The Toxic Avenger

Lacklustre direction by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz, a goofy script (by Joe Ritter), truly poor FX and even worse acting all add up to, for some strange, abstract reason, a stupidly enjoyable film experience.

Maybe it's the camp sounding music, the over the top (and in some cases *way* over the top) 'acting', or perhaps it's just the fact that it's so unashamedly weird and downright cheesy that makes it such fun to watch, who knows? Whatever the reason this definitely isn't a film to spend long hours contemplating such things, instead just sit back and enjoy the crazy show.

Performance wise, as already mentioned, none of the actors give even remotely decent performances, with the exception of Andree Miranda who's actually pretty good in her role as Toxie's blind girlfriend. All of the other actors are so far over the top (or indeed just so downright terrible) that by films end they too have somehow managed to take on their own distinctly cheesy charm and add greatly to the whole 'so bad it's good' motif.

As I may have mentioned once or twice before 'The Toxic Avenger' is cheesier than a block of cheese factories, and as such it takes a special type of person to enjoy 'this type of thing', however for those with their tongue planted firmly in cheek, and for lovers of schlock cinema and 50's z-grade monster movies this is a must see. For most everyone else though it's probably best avoided and will most likely induce headaches and annoyance rather than belly laughs and amusement. Which of the above descriptions best suits you I'll leave you to decide for yourself.

7/10

The king of trash movies. It's so effortlessly entertaining that things that should be offensive are easily laughed off. It's the only movie I can think of that can make a young child getting run over by a car side splittingly hilarious.

You always have to take Troma films with a grain of salt, and that's exactly what I did. I enjoyed this film quite a bit. Though it's a typical B-movie, the premise is creative and I actually felt sympathy for the character of Melvin before his mutation. I know what it's like to be the underdog, so I was able to somewhat relate to him. So while some may have laughed at his quirky antics, I was too busy feeling sympathy for pool little Melvin.

The film is filled with quirky, low-brow humor, which often works. I just felt that the premise wore thin after a while, and that's when the film seemed to simply go through the motions.

Despite that, I had a good time and can understand why this is the film that put Troma on the map. So if you're in the mood for a funny, low-budget, low-brow horror-comedy, then please check out "The Toxic Avenger."

My score: 6 (out of 10)

As a child I loved to stay up late and watch "USA Up All Night" (with Gilbert Gottfried or Rhonda Shear, I wasn't picky). This allowed me to sample pretty much every major Troma movie, and I discovered the meaning of the phrase "guilty pleasure". As I got older I stayed away from Troma, as their movies radiated the kind of feeling you get from wearing a shoddy Halloween mask too long and getting nauseous inhaling the cheap rubber fumes. But after sampling the delightful "Tromeo & Juliet" I decided to return to my roots and check out the directors edition of the classic "Toxic Avenger".

While I was right in remembering the films as the guiltiest of pleasure, the cheap charm of the film was undeniable, and there was a ton of gore in the movie that I never saw on T.V. Arms are severed, guts are ripped out, seeing-eye dogs are shot, and children's heads are crushed- and it all looks pretty good! Some of the acting will make you wince, some of the jokes are atrocious (there are mother-in-law jokes), and some scenes go on too long (the idiotic out-of-control-car sequence) or too short (Toxie taking his revenge on his tormenters is strangely gore-free, which is explained in the director's commentary), but I can't bad-mouth a movie that has it's hero stuff a little old lady in a washing machine. If you're a gore fan with a high thresh hold for bad taste, then give the Toxic Avenger another shot- I did, and I'm a better person for it. I think.

Troma Films is legendary in the New York/New Jersey area, where most of their films are shot. (I was on site during the filming of a crowd scene for "Class of Nuke'Em High" in Paramus, New Jersey during the summer of '85, but to be honest I've never been able to find myself on screen in the movie.) The Toxic Avenger is arguably Troma's most accomplished work, and remains its most famous/popular film. Oddly enough, despite the tasteless humor and constant gross-out scenes in this movie, the title character spawned several sequels (of varying quality) and was eventually re-cast as a kid friendly cartoon character (!) with an environmental message in the late '80s that resulted in a line of comic books, toys and action figures!! Watching this gutbustingly hilarious 1985 classick (pun intended) now, it's hard to believe how far "Toxie" came. The Toxic Avenger's humor is definitely not for everybody, but if you're from Jersey, you are hereby required to rent it at least once. On a side note, Joe Zarro, who appears in this film as the proprietor of the dry cleaner's shop, taught English and Film Studies at Paramus High School in the late 1980s. His star turn in "Toxic Avenger" was widely known among the student body, yet he seemed somewhat embarrassed by it and naturally, he wouldn't even consider screening it for our class. What a shame!!