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.
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.
- 11/17/2023
- by Alex DiVincenzo
- bloody-disgusting.com
Reel-Important People is a monthly column that highlights those individuals in or related to the movies that have left us in recent weeks. John Altamura (?-2018) - Actor. He played the title character in The Toxic Avenger Part II and The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie, sharing the role with Ron Fazio. He died of a heart attack on May 4. (Bloody-Disgusting) Joseph Campanella (1924-2018) - Actor. He starred in Ben, Silent Running and Meteor. He died of complications from Parkinson's disease on May 16. (Variety) Anne V. Coates (1925-2018) - Editor. She won an Oscar for editing Lawrence of Arabia and was nominated for Becket, The Elephant Man, In the Line of Fire and Out of Sight. She also...
- 6/2/2018
- by Christopher Campbell
- Movies.com
By Ernie Magnotta
While working at the Tromaville Health Club in 1984, goodhearted, 98lb. weakling Melvin “The Mop Boy” was tricked into wearing a pink tutu and teased unmercifully until he fell from a two-story window and landed in a vat of nuclear waste. The toxic chemicals changed little Melvin, transforming him into a hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength. Melvin became The Toxic Avenger, the first superhero from New Jersey!
Written and Directed by the great Lloyd Kaufman (and co-directed by his partner-in-slime, Michael Herz), The Toxic Avenger, which is a thoroughly entertaining and unique combination of the superhero genre, raunchy and over-the-top comedy, as well as full-on horror movie-type gore, not only became an instant hit, but singlehandedly built Troma films (Toxie is the company’s mascot much like Spider-man is to Marvel Comics). The Toxic Avenger character became so popular that, over the years, fans were...
While working at the Tromaville Health Club in 1984, goodhearted, 98lb. weakling Melvin “The Mop Boy” was tricked into wearing a pink tutu and teased unmercifully until he fell from a two-story window and landed in a vat of nuclear waste. The toxic chemicals changed little Melvin, transforming him into a hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength. Melvin became The Toxic Avenger, the first superhero from New Jersey!
Written and Directed by the great Lloyd Kaufman (and co-directed by his partner-in-slime, Michael Herz), The Toxic Avenger, which is a thoroughly entertaining and unique combination of the superhero genre, raunchy and over-the-top comedy, as well as full-on horror movie-type gore, not only became an instant hit, but singlehandedly built Troma films (Toxie is the company’s mascot much like Spider-man is to Marvel Comics). The Toxic Avenger character became so popular that, over the years, fans were...
- 5/25/2015
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Stars: Ron Fazio, John Altamura, Phoebe Legere, Rick Collins, Rikiya Yasuoka, Tsutomu Sekine, Mayako Katsuragi, Shinoburyu, Lisa Gaye, Jessica Dublin, Jack Cooper | Written by Gay Partington Terry, Lloyd Kaufman | Directed by Michael Herz, Lloyd Kaufman
Troma films have never been described as masterpieces and I don’t think that they would ever dream of making one. Most of their films have been created with a punk like attitude, fighting against what is seen as normal in the film making industry, and this is a reason fans love them. While their formula often works well, sometimes it fails and sadly The Toxic Avenger 2 is one of the examples of their failures. Looking past the film itself though the new 88 Films Blu-ray release looks to provide plenty of features and an uncut version of the film, but does that manage to get past the weaknesses of the film and make it a good purchase?...
Troma films have never been described as masterpieces and I don’t think that they would ever dream of making one. Most of their films have been created with a punk like attitude, fighting against what is seen as normal in the film making industry, and this is a reason fans love them. While their formula often works well, sometimes it fails and sadly The Toxic Avenger 2 is one of the examples of their failures. Looking past the film itself though the new 88 Films Blu-ray release looks to provide plenty of features and an uncut version of the film, but does that manage to get past the weaknesses of the film and make it a good purchase?...
- 11/19/2014
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
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