'The Toxic Avenger' review by MartialHorror

Source: http://freewebs.com/mhtoxic

Please check out the site!

THE TOXIC AVENGER(1984)
(Directed by Michael Hertz and Lloyd Kaufman)

"Best bad movie EVER."- Signed by MartialHorror.

Plot: When a geek is accidentally thrown into barrels of toxic waste, he becomes a monster. However, he is a superhero monster who vows to rid his town of crime.

Review:

“The Toxic Avenger” is not an easy movie to review. The quality of a film can be summed up as a weighing between the good and bad stuff, as well as how the movie affected you. “The Toxic Avenger” is not that simple. In truth, your opinion on the film ultimately reflects your opinion on film in general. But whether you love it or hate it, there is no denying it’s impact on horror. After all, it is the movie that built the house of Troma Entertainment, one of the most (in)famous horror production companies out there.

The story follows Melvin(Mark Torgl), a super nerd who might be retarded, who works as a janitor in the health club. One review stated that it’s hard to feel sympathy for him because he’s such a wuss and you might have bullied him yourself. I disagree, because as I said, I think he’s supposed to be somewhat retarded and there is a goofy charm about his eternal smile. He suffers the wrath of a group of bullies, lead by Bozo(Gary Schneider) and Cory Feldman…Okay, it’s not actually Cory Feldman. But he looks like him! But having them be bullies is not enough. They’re also serial killers, using their car as a weapon to kill anyone, even if the victims are kids. If you’re asking yourself how the hell have they not been caught, because hitting enough people with your car is probably easy to track down, then you need to slap yourself. Keep your vile logic away from this movie.

Soon, a prank on poor Melvin goes wrong, which ends with Melvin accidentally jumping out of a window and into a barrel of toxic waste. He survives, but mutates(in a real impressive effect) into the Toxic Avenger, although he’s only referred as such in the narration. He’s become a gruesome monster, whose suddenly cured of his retardedness(if he was ever such) and gets a deep, manly voice(insert puberty metaphor jokes here). He also gets super human strength, and for some reason, has a drive to kill all evil in an explanation that makes no sense. Whoops, forgot that logic does not exist here. My bad. This is no easy task, because this town is worse than Gotham City, full of drug dealers, corrupt officials, gangsters, murderers and rapists. Even Charles Bronson wouldn’t bother with this place. Soon, He ends up meeting a blind girl named Sarah(Andree Maranda), whose blindness looks more like general stupidity. Seriously, she reminded me of that dumb chick from “Epic Movie”. They fall in love and have sex- ew, but the corrupt officials(lead by the Mayor, who I could’ve sworn was related to John Candy) conspire to kill the Toxic Avenger once and for all.

Prior to this, Troma was known for its cheap, sex-comedies. Take out the horrendous gore, and that is pretty much what this is. There is lots of nudity, a decent amount of sex, and silly jokes that aren’t really funny but you find yourself smiling at them anyway. Or at least I did. But I do have a poor taste in comedy, as I have more-or-less enjoyed ALL of those recent spoof movies…Actually wait, I hated the appropriately titled “Disaster Movie”. There is little competence to be found here. The gruesome makeup effects are pretty impressive and the gore is surprisingly good. In fact, my favorite aspect of the film is how creative the kills are. Some of the stunts are very impressive as well, and I liked the use of classical music.

But make no mistake, this is a bad movie. But at the same time, it is intentionally a bad movie. The acting is so hilariously over-the-top, that it isn’t impossible to take it seriously. The technical aspects are pretty low tech, and you'll notice a lot of the flaws(a person suddenly becomes a dummy when getting beat up by Toxie). There isn't much delivered in terms of the cinematography(which is often the most important aspect in horror). The plot is absurd, although that’s to be expected in most horror films of the time. But the film knows when it is being clichéd or catering to the stereotypes(the corrupt officials, for example), and is pretty much making fun of itself all the way through. The result is that I found myself laughing with it instead of laughing at it. But even better, I found it to be exciting and energetic, watching Toxie kick that ass.

Earlier in my review, I stated that your opinion of this film reflects your opinion on film in general. Whether you like this film or not all comes down to if you believe movies should ever be intentionally bad. Or more specifically, if you believe bad movies should be celebrated. If so, you will see this as a comedy with loads of gore, creative kills and boobs galore. If not, you will just see it as a bad movie. You will think that whether it’s intentional or not, a bad movie is still a bad movie. This isn’t “Grindhouse”, which is a stunningly well made movie(well, “Planet Terror” is anyway) that’s dressed as a bad movie. There is little “good” to be found here. It is wonderfully bad, and I loved every minute of it. But as I said, it comes to whether you can bring yourself to like a bad film. Regardless, there is no denying it’s impact on exploitation cinema. At the absolute least, it’s better than some of Troma’s other attempts to make us laugh in a horror film, like “Mothers Day”. I freaking hate that movie. It's followed by three sequels, with a fourth possibly on the way. There has also been talks of a remake. Not a terrible idea, but we'll have to see.

Violence: Rated R worthy. It’s super graphic, creative and daring(kids and dogs get killed).

Nudity: There are a few sets of breasts, two sex scenes(one involving Toxie. Ew) and a female masturbation scene.

Overall: If you believe bad films can be fun, then you can’t get much funner than “Toxic Avenger”. But if you don’t think so, then you’ll just see it as another bad movie.

3/4 Stars


my reviews of martial arts and horror films
http://freewebs.com/martialhorror