Review: The Toxic Avenger
05-22-01, 11:07 AM
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This is my first review, so be gentle. 
In the early 1980's, Troma was a small independent movie company that specialized in sex comedies. Movies like "Squeeze Play" and "The First Turn-On!!" were short on plot, and long on bathroom jokes and bare breasts. But then, the big Hollywood studios entered the teen-humor market with films like "Porky's" and "Animal House." The big studios had an unfair advantage because, as Troma president Lloyd Kaufman puts it, "They didn't use shitty scripts and shitty actors." Their market dwindling, Troma was looking for another genre to branch into. Seeing an article in a trade magazine stating that the market for horror movies was dead, Lloyd Kaufman and producer Michael Hertz decided that if no one else wanted to make horror movies, they'd embrace the genre. So they started work on "The Toxic Avenger."
The Avenger had a rough start. After the film was completed, Troma took it to the Cannes film festival, where there was very little interest. They did manage to sell it to a French distributor, after making some cuts. Back in the US, Troma had to make drastic cuts to the film to get an "R" rating, and even then they couldn't get their film shown in ANY theater. Over a year after it was completed, they finally managed to get one theater in New York to show it. It played there for over a year, and the rest, as they say, is history.
The movie's plot, what there is of it, concerns the tribulations of Melvin (Mark Torgl,) the 98 pound weakling janitor at a health club. An object of ridicule at the club, one night a busty blond takes off her bikini top for Melvin. She promises him more if he'll just put on a pink tutu and meet her at the pool. Very eager, Melvin arrives at the lightless pool and starts to make out in the dark. Then the lights are turned on, and he finds out that the object of his affection is actually a sheep, and that there is an audience of most of the health club members. Embarased, Melvin runs through the club, and falls through a window, only to land in a vat of toxic waste that happens to be parked below, causing him to turn into a monster.
Ironically, the monster is never named "The Toxic Avenger" in the movie, just the title. The name wasn't thought up until after filming was completed.
The monster now wanders through Tromaville. He makes his home in a toxic waste dump, and attackes evil wherever he finds it.
There is a lot of violence, this is a Troma film after all, and most of it is so over-the-top, that it's humorous. In one scene, for instance, the monster rips off an attacker's arm and beats him with the limb.
The acting is horrible through out, with not one preformance that passes the mediocre mark. But that's not nessisarily a bad thing, though. It adds to the done-on-a-shoestring-budget feel the film has. If top talent was used, it may have turned out just stupid. As it is, it's high camp humor.
Video:
The first thing the jumps out at you, is that the movie is full screen. It was filmed in 4:3 ratio (as are all Troma films,) so it's not a pan and scan chop job.
It looks like no restoration was done on the print used, but it's acceptible. The night scenes are a little to dark, and most of the disc has the red turned up to high. In all likelyhood, it was filmed that way. Overall, it's a nice, if not outstanding, prit of a 15 year old film.
Audio:
The audio is Dolby Digital 2.0. Pretty standard, nothing exciting.
Menus and extras:
The main menu is nice, with an animated scene of the monster watching the sunset. Selecting the "Creature Presentation" item starts director Lloyd Kaufman's introduction. After the intro, you are brought to the chapter stops menu. This is akward. I would have much prefered if the film just started. As it is, there isn't even a "Play Movie" button. You have to select the first chapter to start the movie from the beginning.
Other extras include:
Director's commentary. It's pretty informative. Lloyd doesn't take the film, or himself, too seriously. There are some interesting stories about the cast and the trials of making a low budget film. All in all, an entertaining commentary.
Tour of Troma: several short set-up clips of what it is like to work at Troma. Kind of funny, but I would have prefered a serious tour.
Several cut scenes.
Slide show of stills taken during filming.
Several trailers for other Troma titles.
Troma IQ Test- test you knowledge of Troma films.
Toxie 15 years later: a short film that looks at how fame has effected Toxie.
A clip from the "Tromaville Café" TV show featuring the death of the Toxic Avenger.
A feature packed disc that makes a great package.
Conclusions:
This movie placed Troma on the map. Troma, still going strong, is the oldest independent movie studio in the US, largely due to the popularity of the Toxic Avenger and it's sequels. While the acting is horid, and the special effects LOOK like special effects, it's a fun movie to watch. The DVD is feature packed, and a worthy addition to a DVD collection.
Rating:
3 1/2 stars.
[Edited by videophile on 05-22-01 at 09:11 AM]
In the early 1980's, Troma was a small independent movie company that specialized in sex comedies. Movies like "Squeeze Play" and "The First Turn-On!!" were short on plot, and long on bathroom jokes and bare breasts. But then, the big Hollywood studios entered the teen-humor market with films like "Porky's" and "Animal House." The big studios had an unfair advantage because, as Troma president Lloyd Kaufman puts it, "They didn't use shitty scripts and shitty actors." Their market dwindling, Troma was looking for another genre to branch into. Seeing an article in a trade magazine stating that the market for horror movies was dead, Lloyd Kaufman and producer Michael Hertz decided that if no one else wanted to make horror movies, they'd embrace the genre. So they started work on "The Toxic Avenger."
The Avenger had a rough start. After the film was completed, Troma took it to the Cannes film festival, where there was very little interest. They did manage to sell it to a French distributor, after making some cuts. Back in the US, Troma had to make drastic cuts to the film to get an "R" rating, and even then they couldn't get their film shown in ANY theater. Over a year after it was completed, they finally managed to get one theater in New York to show it. It played there for over a year, and the rest, as they say, is history.
The movie's plot, what there is of it, concerns the tribulations of Melvin (Mark Torgl,) the 98 pound weakling janitor at a health club. An object of ridicule at the club, one night a busty blond takes off her bikini top for Melvin. She promises him more if he'll just put on a pink tutu and meet her at the pool. Very eager, Melvin arrives at the lightless pool and starts to make out in the dark. Then the lights are turned on, and he finds out that the object of his affection is actually a sheep, and that there is an audience of most of the health club members. Embarased, Melvin runs through the club, and falls through a window, only to land in a vat of toxic waste that happens to be parked below, causing him to turn into a monster.
Ironically, the monster is never named "The Toxic Avenger" in the movie, just the title. The name wasn't thought up until after filming was completed.
The monster now wanders through Tromaville. He makes his home in a toxic waste dump, and attackes evil wherever he finds it.
There is a lot of violence, this is a Troma film after all, and most of it is so over-the-top, that it's humorous. In one scene, for instance, the monster rips off an attacker's arm and beats him with the limb.
The acting is horrible through out, with not one preformance that passes the mediocre mark. But that's not nessisarily a bad thing, though. It adds to the done-on-a-shoestring-budget feel the film has. If top talent was used, it may have turned out just stupid. As it is, it's high camp humor.
Video:
The first thing the jumps out at you, is that the movie is full screen. It was filmed in 4:3 ratio (as are all Troma films,) so it's not a pan and scan chop job.
It looks like no restoration was done on the print used, but it's acceptible. The night scenes are a little to dark, and most of the disc has the red turned up to high. In all likelyhood, it was filmed that way. Overall, it's a nice, if not outstanding, prit of a 15 year old film.
Audio:
The audio is Dolby Digital 2.0. Pretty standard, nothing exciting.
Menus and extras:
The main menu is nice, with an animated scene of the monster watching the sunset. Selecting the "Creature Presentation" item starts director Lloyd Kaufman's introduction. After the intro, you are brought to the chapter stops menu. This is akward. I would have much prefered if the film just started. As it is, there isn't even a "Play Movie" button. You have to select the first chapter to start the movie from the beginning.
Other extras include:
Director's commentary. It's pretty informative. Lloyd doesn't take the film, or himself, too seriously. There are some interesting stories about the cast and the trials of making a low budget film. All in all, an entertaining commentary.
Tour of Troma: several short set-up clips of what it is like to work at Troma. Kind of funny, but I would have prefered a serious tour.
Several cut scenes.
Slide show of stills taken during filming.
Several trailers for other Troma titles.
Troma IQ Test- test you knowledge of Troma films.
Toxie 15 years later: a short film that looks at how fame has effected Toxie.
A clip from the "Tromaville Café" TV show featuring the death of the Toxic Avenger.
A feature packed disc that makes a great package.
Conclusions:
This movie placed Troma on the map. Troma, still going strong, is the oldest independent movie studio in the US, largely due to the popularity of the Toxic Avenger and it's sequels. While the acting is horid, and the special effects LOOK like special effects, it's a fun movie to watch. The DVD is feature packed, and a worthy addition to a DVD collection.
Rating:
3 1/2 stars.
[Edited by videophile on 05-22-01 at 09:11 AM]
