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This year marks the 40th Anniversary of the original Toxic Avenger film and it
looks like this is shaping up to be the year of the Toxic Avenger revival. There
are more than a few current comic series featuring him from Ahoy Comics. One of
the titles ("Toxie Team Up") features the cult hero, teaming up with the
Jesus Christ-the Jesus from Ahoy’s "Second Coming" intermittent comic
series. The first issue of the old Marvel Comics Toxic Avenger series from
1991-92 recently went way up in price and is selling for over a hundred dollars
on eBay. To add to this anniversary we have a new version of the Toxic Avenger
on film and it is a satisfactory but not great remake of the eighties cult
classic.
The film has been in the news a lot because some theatre chains have reported
that record amounts of people have been walking out of the theater (I don’t
think the scene in which our hero defeats someone by urinating radioactive waste
on someone helped.) A similar thing happened during James Franco’s
award-winning mountain movie, 127 Hours, which caused both walkouts and some
people even reportedly vomited. If anything, I was a bit disappointed because I
found it a little tame and less transgressive than the original. But this
version has the advantage of having better special effects and production
values, plus a good cast that features actors I have actually heard of like
Peter Dinklage, Elijah Wood, and Kevin Bacon.
This film, as with the original, was made by Troma, which is known for putting
grade Z (which is much lower than B) exploitation films. Their films are so
cheap that they make Roger Corman’s Masque of Red Death, which was considered
very low budget at the time, look like Titanic. The New City rock critic, Ray
Pride, famously once wrote that no amount of alcohol could make me give a Troma
film a positive review. I like some of them, but the only one I truly loved
was Tromeo and Juliet, a splatter punk version of the Shakespeare classic, which
was written by James Gunn, yes-that Gunn from
Superman. And it was narrated by Lemmy, the late leader of Motorhead, On the Tromeo VHS cover, it says it has
“Body piercing, kinky sex, and dismemberment. All the things that made
Shakespeare great.” Other Troma films, such as Sgt Kabukiman, Class of Nuke' em
High, and Cat Girls in Heat, have some good moments in them as well. Many of
these films can be screened for free on Tubi. My interview with Lloyd Kaufman,
who co-produced Tromeo, can be found on my website at Lloyd Kaufman Interview
– ART INTERVIEWS and in the new book called Lloyd Kaufman Interviews, which is
part of the Conversations with Filmmakers series,
https://www.amazon.com/Lloyd-Kaufman-Interviews-Conversations-Filmmakers-ebook/dp/B0DTZ6Z1ZB.
In this remake, Peter Dinklage (X-Men
Days of Future Past and
Avengers Infinity War) plays Winston (aka:
"the Hero") a character
who is decent, but he finds himself pushed around a lot. He works for an unscrupulous corporation BTH (aka:
"Body Talk Health") that is knowingly exposing nearby
citizens to toxic waste as a result of all the shortcuts they take to save money. At
one point he witnesses some thugs hired by developers
threatening harm to his neighbor and her cat unless she sells the feline to the
corrupt corporation. He saves her cat, but his son criticizes him for not
directly confronting the thugs and doing more. This seems unfair since the hoods
are several feet taller than he is.
Eventually Winston is involved in an industrial accident, which
hideously deforms him but also gives
him fast healing powers and superhuman strength. It transforms him onto the
Toxic Avenger (played by British actress Luisa Guerreiro). Like the original story, "Toxie" is a misunderstood monster with a
good heart and superpowers who fights evil in the town of St. Roma Village
(aka: "Tromaville"). It's a blend of two genres: horror
and superhero. In many ways it tells a tale similar to the origins of the Incredible Hulk and Swamp Thing, and in tone
it is obviously influenced by early Marvel Comic stories. And like traditional
heroes, Toxie also has a gadget he employs in crime fighting. Where
Captain America has his shield and Batman his bat-a-rang, Toxie has his trusty
mop which he uses a weapon in fighting evil. Unlike the other heroes he likes to push
it through people’s heads in battle to gloriously gory effect. These and other
gore effects here are one reason the film was initially going to be
released unrated, but finally given a much deserved "R" rating.
Kevin Bacon (X-Men
First Class
and
MaXXXine), gives a tasty scene-chewing performance
as Bob Garbinger (aka: "the Villain"). He has a girlfriend
who is dressed and filmed so she resembles Melania Trump. At one
point in desperation, they both inject themselves with toxic waste and gain
powers similar to Toxie, and they ultimately end up battling him and his sidekick in the
climax. Elijah Wood plays Bob's brother Fritz (aka: "the Creepy Brother"), who is a bit more sympathetic
and
looks like the singer/playwright from Rocky Horror. He manages a rock group that
doubles as thugs that look like Insane Clown Posse rip-off with one guy dressing as a
chicken. Subtlety is intentionally not in the films round house and many of the characters are
drawn either as corrupt or stupid or both, The films allusions to
Trump and his Cabinet are obvious.
Like all super-hero films there is a post credit scene that is both odd and puzzling. Toxie appears in an instructional video, giving advice on how to
best make grilled cheese sandwiches. The scene is interesting, but I am not
quite sure why they decided to end the film this way. It's neither good nor
bad, it adds nothing to the film and doesn't seem to promo a sequel-it's just bizarre.
And perhaps that oddness is a commentary on the whole post credit phenomenon
itself.
This new version
was actually created two years ago in 2023, but it was shelved because the filmmakers
had problems finding a distributor. It is just now coming out in theaters,
and it has wide distribution for this type of film. The film was put out by
Converse, who are known for successfully distributing profitable, cheap horror
films. They previously found remarkable success putting out the movies in the "Terrifier" series, which I sort of liked, featuring a homicidal killer clown with
supernatural powers that defy logic.
The film has found an original and admirable way to get publicity. One of
the story themes is to spotlight the plight of several poor characters who cannot afford to pay for health care.
This theme is a purposeful story element in the film acting as a sort of reverse
product placement. The makers of this film have pledged to give
financially disadvantaged sick people a percentage of the profits up to five million dollars.
The money will go to the non-profit Undue Medical Debt, an organization that
leverages donations to purchase qualifying medical debt. For every one million
they make at the box office they are committed to erasing an additional million
in debt.
While the film is far from essential viewing, it is good enough to receive a
mildly positive rating, and it would make a decent Svengoolie film (he has shown
far worse films) assuming the gore effects were "cleaned up" (aka:cut) for
television. Toxic Avenger is recommended, but mostly for fans of horror,
superheroes, and cult movies, and only for viewers with strong stomachs.
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