The Toxic Avenger
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| A humble nerd, through a freak accident, becomes The Toxic Avenger, New Jersey's first superhero! |
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Now, I've talked about Troma pictures before (see the review for CoN'EHp2:SM, once you figure that one out). They take pride in their crap, er, craft and they do it well. They set their sites on a certain core audience. I'm not exactly sure who the audience is, but I suspect they own a few KISS t-shirts apiece and still think Sting could kick Macho Man Randy Savage's ass easier than opening a Slim Jim package.
This is not to say the movies are bad. No, I love Troma films despite my lack of Ace Frehely paraphenilia and dislike of any wrestling not involving midgets. They make movies for the 12 year-old child in most of us, the one that demands you buy Cocoa Crispies every once in while and still won't let you fully enjoy the "Riverdance" (not that that's a bad thing). The Toxic Avenger is the perfect story for those of us who still occassionally feed this inner kid just so he'll stop kicking the front seat of your cerebellum from his vantage point in the hindbrain, all the while spilling Mountain Dew all over the upholstery. It's got a nerd-conquers-all message to it, an almost irresistable pull to anyone who's spent a beautiful summer day inside with all the blinds down rewinding the naked Phoebe Cates scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High when they were eleven and mom was at work or shopping or something. It's also enjoyable to anyone who's ordered the Jerry Springer "Too Hot for TV" tape (you know who you are).
It's a fun movie that can be watched by yourself or in a group. There's perversity everywhere, and it features actoring just above porn level, but it's a movie that aspires to be no more than what it is, a fun b-movie. It's the kind of movie that gets people talking to the screen, mostly exclaiming "oh, no", "ewwww!", or "that reminds me to get myself examined for tapeworms". It's almost guarenteed to give you a cheap laugh. Sure, many of the jokes fall flat or fail completely, but it still beats any given episode of say, Third Rock From the Sun and completely destroys the entire run of Tracey Takes On. If you can find it, see the Toxic Avenger and let me know how you liked it. I guarantee a chuckle or two and if you don't laugh, you get to... I don't know, send some hate mail or something. Enjoy. |
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| the pre-movie warning of "extreme violence" (for even extra violence, pick up the director's cut at your local Suncoast. It's toxie-rific!) The bad guys "Bozo" and "Slug" (must have been their day off from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers) and their hobby of hit and running (25 points for minorities, 30 for Puerto Ricans (¡mi hermanos!), double points for kids under 12, and 28 points for running over the head of a kid riding his bike (which they show, yippee!)) Tromaville, "Radioactive Waste Capital of the World" Cute little Melvin (just seconds away from becoming Toxie) with his tutu and mop the sheep in drag "Melvin's on fire, Melvin's on fire" (the motto for a disgrutled generation) the tough karate bad guy in drag Toxie sticking his fingers through a guy's eyes the Nazi police chief Toxie's dubbed-in voice the Mayor's random dancing girls which are always in his house the bad guys who shoot a seeing eye-dog (Hethens! Recant! Recant!) the blind girl (who, in the standard "blind-girl-acting-technique" just looks up and moves her eyes a lot); various killing techniques used by old TA such as the guy who gets a brain milkshake, the putting of another guy's hands in a deep fryer, the guy whose head is crushed by a weight machine, and the midget who is put into a clothes drier and is then pressed (all in about an hour) the good-natured Toxie, taking the lid off jars and halping old ladies across the street (that's how I'll remember him... ) |
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