Trash Humpers poster & wallpaper
Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

Rachel Korine, Brian Kotzur, Travis Nicholson, Harmony Korine, Chris Gantry ... see more see more... , Chris Crofton , Charlie Ezell , Dave Cloud , Kevin Guthrie

Americana goes rancid in writer/director Harmony Korine's tale of three elderly cretins who brutalize dolls, molest fauna, and force themselves on garbage cans. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Flixster Users

44% liked it

606 ratings

Critics

56% liked it

36 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 14 min.

Directed by: Harmony Korine

Release Date: May 7, 2010

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: November 30, 2010

Get It:

Stats: 140 reviews

report incorrect info

Photos

Trash Humpers
Upload a Photo | View All Trash Humpers Photos

Your Rating


clear rating

Flixster Reviews (140)

  • 366weirdmovies
    November 30, 2010
    366weirdmovies
    A gang of rednecks in wrinkled masks that make them look like escapees from a nursing home for the criminally insane engage in random acts of vandalism in empty suburbs. A dull, pretentious slog through the rubbish: your bourgeois sensibilities may or may not be offended, but the... read morey'll almost certainly be bored.
  • dunmyer
    August 1, 2010
    dunmyer
    Harmony Korine is not backing down. Just when you thought he'd start toning it down to curry favor with American critics, Korine brings us "Trash Humpers," his most radical project yet.

    "Trash Humpers" is a failure, but it's the most interesting failure since Richard Kelly's ... read more"Southland Tales" (2007). In these profoundly unoriginal times, it's heady tonic to encounter Korine's creativity. How many American filmmakers today can you say are one of a kind, completely unlike anything that has come before?

    The best parts of "Trash Humpers" are the first half-hour and last 10 minutes. In between is some of the most random, shallow, repetitious, infantile, unwatchably bad cinema you'll ever see. However, I appreciate Korine's courage in including footage like this. American culture desperately needs more filmmakers willing to take huge risks. It behooves everyone who cares about American culture to see "Trash Humpers" in a theater or rent it on DVD. We need to send a message with our dollars that we value brave, extreme art even when it is not a complete success.

    "Trash Humpers" could be interpreted in a million different ways, as of course is the case with all avant-garde art. I saw the most interesting parts of the film as a cross between horror and parody, with Korine depicting humanity (or at least a subset of humanity) as a worm-like or vermin-like species traveling in packs and randomly vandalizing and humping everything around them. A recurring image has a pack of these creatures humping large plastic trash cans. This was such an important part of Korine's vision that he made it the title of the project. I actually found the vandalism sequences much more engaging and disturbing than the copulation with trashcans, which gradually became more silly and repetitious than anything else.

    Most interesting of all was that Korine fitted the four main actors (one of whom was Korine himself, it appears) with gruesome masks, making them appear like a different species. He also develops a new approach to cinematography such that everything was blurry. This enhanced the feeling that this subhuman race was so disgusting that it was difficult to look at them. The camera itself seemed to be squinting, both drawn to and repelled by what it captured.

    I couldn't quite make out what Korine did to get this effect. At times it appeared that he had first shot on a cheap videocamera and played the footage back on a cheap TV. Then he set up another videocamera to film the images flickering on the TV monitor. Footage of footage. I found this experimentation with form for the most part creative, innovative, and conducive to further reflection on the film's repulsive and strange content.

    At times, however, Korine self-consciously made it seem like we were watching a very old VHS tape, complete with some passages that appeared to be going in rewind. I didn't find this homage to VHS either innovative or interesting. I am surprised that Korine would stoop so low as to traffic in nostalgia. But mercifully these faux-rewinding sequences were few and far between.

    Other radical aspects of the film/video include a complete break with narrative and a near-complete break with dialogue. What we get is a series of vignettes strung together in pretty much random order, with little to no dialogue in each. Korine is conveying an overall impression rather than telling a story. Surprisingly, when dialogue was used, the film was at its weakest. I wish Korine had remained wordless throughout. The horror aspects, at least, would have been conveyed more effectively without dialogue. --unfinished--
  • michaelcorleone
    October 25, 2010
    michaelcorleone
    Harmony Korine seems to push his ideas about storytelling further with every project. Trash Humpers may be his most provocative, immersive and unsettling work yet. Although the film is difficult to watch at times, the overall effect is what Korine is pursuing. By the time the clo... read moresing credits roll, we feel as if we have been submerged in a nightmare. This is an expression of mood through images and individual scenes. Formula is irrelevant in Korine's world. Transfixing, unnerving, and completely original.
  • shitfaced8
    November 28, 2010
    shitfaced8
    A welcome return to form from Harmony Korine. While Mister Lonely was his attempt at making a more traditional, narrative style film albeit a very bizarre one, Trash Humpers has no such plans. You can expect random acts of vandalism, trash humping, laughing at a fat kid repeatedl... read morey failing to land one ball at a basketball court, trash humping, singing, trash humping, bad beat poetry, trash humping, bloodshed, trash humping etc. That being said this movie isn't as memorable as Julien Donkey Boy or Gummo and it did feel like it was dragging after the 45 minute mark. Still though consistently funny, bizarre and offensive to lame assholes. Good way to spend 74 minutes for sure.
  • justybear96
    April 2, 2012
    justybear96
    B+

    This film is definitely not for everyone..maybe even for anyone but its still a movie that is very new and fresh even though its revolting, im liking this movie only for one reason, ive seen nothing like this movie before.
  • PumpkinGetsASnakeBite
    November 30, 2010
    PumpkinGetsASnakeBite
    For fans of 'extreme experimental films' only. A 78 minute barrage of seemingly random imagery all involving a group of creepy looking low-lives. They demolish everything in site, spy on families, sing songs, torture people and tap dance while leaving everything defiled in their ... read morepath. But like all of Harmony Korine's work there is a poetic intensity to the whole debased mess.

View All Trash Humpers Reviews

Critic Reviews

Cliff Doerksen
June 3, 2010
Cliff Doerksen, Chicago Reader

This interminable piece of crap copped a big prize at the 2009 Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival. Full Review

Robert Abele
May 13, 2010
Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times

The crass, fuzzy beauty of VHS' defiantly crisp-free recording technology gives haunting visual power to both the empty-parking-lot dreariness of day and the harsh, lamplit hum of night. Full Review

Sam Adams
May 12, 2010
Sam Adams, Salon.com

For the brave souls who make it to the end, there should at least be no question of the movie's sincerity. Full Review

Jeannette Catsoulis
May 7, 2010
Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times

However crassly delivered, Mr. Korine's warning against over-consumption is unambiguous: these savages are our future, our "true seed." The only surprise is that he didn't include a shot of one of the...

Lou Lumenick
May 7, 2010
Lou Lumenick, New York Post

It's about as enervating a way to waste 78 minutes as I've ever experienced. Full Review

Owen Gleiberman
May 5, 2010
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

It's no accident that Korine's visual style mimics that of a scratchy old VHS tape. There's a name for the genre he's now working in -- it's called glorified public-access TV. Full Review

J. Hoberman
May 4, 2010
J. Hoberman, Village Voice

It's ultimately less a celebration of impulse behavior than a celebration of the parodic impulse to record. Full Review

Tim Brayton
March 24, 2011
Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy

The most shocking thing about Trash Humpers is that it's boring...at times, hellishly annoying, but virtually never offensive. Full Review

Rob Thomas
September 10, 2010
Rob Thomas, Wisconsin State Journal

In one scene of "Trash Humpers," the camera lingers on an abandoned toilet in the middle of a field, as voices cackle off-camera. The filmography of Harmony Korine, ladies and gentlemen! Full Review

Emily Cheng
September 9, 2010
Emily Cheng, Time Out Sydney

Viewers unfamiliar with Korine's alternative style of filmmaking may walk out in disgust. But if you're willing to broaden your cinematic expectations to include the utterly random, it's a must-see. Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Cast

More Like This

This list looks lonely.
Add a suggestion!

Facts

No facts approved yet. Be the first

Trash Humpers : Watch Free on TV

Movie Quizzes

No quizzes for Trash Humpers. Want to create one?

Video Clips

Upload a Video |

All Trash Humpers Videos

Meet Other Fans

Add Trash Humpers to favorites

Recent News

Submit a Story |

View Trash Humpers News

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

No skins yet. Interested in creating one?