The Toxic Avenger: Uncut Review
One of the most highly anticipated films of the year for fans of cult cinema, Macon Blair’s remake of The Toxic Avenger is a bonkers film – at once funny, poignant and gloriously violent. But it is also a classic case of the behind-the-scenes story overshadowing the finished product. Unable to find a distributor for two years – supposedly due to the extreme violence rendering it unmarketable – the film never quite warrants the “Uncut” label tacked onto the title, and given the hype, the end result can’t help but feel a little tame.
Save for some specific character beats, Blair’s plot doesn’t bear much resemblance to the Troma original. Following the death of his girlfriend, hapless janitor Winston Gooze (Peter Dinklage) struggles with his stepson Wade (Jacob Tremblay). When Winston learns he has an inoperable form of cancer, he desperately seeks to leave Wade something. He appeals to his CEO, the ever-charming Bob Garbinger (Kevin Bacon), who promises to help, then cruelly backtracks, leaving Winston humiliated. Out of options, Winston robs the company payroll. The heist fails, heโs shot, and unceremoniously dumped in a vat of toxic waste. In any normal story, that would be the end – but this is Troma. The waste resurrects him: deformed, impervious to bullets, and with newfound purpose as the Toxic Avenger.
Where Blair truly succeeds is in capturing the gleeful disregard for propriety and taste that defined the original Toxic Avenger film. His film overflows with lurid colours, larger-than-life characters, crude humour and spectacular gore effects. He also wisely sidesteps some of Tromaโs nastier indulgences (sexual assault, child murder, gratuitous nudity), but he keeps the anarchic, irreverent spirit intact, while also emulating Lloyd Kaufmanโs low-budget aesthetic.
At times, though, he doesn’t go far enough. The original sets the tone very early on by having the psychotic villains drive over a childโs head. Blair teases something similar with the landladyโs cat, but shies away at the last second. Itโs both a relief and a disappointment, and a dichotomy the film struggles with throughout. There’s the dizzying violence of the diner fight scene, reprised from the original, but also a disappointingly conventional corporate espionage subplot. The final act is especially underwhelming – a predictable showdown that pales in comparison with the jaw-droppingly inspired punk rock concert set-piece that precedes it. It’s a lot of nasty fun, but always feels like it could have been nastier.
As Winston, Dinklage is superb. He has limited time to gain audience sympathy before his toxic rebirth, but he makes his downtrodden janitor someone to root for, even while establishing him as a loser through and through – he can’t even operate a toaster properly. He’s meek, pathetic and emotionally inarticulate, yet still likeable, because despite everything, he never stops trying to connect with his stepson. It gives the final reunion a real emotional weight, despite the outlandish context.
Muddying the waters somewhat is the question of just how much of “Toxie” is Dinklage, and how much is stuntwoman Luisa Guerreiro, who is under all those prosthetics. Stuntwoman Luisa Guerreiro plays the role physically, mimicking Dinklageโs performance, which he later dubbed. As Blair explained: โToxie is actually Luisa playing Peter with Peterโs voice playing Luisa.โ It’s a truly collaborative, almost symbiotic performance, but it does beg the question โ why didnโt Dinklage just play the role all the way through?
Much less complicated is the flamboyant rogues’ gallery of villains. Bacon oozes charm as Garbinger, the vain, egotistical face of the evil corporation, and Elijah Wood is virtually unrecognisable as his club-footed, pallid, lank-haired little brother, a weird combination of Danny Devito’s Penguin and Richard O Brien’s Riff Raff. The brothers have an intriguing dynamic – one embodying physical perfection and the other a deformed little creep, but this is never really explored, aside from the inherent irony that Bob is the far more monstrous of the two. Julia Davis also steals scenes as Bob’s wife/partner, and gets perhaps the most creepy transformation of the film. The most Troma-like characters are the campy, sinister hit squad who moonlight as a punk rock band, The Killer Nutz – each of whom has a distinct personality (even if one of those is simply โdoes backflips.โ)
Blair has said he deliberately tried to keep the aesthetic basic and independent, which may explain some imperfections, like a few choppy continuity edits that feel the result of either cuts or budget limitations. Still, moments like Toxie luring a villain into a trap by puppeteering a dead body work brilliantly, precisely because of the low-fi effects (and the actors’ commitment to the bit). Blair also sprinkles neat little easter eggs for anyone who has seen the original, not least the town of St Roma; a neat reference to Troma (the S is not-so-subtly obscured in all the signage), and the end titles are a joy even before the mid-credits sequence.
What Blair does really well (demonstrating the depth of his understanding of the original) is the way he tempers gory spectacle with genuine pathos. Itโs not exactly a sentimental film, but neither is it simply a gross-out comedy. More palatable than the original film, Blair gets the sense of humour down pat while recognising what wouldnโt fly in a 21st-century film. It takes a peculiar set of skills to make a Troma film charming, but Blair pulls it off as effortlessly as his hero pulls off a baddie’s arm.
That “Uncut” subtitle may write cheques the film canโt cash, but thereโs no denying that The Toxic Avenger is an absolute blast from start to finish. Blairโs remake is playful, anarchic, and replicates the heartfelt tone of the original, as evidenced by the genuinely sweet final moments.
โ โ โ โ
In UK cinemas on August 29th, played as part of FrightFest 2025 / Peter Dinklage, Jacob Tremblay, Kevin Bacon, Elijah Wood, Julia Davis / Dir: Macon Blair / Legendary Pictures / 18
Discover more from
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
About the Author
