It is Halloween 2025 so time for another film series to review. This time it is Troma’s flagship franchise and company mascot – The Toxic Avenger!
From the 1984 original to the modern day remake and we know how good remakes are these days.
The Toxic Avenger (1984)
“And you can tell all your scum friends that things are gonna change in this town.
I’m not just another pretty face!”
The story of a boy, bullies and finally going through puberty with a lot of help from toxic waste.
Melvin Ferd is a janitor at a gym. Nice bloke but he isn’t winning over the people there, especially the gang-members that like to engage in a spot of Death Race 2000. Eventually they decide to finally do something about him which ends with an accidental dip in some nearby toxic sludge, Melvin rises to become The Toxic Avenger!.
Well, more like screams and writhes in agony on the pavement as his body is mutated.
Despite this being a favourite of mine, it is one that I haven’t watched in decades. I have watched other Troma films such as the first three Class of Nuke ’em High films and even the sequels more often.
From them there is that Troma feel, that Troma look and lots of green toxic waste.
This meant I had forgotten that this is very bloody. The boys head being ran over by the car was particularly good.
All the classic 80s Troma is there. Chaos, bad humour, violence and as much offensive that you can fit into 82 minutes.
The Nazi chief of police was nicely understated which made it funnier.
I watched the 4K version and it is a very nice transfer. A beautiful picture considering the budget, something that was used very well.
The gory, bloody practical effects and make-up are very effective, like that boy’s head being splattered on the road, so good, as is the costume for Toxie himself. It helps that the director knew what he was doing.
This is one that will confuse and upset people today but it also defined what Troma would become at the start of their best period.
The Toxic Avenger
Part II (1989)
“I’m going to break you in half like a fucking wishbone!”
After clearing Tromaville of all crime, Melvin Junko (his surname has changed for no explained reason) starts to feel as if something is missing in his life. At the same time the villainous Apocalypse inc. is looking to take over and after a failed attempt to kill him, in a quite long and brilliant action scene where lots of blind people are killed, they decide to trick him to travel to Japan to find his father.
Cue lots of everyday Japanese people standing around in the background, fascinated with what they are witnessing.
This also is the first film Lisa Gaye appears in for Troma who would be more remembered as Professor Holt in the Nuke ’em High series.
So apparently when filming this they filmed so much that Troma decided the best thing to do is to release it as two films.
At 1hr50 this is a bit too long, or maybe it seems like that because everytime it looks as if it is going end something new happens.
And I yet I liked these bits but you could see with some, well one scene, that it was taken from a part at the start of the movie and moved to later on. Probably so it had action for the finale.
There isn’t the amount of gore as the first but it is there and whilst it might not have the impact it did it is still good.
The man being accidentally cut up at the fishmongers is excellent with really bloody good make-up effects but how can that have the impact as an innocent child having their head squashed as they are ran over?
It can’t, but it can be as much fun to watch.
Maybe if a bit shorter it might have been better received along with a bit more bad humour and offence but this is more Toxie and moving part of the film to Japan was a good idea and refreshing.
It also gave Troma the idea to make Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D.
The Toxic Avenger Part III:
The Last Temptation of Toxie
(1989)
“How many times do I got to tell you,
you don’t put the Redneck Zombies in with the Disney videos!”
Starting with a fight inside a video rental shop that whilst not as lengthy as the first fight outside the home for the Blind in the previous film; it does have some nice violence that matches anything from that.
Especially the creative use of a VHS player.
From then we have a flashback telling us how Toxie became a villain by turning into a Yuppie.
Remember that this and Part 2 was filmed with the intention of only being one movie so it is impressive they filmed enough footage to make two mostly different films.
There are some repeated scenes and knowing they both were filmed at the same time explains why you see the recuring characters all dressed in the exact same clothes, but that doesn’t explain why they ALWAYS wear the same clothes.
That said Part 2 is more memorable. The Last Temptation doesn’t feel like it is too long and the final confrontation is fun, overall the film is fun, but it is more forgettable. It doesn’t have many of the expensive shots (apart from that last fight) or the gory bits. Like they used bulk of them for the last film.
But worth it for Troma fans of the series which is probably more than can be said for Part IV.
