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Over the course of its 50-year existence, Troma has helped launch the careers of filmmakers like Trey Parker & Matt Stone (South Park), James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy), and Eli Roth (Hostel), along with countless actors who went on to long careers, but their biggest export by any internal metric — financial success, brand recognition, franchisability, fan base — is 1984’s The Toxic Avenger.

The film is preceded by an “extreme violence” warning. The gore is indeed graphic — the first kill features a kid’s head being run over by a car, firmly establishing that no one is safe and nothing is off limits — but it could use about a dozen more trigger warnings by today’s standards. If you can be offended, you will be offended by the boundary-pushing content that includes (but is certainly not limited to) racism, homophobia, ableism, and sexual misconduct — yet there is substance behind the sleaze.

Longtime readers of Arrow in the Head will probably remember the article series The Test of Time. Now The Test of Time has been revived as a video series, and you can check out the new episode in the embed above! With this one, we’re looking back at Troma’s 1984 cult classic The Toxic Avenger (watch it Here). Does it still hold up nearly forty years after its initial release? Find out by watching the video embedded above.

Directed by Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman from a screenplay by Joe Ritter (based on a story by Kaufman), The Toxic Avenger has the following synopsis: What’s faster than a spreading germ… more powerful than Mr. Clean… and more lethal than nuclear waste? Is it a floorcleaner? Is it a waste site? No… it is the Toxic Avenger, the first super hero from New Jersey! He french fries his foes…...

Stars: Mark Torgl, Mitch Cohen, Andree Maranda, Cindy Manion, Gary Schneider, Robert Prichard, Pat Ryan, Dick Martinsen, Patrick Kilpatrick | Written by Lloyd Kaufman, Joe Ritter | Directed by Michael Herz, Lloyd Kaufman (as Samuel Weil)

For those who haven’t seen The Toxic Avenger, first of all why not? (stop reading this review and go pre-order the Blu-ray now), it is essentially the film that made Troma. Having picked up numerous films for distribution and being predominantly known for sex comedies such as Squeeze Play, Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman decided to lense their own horror film and thus The Toxic Avenger was born; in turn Troma became known for campy, over the top, “horror” movies and the rest, they say, is history.

The film tells the story of Melvin Junko, a health club janitor who is the butt of a cruel joke that goes horribly wrong after he is tricked...

A remake of "The Toxic Avenger" is in the works and will be produced by Akiva Goldsman, Richard Saperstein and Charlie Corwin. Original Media has acquired the rights to franchise that includes sequels, an animated TV series and comic books. The company will finance the development of a script. Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman directed the 1984 original, which starred Andree Maranda, Mitchell Cohen, Pat Ryan Jr., Jennifer Baptist, Robert Pritchard, Cindy Manion, Gary Schneider and Mark Torgl. The film is set in Tromaville, New Jersey - a small American town, terrorized by criminals. Among the residents of Tromaville is Melvin, a nerdy emaciated janitor at the local health club. A gang of thugs devise a cruel hoax that goes horribly wrong as Melvin is cast through a third story window...

A remake of The Toxic Avenger is in the works and will be produced by Akiva Goldsman, Richard Saperstein and Charlie Corwin. Original Media has acquired the rights to franchise that includes sequels, an animated TV series and comic books. The company will finance the development of a script. Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman directed the 1984 original, which starred Andree Maranda, Mitchell Cohen, Pat Ryan Jr., Jennifer Baptist, Robert Pritchard, Cindy Manion, Gary Schneider and Mark Torgl. The film is set in Tromaville, New Jersey - a small American town, terrorized by criminals. Among the residents of Tromaville is Melvin, a nerdy emaciated janitor at the local health club. A gang of thugs devise a cruel hoax that goes horribly wrong as Melvin is cast through a third story...

A remake of The Toxic Avenger is in the works and will be produced by Akiva Goldsman, Richard Saperstein and Charlie Corwin. Original Media has acquired the rights to franchise that includes sequels, an animated TV series and comic books. The company will finance the development of a script. Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman directed the 1984 original, which starred Andree Maranda, Mitchell Cohen, Pat Ryan Jr., Jennifer Baptist, Robert Pritchard, Cindy Manion, Gary Schneider and Mark Torgl. The film is set in Tromaville, New Jersey - a small American town, terrorized by criminals. Among the residents of Tromaville is Melvin, a nerdy emaciated janitor at the local health club. A gang of thugs devise a cruel hoax that goes horribly wrong as Melvin is cast through a third story...

The Toxic Avenger goes greenOriginal Media is planning to remake 1984's The Toxic Avenger about a green, environmentally conscious superhero, acquiring rights to the franchise that includes four sequels, an animated TV series and comic books.

According to Deadline, the film will be produced by Akiva Goldsman, Richard Saperstein and Charlie Corwin.

Lloyd Kaufman directed the 1984 original, which starred Andree Maranda, Mitchell Cohen, Pat Ryan Jr., Cindy Manion, Gary Schneider and Mark Torgl.

The original film revolved around a Tromaville Health Club mop boy Melvin, who was a gentle wimp whose trusting ways made him easy prey for gym thugs and eventually got him immersed in a vat of toxic waste. The radioactive swill transformed Melvin into Toxie, a misshapen superhero who wreaks havoc on polluters in New Jersey and whose improved muscle tone improved his standing with the chicks.

The remake is expected to be a family friendly PG-13 action comedy.