The Toxic Avenger is a 1984 American superhero black comedy splatter film directed by Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman (credited as Samuel Weil) and written by Kaufman and Joe Ritter. It is the first installment of The Toxic Avenger franchise. The film was released by Troma Entertainment, known for producing low budget B-movies with campy concepts and gruesome violence. Virtually ignored upon its first release, The Toxic Avenger caught on with filmgoers after a long and successful midnight movie engagement at the Bleecker Street Cinema in Greenwich Village in late 1985. It is now regarded as a cult classic.
The film has generated a media franchise including three film sequels, a stage musical production, a video game and a children's TV cartoon. In 2019, it was announced that Legendary Entertainment would be producing a reboot of the film, with original creators Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz of Troma Entertainment serving as producers and Macon Blair serving as writer and director.
Plot[]
Tromaville is a town near New Jersey that is the capital with the highest management of toxic garbage, waste and evildoers. There lives Melvin, a gym cleaner who is always teased. One day Melvin falls into a barrel full of radioactive acid when he is on the run from a gang of young men.
Cast[]
- Mitch Cohen as Melvin Ferd junko III/The Toxic Avenger
- Kenneth Kessler as The Voice of Maelvin ferd junko III/The Toxic Avenger
- Mark Torgl as Melvin Ferd Junko III/the toxic avenger
- Andree Maranda as Sara
- Pat Ryan Jr. as Mayor Peter Belgoody Goldberg
- Sarabel Levinson as Mrs. Ferd Junko
- Dan Snow as "Cigar Face"
- Dick Martinsen as Officer O'Clancy
- Gary Schneider as "Bozo"
- Robert Prichard as "Slug"
- Jennifer Babtist as Wanda
- Cindy Manion as Julie
- Chris Liano as Walter Harris
- David N. Weiss as Chief of Police
- Doug Isbecque as "Knuckles"
- Charles Lee, Jr. as "Nipples"
- Pat Kilpatrick as Leroy
- Larry Sulton as Frank
- Michael Russo as Rico
- Al Pia as Tom Wrightson
- Dennis Souder as Drug Dealer
- Steven J. Zmed as Gaseous Maximus, The Human Trash Can
- Xavier Barquet as Man Shot In Restaurant
- Reuben Guss as Dr. Snodburger
- Matt Klan as Boy Hero
- Dominick J. Calvitto as Skippy, Boy On Bicycle
- Rick Hochman as "The Hoch"
- Marisa Tomei (Director's cut) as Girl In Locker Room
Production[]
The Toxic Avenger was the film that "built the house of Troma", and was Troma's first horror film. Previously the production company focused on sex comedies such as Cry Uncle! and Squeeze Play!. Subsequently, Troma focused almost exclusively on horror films.
In 1975, Lloyd Kaufman had the idea to shoot a horror film involving a health club while serving as the pre-production supervisor on the set of Rocky. At the Cannes Film Festival, Kaufman had read an article that said horror films were no longer popular, so Kaufman claims that he decided to produce his own version of the horror film. The film's final outcome was less a bona fide horror film and more of a campy superhero-spoof with extreme violence embedded throughout. The setting of the movie in a health club and the movie was given a working title of Health Club Horror.
Filming[]
Principal photography for The Toxic Avenger took place at various locations in New Jersey, including Jersey City, Boonton, Paramus, Harrison, and Rutherford during the summer of 1983. Filming also took place in Depew Park and several surrounding streets in Peekskill, New York. Filming was later reported to be completed in 1983.
The car chase scene was inspired by the final truck scene in George Miller's film Mad Max 2.
Release[]
Home media[]
The Toxic Avenger was released by Troma on VHS in 1995, and for the first time on DVD on March 25, 1998. It was later re-released by Troma on November 20, 2000 and again on September 3, 2002; with the latter release of the film being a part of a 4-Disk Toxic Avenger movie pack. The film was later picked up for distribution by Prism, who later released the film on February 2, 2004. Troma later released a 21st Anniversary Edition version of the film on March 29, 2005. On March 7, 2006; the film was released by Koch Entertainment. The film would not receive another home media release until Troma released a "Japanese Cut" of the film on December 11, 2012. Troma would release the film for the first time on Blu-ray on August 12, 2014. On November 18, later that year, it was again released on Blu-ray by Import Vendor.
Reception[]
Critical response[]
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, The Toxic Avenger holds an approval rating of 70%, based on 20 reviews, and an average rating of 5.5/10. Its consensus reads, "A silly and ribald superhero spoof, Toxic Avenger's uninhibited humor hits more than it misses." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 42 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "Mixed or average reviews".
Author and film critic Leonard Maltin awarded the film 2.5 out of 4 stars, calling the film, "A funny spoof... Not without violence and gore but still entertaining." Stephen Holden of The New York Times rated the film a score of 3/5, complimenting the film for its " maniacally farcical sense of humor", while also noting that the film itself was trash.
TV Guide gave the film a negative 1/5 stars, writing "Though it is silly, sleazy, and graphically violent, The Toxic Avenger does hold a bit of warped charm for fans of this sort of thing." Keith Phipps from The A.V. Club was highly critical of the film, writing, "As for the movie itself, it's still a piece of trash, if a marginally entertaining one: It's too self-consciously parodic to be good kitsch, and too gross to be all that fun." In his book Comedy-Horror Films: A Chronological History, 1914-2008, Bruce G. Hallenbeck described the film as "disgusting, sick, vile, poorly acted and sloppily produced." He challenged the interpretation of the film as a parody, arguing that the mean-spirited tone of its extreme gore and offensiveness makes clear that the filmmakers were simply trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator.
