[HorrorScience] The Toxic Avenger (1984)

Reading time: 7 minutes

Qualification

Toxic Avenger

Year

1984

Duration

79 minutes

Director

Michael Herz, Lloyd Kaufman (under the pseudonym Samuel Weil)

Distribution

Mitch Cohen, Mark Torgl, Gary Schneider, Robert Prichard, Jennifer Babtist, Cindy Manion, Pat Ryan Jr, Andree Maranda, Sarabel Levinson, Dick Martinsen, Pal Kilpatrick, Marisa Tomei, Larry Sulton

Script

Lloyd Kaufman, Joe Ritter

Today I am going to talk about the emblematic film of B-series cinema: Toxic Avenger (he Toxic Avenger or the chemist man according to some translations). This film managed to quickly multiply the fame of its production company, Troma Entertainment, one of the best-known and longest-lived independent film companies in the world.

Troma was created in 1974 by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz, both defenders of the “do it yourself” policy which led them to start their career from the bottom and to be placed on the opposite side of the entire great American film industry, a situation that has led them to defend independent cinema and try to expand it (within their possibilities) in any type of way. It is not unusual to see Kaufman giving classes on film or special effects, answering questions from his fans or writing books on how to make, direct and produce independent film films.

Although Troma productions are usually classified as tacky (like almost all low-budget cinema) and politically incorrect (in every possible sense), in this company's filmography we find names as striking as Kevin Costner, Carmen Electra, Vincent D'Onofrio, James Gunn, Samuel L. Jackson, Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Marisa Tomei and J. J. Abrams, which shows that despite their particular style of hanging around the house, Troma has been the first step for many important people in film and television Even Oliver Stone made his debut in a Lloyd Kaufman film!

The story takes us to Tromaville (a fictional city shared by the company's films) which has the dubious title of capital of toxic waste, since all companies use it as a landfill, because neither the authorities nor their politicians care too much about the issue of environmentalism or the well-being of their citizens.

In a few seconds we will meet our protagonist, the clumsy, stupid and insecure Melvin, who works cleaning a gym, or at least he tries to, since his mistakes and stumbles make his work very ineffective. A gang of boys and girls at the gym have it in for Melvin, since his pathetic appearance and stupid attitude towards everything make him the perfect target for other people's ridicule, so it is not surprising that after having (unintentionally) bothered the members of the band, they decide to prepare a cruel joke to humiliate him in front of everyone. The prank goes well and Melvin ends up running away from everyone after being humiliated, and in his desperation he throws himself out of a window, with the bad luck of fall on toxic waste who were in a truck parked in front of the gym.

[HorrorScience] The Toxic Avenger (1984) — Melvin, the person in charge of cleaning the gym

The cruelty of the people is such that they do not hesitate to go to the street to continue laughing at Melvin, who is writhing in pain from the residue that burns his skin, which will mutate the poor boy. giving it a deformed appearance and increasing its strength in an indeterminate manner. Melvin's new appearance is so horrendous that even his mother closes the door of the house on him thinking he is a monster, so our protagonist looks for a new home, which he will find in a landfill.

At this point in the film we will already be informed of how cruel the people of Tromaville can be, a city with a high number of criminals of all kinds, each one more cruel and ruthless. This situation is not coincidental, since the mayor of the city is tremendously corrupt and receives money from criminals and traffickers, thus making the police totally useless, since the majority of the security force shares the mayor's corruption.

While wandering aimlessly, Melvin begins to behave as if he were a hero, saving people in need, which allows him to gain the sympathy of the good citizens of Tromaville and the hatred of the criminals. Will the mayor of Tromaville let the Toxic Avenger ruin his business? What will happen to the hooligans who humiliated Melvin?

The Toxic Avenger It is a film worthy of applause and I hope I can explain why.

On the one hand we have that despite its inevitable cheapness (shared by many low-budget films that have to resort to special effects) and its poor performances (the band leader is so bad at acting that I can't help but laugh out loud when he gets "nervous"), it is an entertaining and very funny film.

On the other hand, Tromaville is a wonderful representation of the worst side of society, where the most handsome, muscular and healthy people also turn out to be cruel and drug addicts. Where the mayor only thinks about making more money and annoying those who vote for him in good faith, where the police chief is more of a Nazi soldier than a protector of the citizen. Where good people are not listened to or worse, believe that their opinion is not important simply because they are ordinary citizens.

The Toxic Avenger It is a forced mixture of a horror film (the comparison of the protagonist with Frankenstein's monster is inevitable), gore (there are amazing deaths), youthful pranks and sex (yes, you are going to see a lot of meat), social criticism and it still has plenty of time to be a superhero film with a romance.

The Toxic Avenger It is like one of those rare products, not very attractive to look at, but very functional. If you are able to overcome the aesthetic barrier and try it, you will see that It's better than you thought in the beginning.

Movie trivia:

Lloyd Kaufman had the idea to make a movie centered on a gym while he was involved in the production of Rocky. From there it was born The Health Club Horror, which became Toxic Avenger.
To celebrate the 25 years of this film, a musical was created about the character.
Kevin Eastman (co-creator of the Ninja Turtles) was interested in the Toxic Avenger and tried to make deals with Kaufman to create merchandise with him.
This was one of Marisa Tomei's first films, but her scene only appears in Toxic Avenger Director's Cut
The success of this film was so great that an animated series, comics and video games were created. The comics were published by Marvel, which is not surprising considering that Kaufman is a friend of Stan Lee.