Kill the Poor (film)

Kill the Poor is a 2003 American drama film directed by Alan Taylor from a screenplay by Daniel Handler, based on the 1988 novel of the same name by Joel Rose. The film is set in Manhattan's Alphabet City in the early 1980s, when the neighborhood was a center of illegal drug activity. The film's title is inspired by the Dead Kennedys' song "Kill the Poor".

Kill the Poor premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on May 9, 2003, and received a limited theatrical release in the United States on January 6, 2006, by IFC Films. It received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

Kill the Poor begins with a fire in the apartment of tough guy Carlos DeJesus and his trouble-making son, Segundo. The screenplay then focuses on the other tenants of the rundown building in an attempt to determine who set the blaze.

The other principals are:

Joe Peltz, a young man who ignored his uncle's warnings to bring his wife Annabelle and their young child into the neighborhood where his Jewish grandparents had their start in America
Spike, an aspiring found-object sculptor
Delilah, a flamboyant gay man
Butch, a presumptuous graduate student
Scarlet, the tenement's resident floozy
Negrito, a fixture in the neighborhood

A shared distrust of Carlos and Segundo unites this eclectic group and prompts them to hold "co-op" meetings with one goal: eviction of Carlos and Segundo DeJesus.

Cast

David Krumholtz as Joe Peltz
Clara Bellar as Annabelle Peltz
Paul Calderón as Carlos DeJesus
Jon Budinoff as Segundo
Cliff Gorman as Yakov
Damian Young as Delilah
Heather Burns as Scarlet
Otto Sanchez as Negrito
Zak Orth as Butch
Larry Gilliard, Jr. as "Spike"

Release

Kill the Poor was first screened at the Tribeca Film Festival on May 9, 2003. It was then released on January 6, 2006 at the IFC Center in New York City.