Film Review: The Toxic Avenger

The film that put Troma Entertainment on the map is, in many ways, hard to review. On one hand, it's considered a cult classic, and I would fully agree with that sentiment. But, you can't help but face the inescapable fact that it is terrible. In an entertaining way, of course, but the fact remains.

Melvin (Mark Torgl) is a hapless, nerdy mop boy at Tromaville Health Club who is taunted and bullied by the not-very-pleasant-at-all gym goers, which culminates in him taking a header out of a window and into a passing vat of toxic waste. This unleashes his alter ego and turns into the hulking Toxic Avenger, a monster who will stop at nothing to make every wrong-doer in Tromaville pay.

And boy, are there a lot of wrong-doers in Tromaville! Seemingly intent on ignoring any kind of subtly and being as politically incorrect as possible, the filmmakers cram the film full of the vile scum imaginable. The aforementioned health club bullies like to run over ethnic minorities and children on the side (and taking photos of the results!), robbers holding up fast food restaurants shoot guide dogs...the list goes on. Thankfully the film is so insanely over the top all these bad eggs seem like caricatures, nothing seems really REAL.

Although not everyone shares my views. Actor Patrick Kilpatrick (who went on to feature in Eraser, The Replacement Killers, Under Siege 2 etc) actually walked out of the film after being asked to point a shotgun at a baby. OK, on second thought, not everything seems like a caricature...

If it does to you, however, the punishments for them fit the crime. If anything, the savaging dealt out on bullies and scum bags of the film is even worse than what they do! Eyeballs are wrenched out, a man is turned into a human ice cream (much worse than it sounds), arms are torn off...

So the film is pretty violent, to put it mildly. But is it any good?

Even though the acting is universally dreadful, and, bar a few set pieces and the make up effects, looking like it was filmed on the worlds tightest budget, the whole thing is gloriously entertaining. It may be dumber than a bag of hammers, but its hilariously funny, totally un-PC and ridiculously over the top. And the most important thing of all is that it's meant to be.

The Toxic Avenger is definitely not everyone's cup of tea, hell, it's not even a lot of horror fans idea of a good movie, but it's a just a ton of crazy, gory fun.

***
Poorly acted it may be, but Toxic Avenger is a hugely entertaining gorefest that will thrill splatter-fans everywhere. Although, they probably have already seen it. Everyone else should take a deep breath, not take it too seriously, and have a watch.