1988) was a good attempt by Greg Lamberson at making a low budget horror similar to "Street Trash", but i can tell you that this film is not a patch on "Street Trash" and i can assure you that it's no way near the calibre of Frank Hennenlotter's work.The film is about a young couple called Alex and Lori who move into a New York apartment but the apartment is haunted by an occult leader called Zachery, after Alex gets exposed to this mysterious green drink he starts melting and turning into a monster and goes on a killing spree!!! Alex is being possessed by the evil Zachery and only his girlfriend Lori can save him.To be fair the film does have it's moments and there's some good low budget gore near the end of the film, but i just felt it was lacking something and it didn't overly hold my interest, like i said before, if you want a fun slimy gorefest, stick with the far superior "Street Trash". 5/10