Apocalypse Soon: The Making of 'Citizen Toxie'

Tonight LLoyd Kaufman got his lifetime achievement award. Afterwards there was a presentation of 'Apocalypse Soon' which I expected to be very raunchy (like the extras on Troma's War DVD), but turned out to be incredibly educational and entertaining as well. 135 minutes of perseverence by Kaufman, cut from a gruesome production in which eleven people got sacked and the cameraman hired back again (then trashed), an M16 didn't work, a stuntman had to be paid for jumping from a stunning 3 feet high onto two-feet-high cushion, actresses suddenly don't want to take their shirts off (you can't do that to a Troma movie) and lots of other mind-boggling problems. If this is a fake story about a troubled production merely to make the featured movie sell, then i don't know what's real anymore.

If you don't consider the quality of the featured movie, then I'd have to say 'Apocalypse Soon' is better than 'Hearts of Darkness' in which case i have to rate it 10/10 and i will. Just a pity they don't show how Kaufman fires all those crew. I still hope the Hollywood companies (read: the devil-worshipping international conglomerates) see this and realize they've been beaten once and for all by Troma. The editing is ingenious, as is the camera-work. Even Michael Herz's (Joe Fleishaker?) corpulence surpasses Marlon Brando's! It's hard to admit, but I don't think a 135 min docu about The Lord Of The Rings would be THIS interesting.

These 135 minutes are simply worth it and confirmed that Kaufman (also see Terror Firmer) indeed has achieved a lot. BTW, the lifetime achievement award formerly went to Paul Verhoeven (Soldaat van Oranje, Starship Troopers, Basic Instinct) and Brian Yuzna (Bride of Re-Animator, Society, Beyond Re-Animator) and Dario Argento (Phenomena, Suspiria, Profondo Rosso).

Schpadoinkle. This is a great documentary. It's raw and real. It shows the traumatic process of the making of a Troma movie in all its natural glory. I have seen some horrid documentaries,and trust me when I say you will be amazed at how much this one isn't horrid. It's great. I hope to see more documentaries like this soon. I was really happy to get some insight to some of the Troma faces. Such as Joe Fleishaker. I was impressed with his story of his once athletic bodies inability to stop eating like a professional athlete. That man is great. I wish him all the best, as I do also the filmmakers responsible for this great documentary. Thanks.

This is great. It should have been on HBO instead of project greenlight. This is really funny. We see the real turmoils and troubles one may face while working on a troma film. Some may think it is all goofing around to make another low budget film. Well that is true, but it also deals with the stupidity you might face while trying to make a movie. My favorite scenes have to be when lloyd is telling the 2nd ad how to put the script revisions into the script, and when a 10 year old is pitching a movie idea to lloyd. I laughed really hard with this one. It is great.

You think it's easy to make a low budget film? Watch this documentary. Almost as good as the film it's a companion to, this making-of can be watched and appreciated on its own as well. The trials and tribulations experienced by everyone is at the same time hilarious and devastating. Nobody pulls any punches despite the presence of a documentary crew. Troma movies are silly, raunchy, and a lot of fun, but "Apocalypse Soon" takes you behind the scenes to show this is first and foremost a business. Anybody who thinks that independent filmmaking is easy needs to watch this. 5/5.