Review by Ben Bussey
This, for better or worse, is one of those “where it all began” movies. Though Troma had already been in the filmmaking/distribution game for a full decade before The Toxic Avenger came along, this is the film on which their legend is built, and with which their enduring formula was established: bad taste writ large, with excessive violence, gratuitous nudity and sledgehammer-subtle shock tactics at every turn, contrived to deliberately offend just about anyone, but all of it done with a sardonic shimmy in its tail. Troma declared its output ‘movies of the future,’ and perhaps they were right: the self-conscious, knowing humour that tends to dominate contemporary genre cinema – notably the neo-grindhouse movies – is very much in tune with what Lloyd Kaufman, Michael Herz and company were doing thirty whole years ago. And just as the modern strand of big screen hipster humour tends to divide audiences, so too does Troma’s signature movie still have the power to split viewers as messily as it splits open a pre-teen’s head.
Of course, another way in which Troma can accurately have dubbed The Toxic Avenger a movie of the future is that it’s a pretty decent example of a superhero origin story; a format that wasn’t anywhere near as commonplace on the big screen in 1984 as it is today. Indeed, we can scarcely fail to note that at the same time 88 Films release this 30th anniversary Blu-ray, Troma alumni James Gunn is currently on top of the global box office with his Marvel movie Guardians of the Galaxy, which also boasts a brand of knowing humour not too far removed from Troma (and even a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo from Lloyd Kaufman). But I digress.
It’s a simple enough tale, not too different from the origins of Spider-Man; but instead of the put-upon, lovelorn, bespectacled science nerd and amateur photographer Peter Parker we have the put-upon, lovelorn, learning disability-stricken mop boy Melvin, a weedy, inept, socially awkward young man working as a cleaner at a gym, where naturally the musclebound jocks and the bitchy Jane Fonda wannabes all bully him mercilessly. However, where Peter Parker’s school bullies were just a bit mean, these guys are outright homicidal maniacs, responsible for a string of horrific hit-and-run murders (including the aforementioned minor, unflinchingly splattered within the first few minutes, which rather sets the tone). Inevitably they dream up an especially cruel practical joke to leave Melvin utterly humiliated, luring him in with the promise of sex with a peroxide princess – who naturally, mere seconds after the moment pictured above, exposes the inevitable snow-white triangles under her bikini top (a tell-tale sign of this being the 80s, as if that were in any way needed). Duly humiliated, Melvin runs away in despair, and inadvertantly plummets from a second storey window into a vat of toxic waste sitting on the back of a truck which just so happens to be parked outside whilst the drivers snort a buttload of cocaine. Cue a painful mutation process, at the end of which Melvin is suddenly tall, muscular, hideously deformed and imbued with superhuman strength, which he uses to dish out a brutal brand of justice on any and all wrong-doers that cross his path. And inevitably there’s no shortage of those.
Troma has always been pretty well critic-proof, and The Toxic Avenger is no exception – but that’s not to say it isn’t self-consciously designed to provoke the critics, to say nothing of the censors (of whom the film has inevitably fallen foul in the past). From the early child murder scene on down, the film goes out of its way to push the taboos; soon enough we have violence against animals, little old ladies, and umpteen men of varying age, race and physical condition. The grotesque excess of it all – with the abundance of head-smooshing, gut-ripping, limb-lopping and so on – is as pleasing to rampant gorehounds as it a clear parody of the fascistic elements of mainstream action cinema (elements which, again, many would argue remain prevalent in today’s superhero movies).
Underlying all this, however, are clear anti-authoritarian leanings, as it soon transpires that the real villain of the piece is the Tromaville Mayor, whose corrupt office profits from drug dealing, child prostitution, illegal toxic waste dumping and just about any other morally reprehensible activity you could think of. They could have thrown in a scene with baby seals being turned into fur coats and you probably wouldn’t bat an eyelid. It’s an old story (nowadays, at least): make a movie that goes out of its way to thumb its nose at conventional good taste, and thereby position yourself as a free-thinking, non-conforming individual, which ultimately wins you an audience who feel similarly. I think it’s fair to say Troma were among the first film companies who consciously tried to manufacture cult movies, which many fans and critics will to this day argue can’t really be done; hence, again, this film and most of Troma’s other work will always be highly divisive.
But enough of this vaguely academic back-and-forth; is The Toxic Avenger an entertaining film, or not? Well, inevitably this may hinge somewhat on how puerile your sensibilities are, how great an affection you hold for 80s tack, and/or how drunk you might happen to be when sitting down to watch it, but ultimately the answer has to be yes. Contrived though its quirkiness may be, it’s still effective, and just as it’s certain to still upset the prudish, it should surely raise a few smiles from anyone with a taste for the tasteless.
Diehard Troma fans will doubtless need little encouragement to pick up this, the first Blu-ray edition of The Toxic Avenger released in the UK. Still, there should be plenty of incentive nonetheless given the wealth of extras, including commentaries, introduction videos and other promos from various editions of the movie released to VHS and DVD over the years, and most notably an alternate, extended cut of the film from Japan (which I must confess I haven’t watched yet, but am given to understand has a more old-school grindhouse trash feel than the inevitably cleaned-up HD transfer of the main feature). Fans will also be happy to hear that the three sequels also have Blu-ray releases lined up over the next six months.
The Toxic Avenger is released to Blu-ray on 18th August 2014, from 88 Films.