Justin's Rating: Just don't make the same mistake I did. Don't eat hot 'n spicy buffalo wings while watching this vile flick.
Justin's Review: From seeing this movie and numerous previews for other Troma releases, I'm convinced that these NYC-based movie makers never quite moved past the bedwetting stage. They seem to be concerned with putting as much of the following into each of their movies as possible: Cheesy Gore; Bouncing Bosoms; Worse-Than-SitCom Acting; and Vomit. They love this stuff, they worship it. If a head is going to be smashed, they reason, why not have it vomit before the fact?

This all said, and even though Troma makes movies that are shunned by Siskel and Ebert, their redeeming point is a shining sense of humor. The Toxic Avenger, their break-out smash in 1985, pits a terribly unlikely candidate for super hero-dom (a tutu-wearing janitor) against a lot of evil people who he takes out with extreme vengeance and funny points. There really is no plot here: guy is tormented, falls into vat of chemical waste, becomes Mr. Clean with an attitude. He doesn't quite believe in Batman's sense of vigilante justice: he'd rather torture his criminal pals than turn them into the police.

Toxie, as the studio calls him, is not too different from you or I. He's generally insecure. He eats Draino. And the only person he can find to fall in love with him is a blind lady who (get this!) hits him in the crotch a lot. One of the most irksome features of this movie was the fact that the filmmakers kept Toxie's face from our view for the first 48 minutes. Excuse me, but what is so secretive that needs to be covered for that long? The suspense dies after about 10 of those minutes, leaving us viewers to the speculation that there wasn't enough makeup to keep Toxie's face on for the full production.

That aside, Toxic Avenger is undoubtably full cult. You can't complain about this one, no sir. I don't think anyone could, in good conscience, watch this movie with other people, unless those other people happen to be Jeffrey Dahmer and Agent Mulder. So go ahead and do it anyway! It probably makes a great party flick, what with all the decapitations and mutilations and fake blood and a cross-dressing gang punk (don't look at me -- I just report the facts). I think the attraction of these movies are in its guilty pleasures of extreme grossness. Perhaps this is what Newt Gengrich and Ken Starr watch during the weekend to unwind! Who knows!

As a responsible movie reviewer, however, I strongly advise that this movie only be seen by kids of college age. Any younger, and you face probable therapy for life. Any older, and your coworkers will start to look at you funny. My job is done, gimme a root beer.

Recommended for:
The Janitors Association of America
The Filmmakers' Families (as Kermit said in Great Muppet Caper, "They gotta have families")
Those who think Evil Dead's gore rate was too low

The Movie Store!
The Toxic Avenger: Movie [VHS]
The Toxic Avenger: Movie [DVD]
All I Need to Know About Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger : The Shocking True Story of Troma Studios : Book

Intermission!
The Toxic Avenger inevidably spawned two sequels and even a children's cartoon series, "Toxic Crusaders". Remember that one? Yeah...

Also, I might highly recommend the DVD version of this movie if you must buy. It is loaded with extras, including added scenes, a tour of the Troma building, a Troma Intelligence Test (TIT), 8 trailers for other Troma films, and much much more.

Toxic Quotes:

Crowd: Melvin's on fire! Melvin's on fire!

Toxie: [after putting a little old lady into a dryer] No tickee, no washee!

If you liked this movie, try these:
Tromeo and Juliet
Surf Nazis Must Die!

Soundtrack Review: I noticed that the filmmakers played one ominous, semi-classical music score over and over again to both heighten tension and make me turn the volume off.

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