Reaction & Review | The Toxic Avenger

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to "Tales of the Longbox" here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be covering a comedy from 1984. That movie is "The Toxic Avenger".

Now I know that, being that I've covered a lot of Troma flicks for this series, I *should've* gotten to this one sooner, right? So why exactly did I never get around to covering this thing until now? Well, the answer is real simple: I couldn't find a copy of it anywhere. And yes, I could've gotten it online, however, I kinda like to surprise myself by trying to find it in store. And thankfully, I found a copy of it out of state while I was on vacation last year. And since this had a comic book of it's own, I can count it for this series, and thus, here we are.

Now for those of you who know nothing about this movie, this film made Troma into what it is today. It's one of the most popular movies that was directed by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz. It spawned several sequels, the main character's face is featured on the Troma logo, it got a short lived animated series, hell, it even got a remake that came out last year. This movie is pretty much *the* mascot of Troma itself. That's how popular this movie has gotten over the years, and it still remains a cult classic to this day.

Now I kinda already know what to expect from this movie. I know the main character's name is Melvin, and that he ends up getting turned into an ugly monster thanks to a barrel of toxic waste, in which he ends up calling himself Toxie, who ends up becoming a superhero AKA the titled character. And I know this much thanks to my viewing of "Toxic Crusaders", an animated series that, like I said, was very short lived. How short lived was it? Well, it ran for only about 13 episodes before it got cancelled. It was meant to cash in on the success of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" cartoon from the late 80's. Unfortunately, like I just said, it was cancelled, most likely because of low ratings. However, it did get a video game adaptation, probably around last year or so. I've never played it, so I can't really comment on it.

But I'm getting way off topic here. Point is, I got my scant bit of information about this movie thanks to watching an episode or two of "Toxic Crusaders". Beyond that, I don't know what else to expect from this movie. I'm pretty sure it's gonna feature the usual style of humor that I've often encountered from several Troma movies I've covered in the past. How well that plays out here is something I'm just gonna have to discover for myself. So the only way I'm gonna find out if this thing is any good at all, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "The Toxic Avenger".

10 minutes later

So, guys, um...we barely started the movie, and already I just saw a kid getting his head squashed by a running vehicle from these dipshit teenagers. This movie got dark real quick! The effect for it looked really cool, but I wasn't really expecting something like that this early on.

9 minutes later

Well, guys, I just learned something new today. Apparently, if you are covered in toxic waste, you will eventually be set on fire shortly afterwards. I would've never known that, personally, but now that I know that, I'm kinda thankful I've never been anywhere near toxic waste, because the way it's affecting Melvin right now looks fucking painful as shit! Damn.

20 minutes later

OK, that is probably one of the more creative ways I've seen to torture somebody by just turning his face into a chocolate sundae! I never would've expected something like that, but, god damn it, it really is impressive.

8 minutes later

O...K, well, that certainly was unexpected. I wasn't expecting this guy to have his face caved in by...weights, I think? Or something related to it. I'm not an exercise expert, so I wouldn't know what kind of equipment that is. But still, that looked fucking nasty as shit! Probably more nasty then when that kid got his face ran over by a car from earlier. But perhaps that's just me.

10 minutes later

All right, I have a question, and it's kind of a serious one. Now is this the same Toxie that I've been seeing having a cheesy romantic relationship with the blind woman and being a hero to Tromaville? Or is it a different version that I wasn't made aware of? I'm asking this, because it's not really been made clear as to whether or not this is the same Toxie that's going after the asshole bullies that made him the way he is. I'm not trying dock this movie at all, because, so far, it's been really fun, but I would like to know whether or not this is the same guy. A little clarity wouldn't hurt.

11 minutes later

OK, so they have just confirmed that it's the same solo Toxie, and that his uncontrollable rage is what's causing him to kill innocent people. And I gotta say...that honestly is a really weak excuse. I mean, granted, it *kinda* makes sense in a way, but I was kinda hoping for a better reason. I don't know, maybe a doppelganger was out there trying to frame Toxie or something. But the uncontrollable rage answer just seems like a lame answer to me, you know what I mean?

The Review

Well, guys, that was "The Toxic Avenger". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. Well, I think I can start by saying that this movie is *really* fun. I enjoyed the hell out of watching this thing now that I've finally gotten to see how Troma got it's recognition. Now I'm definitely gonna have to check out the sequels at some point.

But enough dabbling out of me, let's just get into this review by first discussing the writing. Now as I mentioned earlier, upon the first couple of episodes of watching "Toxic Crusaders", I kinda knew what to expect going in. And for the most part, it kinda lived up to what I was expecting. However, there are some noticeable differences between this movie and the animated series, at least with the first episode. For starters, the way Melvin gets turned into Toxie is a little more drawn out in this movie. In "Toxic Crusaders", Melvin gets tricked into meeting a chick by the pool area before he gets laughed at for wearing a pink tutu. Then he got pushed into a pool before running out and slipping into a barrel of toxic waste, before automatically becoming the Toxic Avenger. Yeah, he just gets turned into it right then and there and not a slow transformation into it like this movie does. Speaking of which, instead of just pushing Melvin into a pool before he runs out of the gym, he gets tricked by meeting this lady in the pool area in the dark before the lights come on and it's him kissing a live goat that had lipstick applied to it along with wearing a bra before he gets laughed at and humiliated. And no, I'm not kidding about that goat either, they *actually* got it to wear a shade of lipstick and a bra.

Another difference I noticed between this movie and the animated series involves Melvin's girlfriend. In the animated series, she was played up as a ditzy airhead that played an accordion. In this movie, she's kind of more like a blind bimbo who also had a dog helper who ended up getting shot thanks to a bunch of terrorists. Now I should mention that Melvin's girlfriend in "Toxic Crusaders" was also blind, but they also admitted that she wore contacts that didn't exactly work anymore. This movie doesn't really go that route, and she just stays blind throughout the entire movie. Also, in this movie, her name is Sara, while in "Toxic Crusaders" she goes by the name of Yvonne. I'm not sure why the name change from between this movie and the show, but it's not really a huge issue for me. And also, considering that we're only focusing on just Melvin throughout the entire movie, there are no other crusaders that join him in his fight against evil. Perhaps maybe that happens in one of the sequels, I wouldn't know for sure.

Now you may be wondering why I keep doing comparisons between this movie and "Toxic Crusaders"? Well, one of the big reasons is because "Toxic Crusaders" was mostly aimed at a younger audience, and considering the short runtime each episode had, they definitely had to take some liberties with that show. "The Toxic Avenger", on the other hand, is *far* from that. This movie is essentially a dark comedy where it features stuff like blood, gore, extreme violence, tons of nudity, racial humor, sexual humor, body horror, all of that in spades. This movie is going all out by being as insane and offensive as possible, and it makes the movie all the more fun to watch! And my god, do they ever pull all that off! Now I know that some of things I just mentioned is not going to appeal to everyone, obviously, and if you're easily offended by the things I just mentioned, then you're not gonna want to watch this. I should stress that this movie doesn't really taking itself very seriously, and it knows this. If this thing tried to take itself seriously, then it probably would've killed the tone that this movie was trying to aim for. However, being that it is mostly a comedy, and a very unapologetic comedy as well, it makes it a much better viewing experience, especially if you're someone who's not as easily offended as I am.

Now with that said, there is one bit of the writing that I feel is a bit weak. At least for me, it's something that I noticed. Now I talked earlier about whether or not there were two Melvin's in this movie, because the movie didn't really make it clear on that part, at least until Melvin admitted to Sara that his uncontrollable anger is what is causing him to kill innocent people. Now I kinda get what the movie was trying to aim for, in which you have the Jekyll and Hyde aspect of Melvin wanting to control his monstrous anger by not letting it take over him. But to me, it still seems like kind of a weak answer, because the movie never really explored that aspect of his character. I always thought, again, that maybe there was someone, say one of the bullies, who dumped themselves into toxic waste and ended up turning into a clone of Melvin, and was also trying to frame Melvin into becoming an actual monster by killing innocent people rather than be a monster hero, thus getting the citizens of Tromaville to turn against him. Now perhaps maybe I just had slightly higher expectations when I first saw Melvin kill someone at the gym for no reason, but it was something that kinda stuck out at me, regardless.

Aside from that, though, guys, the writing is still insanely fun on a cheesy, yet awesome level at the same time. Like I said, it's not trying to take itself too seriously, and I kinda expected that anyways, given that it's a Troma film and all. So yeah, the writing here is really good, at least by B-Movie standards anyways. The acting here is also filled to the brim with campy over-the-top acting that's not going to win any awards. If anything, I'd say this is some of the best acting I've seen from a Troma film in a while. Mind you, Troma's movies never had great acting. And while this movie is certainly no exception, I can't fault any of the actors here, because everyone in this cast looked to be having a blast in this movie. And that, to me, is all I could ask for. I guess the one thing I could see as a nitpick would have to be the actor voicing Melvin after becoming the Toxic Avenger. Perhaps it's just me, but I wasn't exactly expecting a somewhat deep voice for the character. I could remember in "Toxic Crusaders" where after Melvin turned into Toxie, he just had a regular voice that didn't really stand out. I guess maybe I was just expecting something similar like that when it came to Melvin turning into Toxie in this movie. By the way, I should mention real quick that Melvin never actually gets called Toxie in this movie. I just called him that because I had seen a bit of "Toxic Crusaders". Perhaps in the sequel he gets called Toxie then, who knows? But anyway, I'm just rambling on at this point. The acting here is the kind of campy fun I was expecting from a Troma flick, and this one definitely delivered on that aspect.

Special effects in this movie are fucking amazing! Now I should mention that this movie has a budget of about $500,000. And they used it to the best of their abilities, because everything involving the makeup and gore effects are spectacular to see. The makeup effects mostly consist of Melvin turning into the Toxic Avenger. The makeup effects on him look really fucking good for a creature that looked like it came from a barrel of toxic waste. The blood and gore effects are also just as great as well. Almost every kill in this movie is very creative, and they're not afraid to show any of it off either. Such as the kid that I mentioned where he got his head flattened from the bullies car. I believe the camera actually zoomed in on it at one point and, my god, is it ever brutal. But it also gets more brutal when you see someone's face getting caved in by weights(?) or someone's hands getting burned into a fryer. It looks gruesome, but the effects look awesome at the same time. This is some top-notch special effects for a movie that had a half a million dollar budget. And it kinda makes me yearn to see more mainstream companies try to work with lesser budgets rather than go for over a hundred million dollar budget that they've been shooting for recently. But that's just wishful thinking on my part. Point is, the special effects here are great and it proves, to me, that you don't need a massive budget in order to make a really fun movie.

Camerawork here is pretty good. The lighting here is fine for what it is. The sound-mix is mixed really well. The music here consists of 80's rock tracks that mostly fall into the cheesy, campyness of the film. I personally don't really care for the cheesy romance music, however, I will say that it's not entirely grating to listen to. It's just not something I would listen to multiple times over. Though for this movie, I probably will end up hearing it multiple times, considering how much I really enjoyed this thing.

So, I guess that kinda sums up my thoughts as a whole. So with that said, can I recommend "The Toxic Avenger"? Most definitely, yes! I can definitely say that this movie is a certified Troma classic, considering it made Troma into the studio as to what it is today. And if you, yourself, are a fan of B-Movies or even Troma, then this movie will definitely live up to your standards. Again, as long as you're not easily offended by the things I talked about earlier, then this will definitely be up your alley. And also, you have to be a fan of B-movies in order to appreciate something like this. If you're looking higher standard movie with good writing and acting, then this is *not* going to be that movie for you. For myself, though, I loved it. I'm definitely going to be holding onto this movie, and I'm definitely going to check out the sequels if I ever come across them at some point. For now, though, I'm gonna go and marathon some more episodes of "Toxic Crusaders" on YouTube. Like I said, I only managed to watch a couple of episodes, and I kinda want to watch the rest of it after I just got done watching this thing. So yeah, that's what I'm gonna do after I get done putting this review together, and this movie will definitely have the honor of having a spot on my DVD shelf.

And with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.