The Toxic Avenger Series – A “Reappraisal”
Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz started Troma Entertainment back in 1974 and unlike most independent companies Troma has survived VHS, DVD and now Blu-Ray. They have always had a genius approach to financing their films, they always make fun campy horror films or comedies that cost next to nothing and sell them for reasonable prices on home video and sometimes theatrically or they buy up like-minded independent films and do the same with those. They are most well-known for their Toxic Avenger series which debuted in 1984 and has spawned three sequels and an animated kids show amongst other forms of media.
The first Toxic Avenger film is certainly the best of the four films which is often the case. It came out in 84 and became a bit of a sensation, its irreverence humour and gross out fun stuck a cord with a both older genre fans but also strangely a younger audience through home video. It first however developed its cult following at the famous art house Bleecker Street Cinema in New York City. It was also one of the first “Superhero” films it was 5 years before the ’89 Tim Burton Batman after all.
Kaufman and Herz obviously after the surprise success of the first film wanted to cash on that with a sequel. They ended up shooting two back to back, this rarely works Lord of the Rings doesn’t count. However this only ended up being a partial fluke because the 2nd half of two is basically part 3 so much so a journalist from Fangoria who visited the set thought the villain of 3 was gonna show up in part 2. The first sequel is set in Japan (and was partially shot there) and it’s frankly a total bore it’s about 30 minutes longer than the quick pace of the original’s breezy 85 minutes. The 3rd film brings back some of the absurdist charm of the 1st, it elaborates on the satire of corporate America aspects of part 2 which in embodied by the fact the corporation is run by non-other then the Prince of Darkness.
The Troma Team took a long break from The Toxic Avenger series and it was a 11 years gap between 3 and 4. The opening narration however completely discounts the events of part 2 and 3 and states this is the true sequel to the original film. It starts off with one of the most shocking opening scenes ever committed to the screen. The “diaper gang” takes students of Tromaville School for the Very Special and the depicted of the disabled is so offensive it really has to been seen to believed. However Troma despite being overly offensive in some of their films it’s all done with a wink to the audience so it doesn’t become ableist or in earlier films homophobic and it’s done in such a absurd fashion it’s hard to take serious. It’s more of the same but it’s definitely more in tune with the fun factor of the first film and it has high production values than the previous films and is full of cameos from Lemmy, Ron Jeremy and even Hugh Hefner amongst others.
The Toxic Avenger series may not be the greatest films ever made by a very long stretch. Troma however with these 4 films (amongst others) have built a catalogue of fun-loving throwback B-Movies that never take themselves to serious and where else do you find a film where a nerd in a tutu gets turned into a toxic superhero from New Jersey? Lloyd Kaufman remains one of the most visionary of low (low) budget filmmakers working today and his work for the most part just speaks for itself, they may not be high art but I much rather watch the first The Toxic Avenger over quite a few films that are considered “classics”. I just hope the family friendly big-budget remake never happens but the paycheck for Kaufman, Herz and co. would be nice. 88 Films Blu-Ray releases of the series are also totally stacked to the rims with commentaries, documentaries, interviews and tons more and they are extremely reasonable priced too!
Ian Schultz
Buy the whole series on Blu-Ray from 88 Films
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