In 1990, I got into “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and eventually learned that the source material was adult-aimed comic books. The same year, the “Toxic Crusaders” cartoon was on TV and the Playmates action figures were right next to “TMNT” toys on the shelves. The source material here makes “TMNT’s” look tame by comparison, and I can only hope not too many kids checked out the 1984 “Toxic Avenger” movie and became traumatized.
Troma or trauma?
“The Toxic Avenger,” lauded by many as a classic entry from Troma Entertainment (which decades later became known as the proving grounds of James Gunn), is part soft-core porn, part Fangoria-baiting gore-porn, and part Z-movie production values with continuity and lighting errors.
It’s not good by any means, but it’s easier to watch than bad movies that are trying to be good movies. I am embarrassed to admit I had a smile on my face by the end.
“The Toxic Avenger” (1984)
Directors: Michael Herz, Lloyd Kaufman
Writers: Joe Ritter (screenplay), Lloyd Kaufman (story), Gay Partington Terry (additional material)
Stars: Andree Maranda, Mitch Cohen, Jennifer Babtist
The concept from writers Lloyd Kaufman (who co-directs with Michael Herz) and Joe Ritter is that we’ll see criminals in Tromaville, N.J., do horrible things and then enjoy vigilante Toxie (Mitch Cohen physically, Kenneth Kessler vocally and Mark Torgl pre-transformation) doing horrible things to the criminals in retaliation.
Objectively speaking, it’s truly stunning what happens in this merely R-rated film. The primary villains – based out of Tromaville Fitness, which looks like Ground Zero for the coronavirus – make a game out of using their car as a weapon to murder pedestrians and cyclists.
They get bonus points for killing kids and racial minorities. “The Toxic Avenger” includes a scene where these people run over a kid on a bike, then when he turns out to be still alive, they go back and make sure to run over his head, squishing it.
One big goof
While this is totally inappropriate for young and sensitive viewers, it’s possible to have such a thing on a film that people will rent on a lark at the video store because everyone knows it’s one big goof. The actors purposely overact and the gore, albeit gross, is purposely unrealistic.
While it’s interesting for a half-second to think about a town (or perhaps the gym specifically?) that turns out men and women so lacking in empathy that violent murder is pure entertainment to them, it’s obvious a half-second later that “The Toxic Avenger” is not making a point of any kind.
It’s stupid for the sake of comedy. Perhaps the closest modern equivalent would be something like the “Super Troopers” movies, but even that doesn’t line up. Simply put, they don’t make movies like this anymore, and they never will again. “The Toxic Avenger” gets its humor (or “humor,” if you’re not in the spirit) out of not only killing kids, but also killing dogs and poking fun at gay people, blind people, and forced child prostitution.
The tone is consistent, but the overall quality and the batting average of the jokes is not.
Patched-together performance
The patched together Toxie performance is barely more interesting than that of Swamp Thing in his two unwatchable 1980s films. Despite performing in garish porn-style scenes, “Toxic Avenger’s” women are quite good looking.
Andree Maranda’s Sara is particularly endearing as Toxie’s blind girlfriend. The film holds back on its pornographic urges in order to secure an R rating here, which is arguably too bad because it misses out on humorous ways to explain why Sara likes this creature, whose only deformity is his face. The rest of him is just dirty, basically.
The stiffly staged fight scenes follow the format of cutting to shocked reactions of innocent bystanders as Toxie offs criminals in bizarre ways in back alleys and restaurants. Adding some spice is the total corruption of the local government, led by a fat mayor (Pat Ryan Jr.). When Toxie rips out the mayor’s intestines in the grand finale, the gore effect is disappointing.
“The Toxic Avenger” – which led to three film sequels along with the aforementioned kiddie cartoon — relies on the audience’s forgiveness for the fact that it’s cheaply made. If it had more money, it could’ve beefed up some key special effects shots and been better. As it stands, it’s the most brazenly dumb movie so far in my Superhero Saturday series, but honestly not the worst.