Summary:
A 98 lbs nerdy janitor is turned into a monster-superhero after falling into a vat of toxic waste.
My Thoughts:
This movie is trash, and I mean that in the most complementary way possible.
Cinephiles who have dipped their toes into 70s/80s B-movie schlock have probably heard of Troma Entertainment, but for those that haven’t; Troma Entertainment was a production company that put out dozens of low budget sleazy pictures. When they didn’t actually produce the films themselves, they distributed them ( in last years 31 Nights of Thrills, I reviewed “Rabid Grannies” and “Cannibal! The Musical”, and both of those were distributed by Troma). Their films certainly require a little bit of skewed taste, but they have developed quite a fan base. I personally enjoy a great schlocky film every once in a while, so when I heard about this I knew I had to check it out.
I’m sure a lot of people would see this film and claim that it has no redeeming qualities, and I would find it hard to argue with them. This movie is mean-spirited, it’s grotesque, it’s sloppily made, it’s ludicrously acted, it objectifies women, and the plot is pretty nonsensical when you stop to think about it… but… it is a ton of fun. It’s a film that is so farfetched, so over the top that it becomes a parody of itself- none of the things we’re seeing are meant to be taken seriously, and the events that transpire before us are so absurd that you just have to laugh. I guess it’s honestly up to you and your sense of humor: Do you think drunk teenagers purposefully swerving their car to hit a little boy riding his bike, and then backing up over him to crush his skull is funny? If not, you could probably pass on this film. But… if you like movies like “Evil Dead II”, “Basket Case”, or “Dead Alive” then you’ll probably get a kick out of this.
“I’m not just another pretty face.”
Melvin Junko (Mark Torgi, “Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV”) is a 98 lbs nerdy looser that works as at janitor at a health club. After being bullied by Bozo (Gary Schneider, “Class of Nuke ‘Em High” ) and his friends, Melvin tries to kill himself by jumping out a window, but lands in a vat of toxic waste and is turned into The Toxic Avenger (Mitch Cohen, “Clerks”)! The Toxic Avenger sets off across town, stopping bad guys from assaulting blind girls (Andree Maranda) and committing other unspeakable crimes.
I think the biggest hurdle anyone will have to leap over when approaching this film is the content. This movie, as I mentioned a few times above, is trash, and sometimes I mean that quite literally. There are sets that look like they were straight out of John Waters’ movies (“Desperate Living”, “Female Trouble”). Everything in this movie looks grubby and dirty and not at all polished. It’s an aesthetic; this film is meant to look gross. This film feels like it was cheaply made (because it was), and there are moments that look sillier than anything else, again that seems to be the point.
Here’s the thing, if you know you’re going into a schlock film, then you need to be able to tell good schlock from bad schlock. Good schlocky films are movies like “Evil Dead II” or “Basket Case”. Those movies are stuffed with as much guts as one could handle, but they also have competent writers behind the scenes (Henenlotter’s first “Basket Case” movie had a message, I won’t say the others did). This film is not the greatest schlockfest in the world; there are some great moments as far as violence go, but the writing leaves a lot to be desired. There were so many moments in this film that made me want to give it a lower score than I did. I honestly think that the way this film turned out, it being a middling movie instead of a bad one, is a bit of a miracle. There aren’t really any themes, the monster is sloppy, and there are plenty of things that easily could’ve been handled better than they were, but despite all that I kind of enjoyed myself.
Verdict:
I kept thinking of John Waters’s movies while I watched this because of the messy quality of this type of filmmaking. Waters, I think, has something more to say with his films, but both this movie and Waters’ films have a kind of punk-attitude to them. I think the thing about schlockier films is you really need to just let them take you where they want to take you, and if you, the viewer, fight it, you’re going to have a bad time. This film, while not great, is certainly better than it deserves to be, and I can absolutely understand the cult following behind it.
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