Filmed guerrilla-style in the subways and tunnels beneath the Big Apple, URCHIN reveals the mole people community known as SCUM-CITY. When a tormented youth encounters a mysterious elderly man in the bowels of NYC who can lead him to paradise on Earth, he tries to unravel his secrets and protect a young girl who has nobody else to care for her.
A nine-year-old boy known as The Kid lives in a tunnel deep under Manhattan; in a place called Scum-City.
The Old Man rules the freaks and outcasts that live there. He swears to lead them to a paradise within the hollow earth once he finds five noble souls; but until then his followers must steal and deal to support him.
A terminally ill hunchback named Goliath, crazed by his approaching death, decides to find the five noble souls and present them to The Old Man..by beheading New Yorkers he deems worthy of the honor.
Meanwhile, The Kid tries to do The Old Man's bidding, tangling with deadly madmen and eccentric drug dealers..even though The Kid is only nine and his main weapon is a water pistol filled with acid.
As both Goliath and The Kid wander the bloody tunnels they believe will lead to paradise, they rob, kill..and inevitably meet in an insane showdown that will turn your spleen to goo.
REVIEWS!!
"I found Urchin impossible to turn away from. . .a nightmarish urban fantasy with flashes of compasion, and a redemptive outcome that is both unexpected and surprisingly moving. . . .It reminded me of (Aronofsky's) PI."
---- H. P. Lovecraft's Magazine of Horror -- Marvin Kaye, Editor
"A fascinating movie with disturbing imagery... if you see it you will probably go to hell."
-- WBAI NY
"Successfully examines the soulless nature of living in a materialist world and how one’s senseless acts can cause death and destruction for many others . . . A distorted and dark vision."
-- NY Press - Marin Resnick "A fantastic story! The narrative is a constant attack on your own conscience. . .truly an independent film that for once doesn’t show its small budget."
--www.RazorReel.com "A search for Shangri-La deep in the subways ...an inner-earth fantasy from an aging crackpot. . . give(s) undiscovered names a chance to shine."
---- NYTimes - Neil Genzlinger
"(An) aggressively low-budget movie. . .Urchin captures the eerie rhythm of the subway at night."
---- Village Voice -- Julia Wallace