Troma Studios, a.k.a. the House that Toxie Built, is the renegade brainchild of Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman, the latter being the face of the company and, in appearance (as well as spirit), the lost brother of Mel Brooks (whilst housing serious strands of Cormian DNA along the way). Kaufman–setting out to counter a tabloid’s claim that “Horror Film is Dead”–made The Toxic Avenger (or “Toxie” to his fans) which would become, not only a surprising counterculture cult classic set opposite of a Hollywood blockbuster, but the signature of Troma Studios.
A 98-pound mental defect named Melvin Junko (Mark Torgl) is the focus of Bozo (Gary Schneider) and Slug’s (Robert Prichard) chidings while working his shifts as janitor at the Tromavilla Health Club. When a prank goes awry, Melvin is hurtled into a vat of toxic waste and the Toxic Avenger (Mitch Cohen) is born: a seven-foot superhero mutant who can intuitively sense evil. As he rids Tromaville of malicious gangs, thugs, criminals, and corrupt officials, he finds time to fall in love with a blind girl named Wanda (Jennifer Prichard).
A Troma film is intentionally bad, overtly unPC, anticlimactic, irreverent anti-art. In short, a Dadaist’s dream come true for which The Toxic Avenger stands as the company’s pinnacle in this regard. Such films are satirical counterparts to serious, “bourgeois” cinema (analogous in their relationship as 1970s punk rock was to rock ’n roll) with their gratuitous nudity; excessive gore; unrepentant drug use, deliberately stock, typecast characters; implausible story lines; expendable events and scenes; uneven pacing and special effects; and inconsistent acting. Despite (and in spite of) Hollywood’s mold casting, Troma filmmakers accomplish all of the above via vast amounts of highly entertaining creativity in the form of potentially competent (and purposely botched), satire and irony. But, quite simply, most Troma films succeed due to one factor which many a renowned filmmaker has failed to maintain as a artistic mantra: The works have (an overwhelming amount of) character and personality and, as Jules reminds us in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, “Personality goes a long way.”
Granted, on the surface a film which houses scenes in which children and animals are killed by racist, sexist, and homophobic characters wouldn’t ordinary generate accolades. However, when placed alongside an unlikely, very farcical, superhero (in New Jersey nonetheless), the directors–Herz and Kaufman–forego the easy environmental cautionary tale (in lieu of the fact that a town prides itself as being the “Toxic Waste Capital” atop the directors issuing us a flatbed truck transporting open containers of toxic chemicals) in favor of poignant irony and comedy in order to maintain the already boisterous storyline. For example, the obese Mayor, named Belgoody (Pat Ryan), runs under the campaign slogan, “For a Healthy Tromaville,” as Wanda, in traditional slapstick fashion, forewarns Toxie to mind his gait before tripping on the first step leading to her apartment a few scenes prior to Toxie, amid a collage of his virtuous deeds, pausing at an open window after spotting an individual having trouble with an obstinate jar lid before resuming his work eradicating the riffraff of Tromaville. This says nothing of a character, the product of toxic waste, who spends the duration of the film “cleaning up” the corrupt city. Yet the filmmakers’ humor does not cease here as the soundtrack flippantly juxtaposes the over-the-top premise via various classical compositions, thus sardonically implying girth to a knowingly flaccid plot. Perhaps the high point of The Toxic Avenger’s humor comes when Bozo, having been apprehended by Toxie, states–carte blanche–that his crimes of having run over numerous children with his car are due to the fact that he’s “a stressed person.”
Yet, for the skeptical viewer, one would be surprised at how well Herz and Kaufman not only poke fun at Hollywood, but lovingly mock it along the way, largely in the form of allusion. Surprisingly well presented, the manner in which the directors arbitrary reference other films also highlights the fact that, like much of cinema, genre citation is oftentimes enacted–not for reinforcement or to make a point of reference–but merely to present the filmmaker as well versed. As such, we are given a wink-and-a-nod to Robert Altman’s Popeye during a battle sequence; Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove in the character of German police chief (David N. Weiss); another Kubrick citation, this time A Clockwork Orange, by way of a gang beating an old lady while singing; vocal mention of David Lynch’s Elephant Man (which the film’s titular character serves as an optimistic modern day parallel to); Terry Gilliam’s Monty Python and the Holy Grail via a robber named Frank (Larry Sulton) having his arm torn off (only to have Toxie, for touché measure, beat the villian with it); and last but not least, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as we are given Melvin/Toxie, a product of science, who is referred to as “The Monster” throughout.
As previously mentioned, the crux of the film’s prowess and popularity is by no means solely dependent upon the cinematic in-jokes or the film’s humor but, as with any audience-appeasing narrative, The Toxic Avenger, however wryly, tells an entertaining story. Put simply, the film is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast with a revenge subplot woven into it. The control (even when chaotic, one can sense that the filmmakers have a method to their madness) which Herz and Kaufman exhibit throughout directly counters, thereby complimenting, the hyperactive tale and characters as we spend several scenes in suspense as our newfound hero’s face is kept from view. Furthermore, the directors playfully insert a sequence in which Toxie seems to have killed a hapless citizen only to go on to reveal the Avenger’s motivation in so doing.
Much like John De Bello’s Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!, Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman set out to make a good bad (or vice versa) film and arguably succeeded better than anyone before or since in that The Toxic Avenger has gone on to prompt adaptations in the form of cartoons, novelizations, a musical, comic books, toys, clothing lines, and video games. If nothing else, after one watches The Toxic Avenger or any of its production company brethren, the person–and few films, good or bad, can rightfully claim this–will ever be the same.
-Egregious Gurnow
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
