The longest running independent film company in the world, Troma Entertainment are bringing their most successful monster and mascot back to the big screen 41 years.
“The Toxic Avenger” first earned cult status by immersing audiences from across the globe in slapstick gore and nuclear waste back in 1984. Four sequels, a Saturday morning cartoon, a Broadway musical show, and toy line amongst many, many other enterprises later, and 15 years in the making everyone’s favourite (as in “the only”) crime-fighting superhuman superhero from New Jersey returns.
Troma have been responsible for some of the most ridiculous and comedic gratuitous violence to ever grace the silver, CRT, OLED or any other type screen – they were even available for free in the public domain on YouTube before community standards took them down in 2020. They specialise in B-Movies, where being an independent they can get away a great deal more creative freedom than their A-movie counterparts.
With a back catalogue that includes classics such as the Billy Bob Thornton film debut “Chopper Chicks in Zombietown”, “Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead” and the James Gunn penned “Tromeo and Juliet”, they are true mavericks of the industry. Indeed many Hollywood heavyweights like Oliver Stone, J J Abrahams, Trey Parker and Matt Stone and Carmen Electra (the list goes on) made their career debuts at Troma. Fans the world over will be eager to see how the original splatter house classic that first brought head crushing to the big screen will be reworked for a modern audience, and rumour has it that Troma have a complete reimagining from the top down planned.
Our hero, Toxie, noted for his stature in previous releases is played this time by Peter Dinklage – also of notable stature. The widowed Winston Gooze (Dinklage) struggles to hold life together for his stepson, Wade (Jacob Tremblay) and himself in the small town of St. Roma’s Village. The cost of everyday survival mounts up around him while Bob Garbinger (Kevin Bacon – he’s very convincing here), the vain CEO and face of BTH (Body Talk Health), the company Gooze mops the floors for, is apparently riding high on ticketed dinners, elite meetings and a cult-like commercial following. A relatable social context.
But all is not as it seems, for Garbinger has many problems of his own including the devastating environmental impact his company is having which is becoming increasingly harder to hide, and his debtors who are becoming increasingly more difficult to evade. He’s assisted by associate Kissy Sturnevan (Julia Davis) his creepy brother Fritz (Elijah Wood – a role he absolutely shines in) and nu-metal numbskulls The Killer Nuts, the band Fritz manages that provide glorious clown calamity throughout.
Helping our hero is investigate journalist J.J. Doherty who has an axe to grind with the BTH corporation, and the wise hobo Guthrie Stockins (David Yow) who’s living his best life in the forest.
The anonymous star of the film is the accomplished Cirque De Soleil movement artist Luisa Guerriero, resume including a previous role as a Teletubby, who plays Toxie post transformation. Originally Dinklage was disappointed to not be playing the character for the whole film, but after seeing how well Guerriero had copied his movements and idiosyncrasies – to the point of making Dinklage feel insecure about them – he conceded. Refreshingly, the CGI is kept to a minimum and the costume she’s wearing is a 13kg fully-equipped suit with motorised facial features that looks fantastic on film.
Originally pitched as a PG, and despite it’s ultimate 18 rating, this is a lighthearted outing that is self aware and never takes itself seriously. Essentially, it’s a humorous Ninja Turtles film with spatterings of gore (The Toxic Avenger preceded his radioactive mutant sewer-dwelling cousins by less than a year – a clear sign of the times) which it delivers by the mop-load.
Thankfully, there are several homages and re-workings from the original. The zany Troma humour is still there by the spadeful, although it’s toned down. Sadly, there are less of the wonderful trademark camp hysterical Shakespearean theatrics taken directly from the stage. Conversely, it’s joyous to see classic vaudeville devices utilised effectively in modern cinema. See if you can spot the Chekov’s gun revealed in the first act that’s fired in the third.
This release brings The Toxic Avenger to a broad new audience whilst maintaining layers of the goofy slapstick that the 1st and 2nd generation Toxic Avenger fans will inevitably come for. It’s guaranteed to bring the out the naughty giggling teenager in all of us.
Author: Dan, Kingston Store
