I 'd been holding off revisiting 'The Toxic Avenger' films for a while now; ever since it was announced that Troma and Vinegar Syndrome were working together to remaster all 4 movies in 4k. I previously owned the movies on the old 88 films bluray releases, and thought the picture quality was fine enough. But the opportunity to see these films re-graded to restore them back to the original visions Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Hertz had for them when they were all respectively released, alongside seeing them all get a pretty decent resolution upgrade, was just too big of a pull for me not to try and nab the set. And; after a chance run in with a pretty decent price drop (I managed to grab the set for £57) I can say that this is an upgrade definitely worth grabbing.
The film follows the titular 'Toxic Avenger' formally a painfully awkward, weedy janitor by the name of Melvin. Melvin cleans the 'Tromaville Gym' Tromaville itself is known as the world biggest provider of land to dump nuclear waste, and the radioactive materials appears to have taken its toll on the towns population, with insane punks, lawless perverts and octuple XL size mayors running the town into the sewer.
When a group of punks try to pull a cruel prank on Melvin, things go too far and Melvin ends up plunged into a barrel of toxic waste which transforms him into mucle bound, mop mauling hero we all know and love. At first, his mission is vengence on the bullies who pranked him, but eventually, he finds love, settles down and decides to take on the corrupt injustices of the world.
And This films frankly just SUCH a wonderfully silly slab of counterculture work. I find it really quite hard to dislike it. It has enough of a budget that they can do fun and cool things like set multiple people on fire, collapse old buildings and rent army vehicals and hold high speed car chases. but at the same time the budgets so low that most of the cast are family and friends of troma, and a lot of the film has to take place outdoors because...sets are expensive y'know?
The scripts ultra light, acidic and brimming with a pop punk sensibility. Later era Troma movies would trade purely on 'Anti PC' monikers and an attitude that basically amounted to 'doing gross or graphic stuff = eyes on the film. So do that at all costs.' This film does have some questionable moments (racial slurs, homophobia and some anti trans rhetoric) but the things SO intensly unserious, and SO utterly goofy. it kind of lands itself in the same pot as 'The Evil Dead' where, realistically Its too daft to ever really be taken as an intent of malice or controversy. Its the equivilent of a rambling mad man, it doesnt MEAN anything its saying, the film doesnt really MEAN anything broadly speaking...it simply presents us with a LOT of very disturbing, hypersexual, hypermanic characters and lets the plot figure the rest out.
The pacing is largely breakneck throughout the whole thing, though it does start to slow down a little bit in the 3rd act...Mercifully, just as it starts slowing down, the film itself starts wrapping up...So its not like we're stuck with the movie for any prolonged period of time. The act structuring is clean, clear and fairly effortless. Tonally; this things insane. running on a constant hypermanic energy and just...CONSTANTLY throwing the audience curveballs via eccentric characters, ultra gory and unexpected scenarios or if all else fails, it'll just randomly start blowing things up.
The dialogue is DRIPPING with dark humour, aggrivation and spite. its a very quotable film that's a bit of a 'lightning in a bottle' type situation, as I dont feel they quite managed to be as 'switched on' in ANY of there other films, as they were here.
Again; this film neither takes itself seriously, nor does it expect the audience to take it seriously. I firmly believe that Lloyd and Michael obviously WANTED people to come and see this film, but their attitude is very much a tone of 'We made what we wanted to make, if you like it, good. If you dont?...no refunds.'
I admire the grit that it must have taken to push this film onto the market given just how anti studio friendly this thing really is. Had they aimed to try and give this thing a more serious 'real life' edge, I think it would have been horrific. But because of its 'Merry Melodies' sensibilities. Its jawdroppingly absurd for the most part, and VERY likeable as a result.
The directions quite rough and ready, Theres absolutely a strong creative vision behind this production, and the careful planning (for budgets sake) of the practical effects elements of this production really drives home that, when he wants to, Lloyd Kaufman can really deliver a genuinely enthralling watch.
while this is absolutely a wobbly production, with ropey lighting in places, shakey handheld shots, audio quality that varies throughout and cast direction that feels like Lloyd basically just purposfully riled everyone up to get them as aggressive and manic as possible, then shouted 'Action!' This is offset, once again, by the fact that the film really doesnt care to be 'studio fodder'. it revels in the rawness of its own creation and takes a lot of inspiration from the new wave movement and the midnight movie circuit. Lloyds ability to really sell the practical effects here is probably the only time a genuine attention to detail was had during this films production. Because those are the moments folks will remember. Otherwise its rough, but lovable.
The cine, as mentioned is quite rough around the edges, compositions are largely 'of standard' and I feel like 'radioactive green' as a colour choice runs RIFE through this thing. But realistically, outside of the effects shots...its an amateur affair thats ultimately saved by its edit.
Here? the edit follows the lead of the script, rather than the footage. cutting excessively, jarringly and speedily. and it works. it totally helps to cement the sense of freneticism that the script offers up, it ampliphies and emphisises the sense of chaos that the characters and scenarios hold, and I think the edit on this is probably its saving grace. in lesser hands, this film could have been utter junk. but the keen eye on cuts and not holding on shots for too long really does take it to the next level.
And I swear, you will seldom find ANY other film that has performances like this. EVERY. SINGLE. CAST MEMBER. is hopped up, positively vibrating and appears to be ready to implode at a moments notice. its incredibly intense and one that I think you really have to be in the right headspace to truely appreciate. But I love whats shown here. whether its Melvins bullies who are all absolute psychopaths. or; just random villains like 'Cigar face' . They're all just utterly mezmorising to watch and frankly delightful.
I do however have mixed feelings on the score, its an all synth pop punk piece. Some of it, I thinks brilliant, but in places I feel like they went for slower compositions when they should have kept the energy up. Its not a bad score at all. I just feel they warmed down when they really could have stood to rev up.
I honestly have a real soft spot for the big daft energy 'The Toxic Avenger' holds. Its probably my favourite Troma movie, and with good reason! an underdog production that, with every passing year, gains the respect it probably deserves. at a time when society was pushing back on 'excessive cinema', Troma said 'FUCK YOU.' They may not have been right every time on that one...but they were absolutely spot on here. And it's definitely worth your time.
(Additional: I also need to say the 4k remastering on this is astoundingly good. it felt like a layer of vaseline had been removed from the print. its crisp, clean, the new colour correction really brings the thing to life. Its a 2 disc set thats packed with extras... in fact other than some minor scratches. I think this is about as good as the films ever going to look. and if 'Part 2' is of the same standard, the set will have paid for itself)
source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-toxic-avenger/
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