Description

John Spacely, known on the streets as Gringo, has spent much of his life selling – and using – drugs, mostly heroin. Since relocating from his native California to the Lower East Side of New York, Gringo has gained a group of steady customers for the dope he sells, amongst them musicians and actors and, in the process, has also developed a reputation as a colorful street character; hanging out amongst the dilapidated environs of Lower Manhattan. But with his own drug habit starting to get the better of him, Gringo must challenge himself not to end up on an even darker path, from which there may be no way back.

An unflinching study of addiction from multi-award winning documentarian, Lech Kowalski, STORY OF A JUNKIE (originally titled Gringo) stars Spacely as a semi-fictionalized version of himself, mixing staged interactions with grim documentary realism. Filmed entirely on location, and featuring a supporting cast of Gringo s real life friends and customers, Vinegar Syndrome Labs presents the Blu-ray debut of this remarkably human document not just of the long-gone punk counterculture on the Lower East Side, but of the fascinating and colorful personalities who populated it..

FEATURES:
Region Free Blu-ray + Soundtrack CD
Newly scanned & restored in 4K from its 16mm original camera negative
The Dance of Death (19 min) – an interview with director Lech Kowalski
Thirteen Weeks of Hell: Editing Story of a Junkie (11 min) – an interview with editor Val Kuklowsky
Drop the Needle (12 min) – an interview with composer Chuck Kentis
Troma: The Last Stop on the Train (4 min) – an interview with Troma President Lloyd Kaufman
Archival interview with producer Ann S. Barish (10 min)
Soundtrack CD by composer Chuck Kentis
Reversible sleeve artwork
English SDH subtitles