The Toxic Avenger: Troma Films Rating: USA: Unrated/ USA: R (cut)/ UK: 18
Author’s note: This review is part of a write-off covering Troma films’ 1985 cult classic, The Toxic Avenger. Megasoul was cool enough to put this one together and find sixteen other Epinionators crazy enough to not only view this movie, but write about it as well. Please check out the following author’s commentaries when you’re finished here: wokelstein, rfr, megasoul, mangiotto, zentropajk, pyschovant, brando814, brundledan, squeebinatorx, shadow8, memento-mori, energy81, 29th_candidate, kingpinljc, knix.
What would you get if you crossed the 1950’s style grade Z drive-in monster movie (ala Creature From the Black Lagoon) and crossed it with an 80’s style gore flick? You’d probably wind up with something that looks a lot like Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz’s 1985 cult classic, The Toxic Avenger--a movie that’s so awful it’s great.
Melvin (Mark Torgl) is a 98 pound weakling who works at the Tromaville health club where he’s the butt of every joke and even the fat chicks don’t cast him a second glance. He lives at home with his mom, and spends a large portion of each day mopping the floors of the spa. One day, a practical joke goes a bit too far—causing our nerdy janitor to leap from a second story window after being humiliated in front of a bunch of the club’s patrons (keep an eye open for Marisa Tomei as an extra in the health club, by the way). However, rather than splattering wetly on the sidewalk below, he has the good fortune to land in a vat of toxic waste (the local mayor’s more interested in making money by allowing chemical companies dump their waste in Tromaville than in passing and upholding the law). Melvin runs home and undergoes a massive metamorphosis—changing from wimp to muscular (and mutated) crimefighter--and thus The Toxic Avenger, the first superhero from New Jersey, is born.
From there, Toxie goes on a one man crusade to clean up the streets of Tromaville—using deadly force to eliminate almost anyone who breaks the law—and even finding time to fall in love with a blind woman named Sara (Andree Maranda) who can’t see how awful he really looks.
It’s fairly easy (given the film’s obviously low budget and schlock film origins) to pick on The Toxic Avenger--after all, the performances are almost all over the top, the script and story are nonsensical, and the film’s main objective seems to be making the audience laugh at the fact they’re repulsed by what’s on the screen. But, you could make the argument that this movie is one of the most influential gore comedies to come along in the 1980’s (it predates Peter Jackson’s Bad Taste and Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead 2 by two years—both films that often spring to mind when discussing gory, yet funny, films).
Directors Herz and Kaufman are sort of like Roger Corman—they just want to make movies. Artistic aspirations, awards, and critical acclaim clearly mean very little to these men. Instead, they’re governed by a passion to simply tell stories on the screen that entertain an audience. There’s no sign of the auteur theory at work in any Troma Team production—and frankly, I’m glad there isn’t. These guys take every cent they can beg, borrow, or steal and throw it all up on the screen—sometimes the results are less than stellar, but here, they actually manage to make an entertaining B movie…no small feat considering what they have to work with.
But, trying to discuss a film like The Toxic Avenger in technical terms is sort of a pointless exercise. This film wasn’t made to be scrutinized and dissected—it was made to entertain by appealing to our basest interests—juvenile humor, nudity, and graphic gore—and it’s here that the film really succeeds. If you go into a movie like this with your ‘critic’s hat’ on, you’re bound to come out of it disappointed. Instead, this is a Joe Bob Briggs kind of film—one made to be enjoyed while consuming your favorite alcoholic beverage and hooting at the onscreen carnage.
Speaking of onscreen carnage, the film really delivers here. Toxie knocks off assorted baddies in a variety of creative and interesting ways. Whether it’s the by ripping off a guy’s arm and beating him with it, deep frying a criminal’s hand in a fast food restaurant’s fryer, or crushing a guy’s head with a set of weights, there are more than enough graphically gory moments to keep even the most jaded gorehounds satisfied in this film.
Troma has released The Toxic Avenger on DVD, in an unrated director’s cut format that restores much of the gore that was cut from the R rated VHS tapes that had been floating around for the last decade or so. I shouldn’t have to tell you that this is unrated version is the one you want, but just in case, get the unrated version. The DVD also features the usual assortment of Troma goodies, including the Troma Intelligence Test, director’s commentary, deleted scenes, trailers for other Troma releases (including a great trailer for Bloodsucking Freaks) and a ton of other Toxie memorabilia. The film itself is presented full frame, but it doesn’t make a difference. If you’re fan of Toxie, this DVD (or even better yet, the laserdisc) belongs in your collection.
In the end, I’m a bit biased when it comes to this film. The Toxic Avenger was one of the first cult gore flicks I ever saw—and it helped inspire my lifelong love of obscure and bizarre movies. However, I hadn’t seen the film in nearly a decade prior to this review—and I can honestly tell you that the film has held up and aged well over the last 15 years. If you’re interested in B movies, gory comedies, or just plain old schlock cinema, then The Toxic Avenger is a film that you need to see.
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