The Toxic Avenger - Il vendicatore tossico

One of the craziest, most over-the-top, and bizarre films I've ever seen. Still feels surprisingly fresh and puts the majority of today's superhero films to shame, including recent hits such as "Avengers Assemble" and "The Dark Knight Rises" (Coincidentally, the latter stole a line from this film). Why? Because not only does this not take itself even remotely seriously, it's hilarious to the point where the comedic timing rivals that of some of the most beloved comedies out there. The pacing is also practically perfect, ensuring there's not a single dull moment during the entire runtime. The only time where I started to feel the length was during the finale, but that's only because I was watching it late at night. Herz and Kaufman proved here that they knew exactly what it took to make an entertaining camp trash classic. It also has some rather well implemented social commentary, but never preaches to the viewer or makes them feel as if they're watching a "message movie" in disguise. "The Toxic Avenger" is certainly not for everyone, and the average person is likely to automatically label it as juvenile garbage with no redeeming values, but for those with an open mind and a strong stomach for pretty much anything, it's simply an absolute blast from start-to-finish, and if any of Troma's other films are even half as entertaining, I have a feeling I'm going to quickly become a huge fan.

Troma Films is legendary in the New York/New Jersey area, where most of their films are shot. (I was on site during the filming of a crowd scene for "Class of Nuke'Em High" in Paramus, New Jersey during the summer of '85, but to be honest I've never been able to find myself on screen in the movie.) The Toxic Avenger is arguably Troma's most accomplished work, and remains its most famous/popular film. Oddly enough, despite the tasteless humor and constant gross-out scenes in this movie, the title character spawned several sequels (of varying quality) and was eventually re-cast as a kid friendly cartoon character (!) with an environmental message in the late '80s that resulted in a line of comic books, toys and action figures!! Watching this gutbustingly hilarious 1985 classick (pun intended) now, it's hard to believe how far "Toxie" came. The Toxic Avenger's humor is definitely not for everybody, but if you're from Jersey, you are hereby required to rent it at least once. On a side note, Joe Zarro, who appears in this film as the proprietor of the dry cleaner's shop, taught English and Film Studies at Paramus High School in the late 1980s. His star turn in "Toxic Avenger" was widely known among the student body, yet he seemed somewhat embarrassed by it and naturally, he wouldn't even consider screening it for our class. What a shame!!

The Toxic Avenger (1985) was the flagship of Troma's movie line during the early to mid 80's. This film was responsible for keeping the company a float during this time period and it also marked a turning point in the company's history. For years, Lloyd Kaufman and company were making cheesy sex comedies. With the birth of the Toxic Avenger, they started to expand their horizons, focusing on low budget horror/comedy trashy spoofs films. Instant cult classics were being produced by Team Troma. The Toxic Avenger is a Charles Atlas tale gone a wry. A weak nerd is transformed into a superhero of "superhuman size and strength." Melvin Junko is his name. Melvin was a mop boy for a local health spa. One day when a mean prank turned into a horrible accident, he was exposed to an open drum of toxic waste. That unfortunate mishap transforms and mutates Melvin into an avenger, a TOXIC AVENGER. Troma becomes a worldwide phenomenon and the Toxic Avenger becomes one of the most famous cult films of all time. A must for all campy cult film fans!!

Highly recommended!

The Toxic Avenger is one of those Troma horror flicks you should have watched at least once in your lifetime befor entering the next level - if you love horror comedies, of course. What you get is perfect cheesy horror 80s style with a lot of humor, overacting, some naked boobs, weird stuff happening scene after scene, fueld with crazy characters, and last but not least, some gory moments and violence. Still great fun for the connoisseur of sleazy 'n' trash. Don't forget: there are a couple of sequels, quality ranging from okay to solid.

Lacklustre direction by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz, a goofy script (by Joe Ritter), truly poor FX and even worse acting all add up to, for some strange, abstract reason, a stupidly enjoyable film experience.

Maybe it's the camp sounding music, the over the top (and in some cases *way* over the top) 'acting', or perhaps it's just the fact that it's so unashamedly weird and downright cheesy that makes it such fun to watch, who knows? Whatever the reason this definitely isn't a film to spend long hours contemplating such things, instead just sit back and enjoy the crazy show.

Performance wise, as already mentioned, none of the actors give even remotely decent performances, with the exception of Andree Miranda who's actually pretty good in her role as Toxie's blind girlfriend. All of the other actors are so far over the top (or indeed just so downright terrible) that by films end they too have somehow managed to take on their own distinctly cheesy charm and add greatly to the whole 'so bad it's good' motif.

As I may have mentioned once or twice before 'The Toxic Avenger' is cheesier than a block of cheese factories, and as such it takes a special type of person to enjoy 'this type of thing', however for those with their tongue planted firmly in cheek, and for lovers of schlock cinema and 50's z-grade monster movies this is a must see. For most everyone else though it's probably best avoided and will most likely induce headaches and annoyance rather than belly laughs and amusement. Which of the above descriptions best suits you I'll leave you to decide for yourself.

7/10