MIDDLE-AGED MATINEE! #8 - 'The Toxic Avenger'

'The Toxic Avenger' (1984)

READ THE FULL REVIEW BELOW THE RATING!

In the 1980s, Troma Entertainment became synonymous with intentionally silly, sleazy, and gory low budget movies. The flick that put them on the map more than any other was “The Toxic Avenger”, a movie that has no rules and no one, including kids on bicycles, is safe from the carnage.

In the movie, Melvin Junko is a well-meaning but awfully nerdy janitor at a gym that includes four of the meanest bullies around. That’s because they are also hit-and-run serial killers that target anyone they can. When they hit someone with their car, they get awarded points and kids are double the points.

With the bad guys firmly established, they taunt Melvin with a terrible prank at the gym and he falls through a window and into some toxic waste. He then mutates into the Toxic Avenger, a deformed superhero that has a desire to clean up the filth in Tromaville!

The Toxic Avenger is here to clean up the filth in Tromaville!

Now, here’s the thing. This movie is definitely a silly, sleazy, gory, extra low-budget affair, but it’s of the highest order of its kind. If you don’t like a good ole splatter film, then you will hate this movie! If you don’t mind it’s intentionally lower quality, then you can definitely be in for a good time.

The movie’s action sequences are pretty great for a low budget movie. Also, the make-up effects and gore are pretty good for a B movie. This could most definitely be due to the fact that the make-up effects are done by Jennifer Aspinall, a make-up artist that would go on to work on several big budget movies and acclaimed TV shows.

Now, I can say that the sound design of the movie can be annoying at times. The audio was pretty atrocious, at least in the version of the movie that I saw. Some may think that it adds to the movie’s low budget charm, but that was the only part of the low production that I didn’t like.

It’s crazy to think that this also launched a media franchise, but that was the ‘80s. Violent films such as this one, “RoboCop”, and “A Nightmare on Elm Street” drew legions of fans, especially kids. Hell, Freddy Krueger even had a doll for kids and he was a child murderer!

With “The Toxic Avenger”, not only did he get several sequels and a new remake on the way, but he had a Saturday morning cartoon! “The Toxic Crusaders” lasted for only one season and 13 episodes, but I still remembered seeing it advertised on TV.

That’s not bad for a splatter film that intentionally set out to break all the rules other films followed. You either love or hate “The Toxic Avenger”, but you can’t deny the success that the film generated. As far as low-budget gore movies are concerned, if it’s your kind film, you can’t do much better than this one.