O2D It takes a special kind of person to appreciate Troma movies.They definitely aren't for everyone.This is considered to be their best movie but I would say it's only in the top ten.This movie(like many other Troma flicks) takes place in the imaginary town of Tromaville, New Jersey.A town that has become a dumping ground for toxic waste.For some reason all the cool kids hang out at the local gym where poor, geeky Melvin works as the mop boy.Of course the cool kids hate Melvin and decide to play a trick on him.A hot girl tells him if he puts on a pink tutu she will have sex with him.She makes him close his eyes to kiss her and he opens them to find out he is kissing a sheep in front of all the cool kids.He runs down the hall and falls out a window into an open barrel of toxic waste that is on a flatbed truck that has pulled over so the driver can snort coke.The waste transforms him into a monster that loves to violently kill anyone who hurts people.For a low budget film the plot and special effects are pretty good.The jokes can get a bit cheesy but that's what Troma is all about.Six stars.

brando647 I've never seen a Troma film before but I do remember watching the "Toxic Crusaders" cartoon as a child with a vague awareness that it was based on a movie. Something recently brought that cartoon to my attention again for the first time in decades and so I figured I'd dive into the movies from which the character originated. So, with no context whatsoever and only a passing familiarity with the sort of movies that built Troma's cult following, I ordered all four Toxic Avenger movies from Amazon. So it begins. THE TOXIC AVENGER is…a movie. That much is true. It's not a great movie and I'm certain I could find countless people who might even call it total garbage, but I don't hate it. It's unapologetic, violent, crude, stupid, and filled to the brim with the most hateful of characters but I can still see some of the charm shining through. I have no qualms with bad movies. Movies can have shoddy production values, incomprehensible writing, and wooden acting but still find redemption in the spirit. THE TOXIC AVENGER has spirit to spare. It's a low, low budget horror/action/comedy from people who love making movies and have a certain creative spark when it comes to special effects. Let's face it, this movie hasn't got the depth of a $10 plastic kiddie pool but it accomplishes what it set out to do: to titillate, offend, gross you out and, most importantly, make you laugh. In this sense, TOXIC AVENGER succeeds.As the movie opens, we're introduced to Tromaville. It's a cesspool of toxic waste dumping, political corruption, rampaging criminals, and a health club where everyone is just the worst. Melvin Junko (Mark Torgl) is the focus of everyone's hatred. The poor dork with the unfortunate face and dim wit is a mop boy under constant assault from the likes of Bozo (Gary Schneider) and Slug (Robert Prichard, who really looks like a "That 70's Show" era Ashton Kutcher). These aren't your average workout thugs either; when they're not torturing Melvin or sexing up their buxom girlfriends, their out running down pedestrians in their car and racking up points in their sick games. One afternoon, the punks formulate a plan to prank Melvin and it results in Melvin (in a pink tutu) going headfirst into a barrel of toxic waste. That toxic waste mutates Melvin into a scarred, hulking monster (Mitch Cohen) with a sixth sense for detecting evil. And when he detects evil, he has to clean it up. Because he's got a mop. Get it? So now Melvin, as this toxic monster, makes it his mission to violently murder Tromaville's criminals and get a little revenge in the process. He also finds love in the arms of the beautiful blind Sarah (Andree Maranda), whom he saves from certain death in a fast food robbery. And that's about it. Melvin transforms and we get a series of graphically violent murder scenes for about forty five minutes before the movie decides to wrap.The writing is very, very simple and the dialogue is very, very stupid. These things are not the focus of a movie like THE TOXIC AVENGER. There isn't a natural, believable performance in the entire film. No one in this movie is expected to act. Everything about this movie is explosively over the top. Evil characters screech their lines with wide eyes and cackle maniacally, and the suffering civilians of Tromaville bemoan their situation with wrung hands and stumbled lines. Melvin announces his intentions as the town's new hero with stiff, poorly-dubbed heroic monologues. It's admirable that Troma's cult classic manages to squeeze through with what, structurally, can be considered a functional film. None of this matters though because THE TOXIC AVENGER is all about the craziness. We get crushed heads, disembowelment, dismemberment, and more. There's a shotgun pointed at an infant's face and a guide dog blown away in gory fashion. No one is safe. There're jokes aimed at fat people, homosexuals, and at least one little person shoved into an industrial clothes dryer. There's also plenty of gratuitous nudity because a movie like this isn't going to hold out on any front. Or "anyone's" front. Because there's a lot of breasts, see. THE TOXIC AVENGER is not for everyone. It's barely for me. I wouldn't have minded a stronger plot or better performances but I guess graphic shots of a child's head exploding under a car tire is…something. But it's got that spirit. These are people who knew what they were doing and they were having a real blast doing it. That's worth something, especially with a film like this where it wears that spirit on its sleeve.

Leofwine_draca This is probably about the most famous and best known title that Troma studios have released. It's an uneven black comedy, with a high gore quotient and lots of lame jokes and laugh scenes. However it's still highly entertaining if you're in the right silly mood, and the title and reputation alone make it a must see if you're a fan at all of exploitation cinema.The cast is full of nobodies, actors who look like they've been picked off the street, and fill every clichéd role in the book as they madly mug at the camera. To be fair, most of the actors don't take themselves too seriously and a few of them are hilariously over the top. The laughs range from the quite clever to the downright stupid, with the mickey being taken out of the overweight, the blind, just about anyone you can think of really. Therefore the film isn't for those who get easily offended.The story about a nerd who turns superhero is infamous and clichéd by now, but it was still quite fresh here and therefore it's quite enjoyable. Some sequences are highly reminiscent of Frankenstein, especially with the blind girl, although not as highbrow. Basically the plot is an excuse for a series of violent fight scenes, where the Avenger murders the baddies in various graphic ways, including ripping the entrails out of them, frying them in a deep pan fryer, burning them in a microwave and even drilling them. These fight scenes are all quite enjoyable and fun to watch.There is plenty of the above mentioned gore to enjoy and lots of topless girls to add to the exploitation feel, as well as some out of place classic horror movie music. This just adds to the feel of the film, which is a totally crazy and insane one. The special effects aren't bad for Toxie; although pretty rubbery, they are good value for money.The most interesting thing about this film is how much was achieved with so little a budget, all you need is a little imagination, and this film succeeds with that. With lots of sequels and even a cartoon following, this uneven but likable comedy is probably worth a watch.

westside-surfer I can't believe I waited so many years to watch this AWESOME movie. There's so much good stuff that I don't know where to start. First off, I haven't had this much fun watching a movie in years. It's a gross-out comedy that purposely violates all the Hollywood rules while basking in the 80s feel-good attitude.With most B-movies, I hardly expect more than a few exaggerated kill scenes punctuated by filler, not this one. The characters are exaggerated to the point of becoming a real-life cartoon. Mark Torgl's facial expressions alone will brand themselves into your permanent memory. But this over-the-top hilarity is balanced by their ability to really make you feel their inner pain. The director, Lloyd Kaufman, also creates moments of true desolation while somehow keeping it funny. Somehow he gets you to feel sorry while laughing at the misfortune of those poor bastards.What makes this movie great is that "anything goes," but it doesn't toss out everything else expected: original dialogue, competent actors, and cohesive story. The only thing this movie lacked was better film quality. The lack of funds are definitely apparent camera department. But, with an astronomically low budget 475,000$, these film makers should be commended for making Toxic Avenger cult classic.