National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

The Garbage Pail Kids Movie was released in August 1987 by Atlantic Releasing Corporation, adapted from the wildly controversial Topps trading card series that had scandalized parents and delighted children throughout the mid-1980s. Directed by Rod Amateau, the film remains a singular artifact of late Reagan-era pop culture transgression, earning its place in cult history less through critical reception — it was savaged — than through its sheer audacity in bringing grotesque animatronic puppet characters to the screen.

This cell captures Valerie Vomit in close-up, costumed in black hat and blue outfit against a purple-pink background, with a pale green vomit prop partially obscuring her face. The three frames suggest a tight sequence around a single setup, with performers Debbie Lee Carrington and Sue Lee both credited to the role — a detail consistent with the practical demands of operating the character's animatronic costume across a production day.