The Toxic Avenger

The hero tromaville deserves.

It's amazing how some things change their meaning depending on the moment you review them. In the past, a film like The Toxic Avenger, was a matter of kitsch taste, a disappointing shameful attempt at film making. My earliest encounter with this now classic of the B movies genre was at a typical 1980's video rental store: A gigantic poster suggesting it was the latest superhero movie. Back then I was a kid, and thought "hell, this is like a deformed Superman, I totally want to rent it" Of course, censorship wouldn't allow it, it wasn't a kids film, it could twist my mind into a blood thirsty monster forever, which brings me to today's uncomfortable question I know many bloggers are trying to cope with. Google, friendly informed me their new censorship policy wouldn't allow nudity and/or sexuality in any form in their servers, unless it's for educational, scientific, artistic and significant for the viewer. Nevertheless, I was also told I had to check my posts as they included content that wasn't suitable for their new policy of censorship. Not following their suggestion would mean either my blog would be intervened or subject to complete deletion. 

After almost seven years of blogging and reviewing hundreds of movies of the most diverse genres, I was told to stop posting about erotic films because they're not good for human health just because. I'll tell you this, Google is only doing this to bloggers who are not paying them for posting whatever they want to. Think of the hundred of thousands of porn sites out there. They all pay for their sites in the internet, and Google and whoever thinks is capable enough of deciding what to censor and what not couldn't care less as long as they're paid. 100% of the sexploitation, porn parodies and hardcore films reviewed here, were reviewed here because they're subdued to non professional anonymous reviewers who want to archive them so that people who get an interest in them can decide whether they're worth watching or not. Now, all of that will be gone for good, unless I buy my dot com domain. Just when you though the SOPA law was no more, now Google wants to take matters in their own hands...

Sarcasm.

Melvin says no to Google censorship.

 OK, stop whining and tell us about Toxie!

Four crazed teenagers speed down the road in their car, wildly bragging about points they've notched up by running down different people in the car. So many points for someone on a bike, so many points for an elderly person, and big points for a small child. I know what you're thinking "this scene inspired the Carmageddon videogames" Nope, the ultimate inspiration for the gory car videogame saga was actually Death Race 2000. "How many points for a child on a bike?" asks the driver, excited. Learning this will earn him maximum points, he proceeds to knock the small child off his bike, and he goes flying over the hood. They turn round and see the child move in pain. Horrified that he may lose out on his points, the driver then proceeds to reverse over the child's head, squashing it completely. Two girls get out of the car and take some pictures. This scene, for me, represents the majority of this film. More shocking than it should be, even today, but never taking itself at all too seriously, regardless of the horror on show.

Melvin (Mark Torgl) is a skinny, nerdy loser (when nerdy meant what it originally meant, certainly not today's meaning at all) who works in the swimming baths, forever cleaning up with his mop. He is frequently bullied and humiliated by a high school gang who one day play a trick on him, which sees him kissing a goat dressed in a tutu. Horrified, Melvin flees and throws himself through a window, landing on a conveniently positioned (and open-topped) barrel of toxic waste. He begins to burn and rot, and eventually the toxic waste causes him to mutate in a taller, stronger, and ultimately more heroic beast, who wants revenge on his tormentors. Toxie (as he is now called, played by man-mountain Mitch Cohen) starts to clean up the city of Tromaville, which is being run by corrupt mayor Peter Belgoody (Pay Ryan), while at the same time romancing blind girl Sara (Andree Maranda) who he rescues from a rapist in a restaurant.

Come and get me Captain Planet!

New Jersey kind of hero.

This was Troma's first big hit, and also their first foray into horror, having previously focusing on really crap sex comedies. After this, which after an initial unsuccessful run became a popular cult favourite on the B-movie circuit, they focuses only on horrors. This is the second Troma film I've seen. The other was Killer Nerd. You can probably assume from the title that it is a god-awful excuse for a film, although it is quite amusing in it's filmed-on-video awfulness (starring Harvey Pekar associate Toby Radloff). This, I'm pleased to say, was actually good! It was a hell of a lot more violent than I was expecting, and the special effects are actually pretty impressive in some places. And Toxie proves to be a likable vigilante/superhero, however hideous he may be.

The Toxic Avenger, doesn't look bad at all compared to hundreds of films from the last two decades. Actually, it's a nice watch if you were born in the late 70's/Early 80's decade since the film is very well executed when it comes to displaying the current state of human culture those days. Take the awful 80's synth pop music, the gym addiction, the search for the perfect body, the dated social standards and the urban landscape and you get the perfect 80's postcard. 

The fight sequences are also very 80's as they depict the typical cyber punk gangs taking control of the city just because. In addition, we get to see extremely corrupted politicians and police who use Nazi slang to mark the insanity of those in charge of Tromaville city. 

Pretty on the inside.

Beautiful and pure hearted.

Having said that, this is a low-budget Troma, and it's not exactly Citizen Kane. The acting is wooden, and the film is so 80's you can practically reach out and feel the sweatbands and mullets. But it is funny, satisfyingly gory, and, most importantly, fun. Toxie proves to be a more interesting 'superhero' than the majority of others. And the film actually has a social message in there somewhere, beneath all the tits and human-taco-making, recognizing the pollution that we are all too aware of in our age of global warming and climate change.However, the message doesn't stop there, Toxie's unpleasant appearance holds an even stronger statement, as kids, who are always pure and innocent, recognize Toxie as an agent of good despite his looks. Toxie's girlfriend is a bit on the parody side, but her blindness also adds up to the kids view. On the other hand, politicians and policemen see Toxie as a treat just because they neither know him or have control over his actions. 

Overall, a classic that has aged like the most expensive Chilean Carmenere wine, a film that can no longer be thought of as thrash cinema but as what it truly is: an uncompromising masterpiece.

Here's the movie trailer, and let's hope Google doesn't kill my blog: