THE TOXIC AVENGER

A new superhero emerged from New Jersey in 1984, complete with mop and tutu dress. Significantly, this was the film that finally put small indie film label Troma on the map and has helped them thrive on the cusp of cult cinema ever since.

THE TOXIC AVENGER traces the titular character's origins.

Welcome to Tromaville, "the toxic waste capital of America". It's here that we meet wimpy janitor Melvin (Mark Torgl), busy mopping up sweat from the floor of the local health club.

Among the beautiful people fanatical about working out there are overly stressed punk Bozo (Gary Schneider), his best pal Slug (Robert Prichard) and their girlfriends, Julie (Cindy Manion) and Wanda (Jennifer Babtist) respectively. They're a thoroughly repugnant group of body-obsessed youths, prone to casual racism and running people over for sport in their spare time.

Bozo hates Melvin with a passion. So much so that Julie formulates a cruel prank which involves dressing Melvin in the aforementioned tutu and humiliating him in front of the gym's entire membership. Alas, this culminates in Melvin jumping through a window and falling face-first into a vat of bubbling toxic waste which just happens to be parked outside the health club at the time.

The onlookers are aghast as Melvin begins to mutate before their eyes (Bozo: "He's faking it, Julie!"). He flees before his transformation into Toxie (Mitch Cohen) is complete.

Retaining his mop and tutu, oversized mutant Toxie - complete with a new deep but very eloquent voice - leaves home after inadvertently terrifying his elderly mother (Sarabel Levinson) with his new appearance. He sets up camp at the local toxic waste dumping ground.

As a side-effect of his chemically-provoked mutation, Toxie has developed a gene compelling him to fight against evil. And so, he takes to the streets of Tromaville attacking criminals such as Cigar Face (Dan Snow) and performing good deeds like helping old ladies cross the road.

While thwarting a restaurant robbery, Toxie meets blind girl Sara (Andree Maranda) and true love ensues. But all is not plain sailing: Tromaville's corrupt mayor Belgoody (Pat Ryan) recognises that he needs this "monster" destroying if his own crime syndicate is to continue to prosper...

The comedy of THE TOXIC AVENGER is as broad and as stupid as anything in the Troma canon. Characters are loud, colourful and cartoonish in a manner that effectively robs the politically incorrect gags of any offence. Instead, villains are real baddies worthy of pantomime-style boos and the good guys' smiles sparkle in the campest fashion.

Lloyd Kaufman directs from Joe Ritter's quick-witted screenplay with confidence and an unexpected amount of flair, coasting through disparate genres such as teen smut comedy, political satire, superhero caper and even slasher territory (Toxie's stalking of Wanda) with agreeable amounts of success.

There's an energy to every performance that renders the whole thing as endearing as it is daft. It doesn't matter that the plot is simplicity itself or that the film essentially degenerates into a succession of set-pieces for its second half. It provides consistent entertainment, even throwing in a surprisingly heart-warming relationship between Sara and Toxie towards the end.

I haven't even mentioned the film's more exploitative elements yet. From the very start, Kaufman shows he's unafraid to zoom in repeatedly on boobies and crotches, fixating on the female form in a manner that makes PORKY'S look meek. Then there's the gore. Exaggerated to the point of being comical, theatrical and uncompromising in equal measures, Jennifer Aspinall's excellent FX work shines through scenes of kids getting their heads pulped by cars; people being beaten to death by their own severed arm; eyes getting poked out; guts being punched out of stomachs, and so on.

Complete with bad 80s fashions and even worse MOR tunes on its soundtrack, THE TOXIC AVENGER is guilty fun from beginning to end.

Heavily cut in the UK upon its original video release (by over 4 minutes - excessive even during those draconian times), the film is now available fully uncensored on this blu-ray from 88 Films.

The transfer presents the film as an MPEG4-AVC file, boasting full 1080p HD resolution and framing the movie in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The film looks brighter and cleaner than I've ever seen it before, with vibrant reds leading the impressive boost in colours. Some scenes look a tad soft but close-up shots exhibit fine detail in hair, skin contours etc. Night scenes are still a little murky at times, but this IS a low budget flick from three decades ago - don't go expecting miracles.

English Master HD audio is clear and consistent throughout.

The disc opens to an animated main menu page. From here, a pop-up scene selection menu allows access to the film via 10 chapters.

Extras begin with the hallowed Japanese Cut of the film. This clocks in at 91 minutes and 22 seconds (roughly 9 minutes longer than the uncensored 'director's cut') and is presented in 16x9 standard definition. It carries English mono audio and has a VHS raggedness to it, but once you've adjusted to the dip in quality it remains perfectly watchable. Kudos to 88 Films for including it at all. The additional footage contained in this version of the film is comprised of deleted scenes that were reintegrated into the main feature for Japanese audiences. Almost all of them are individually brief moments of additional, non-consequential dialogue.

The original 5-minute intro to the Japanese cut makes its mirth-filled, pillar-boxed way onto this disc too - complete with English subtitle translation of the Japanese subtitles that were used to translate the English audio for Japanese audiences. Confused?!!

Next we get two optional video introductions from Kaufman. Both are little over 2 minutes in length and are predictably silly affairs. Fans will have seen the 15th Anniversary intro before; the 30th Anniversary intro, shot in HD, is new to this release. Neither offers any fresh insight into the film.

An audio commentary track from Kaufman is a good listen though, finding a balance between the ridiculous and the reasonably informative. Despite his best efforts to convince us otherwise, the director is a clever man and it shows in moments of erudite, succinct detail and stammered enthusiasm.

Torgl also offers just under 5 minutes of commentary relating to scenes he's in during a short split-screen featurette.

The film's original theatrical trailer is present and correct, as are trailers for each of the sequels.

We also get a 62-second opening titles clip from the spin-off kids' cartoon series, "The Toxic Crusaders".

A 22-minute trailer reel advertising other titles available on blu-ray from 88 Films follows, containing previews for PUPPET MASTER, DOLLMAN, CASTLE FREAK, PUPPET MASTER 2, PUPPET MASTER 3: TOULON'S REVENGE, BLOODSUCKING FREAKS, TWO MOON JUNCTION, TOURIST TRAP, BLOODY BIRTHDAY, PIT AND THE PENDULUM and DEMONIC TOYS.

On top of all that there's the usual Troma fluff (the radiation march, "Why is Lloyd Kaufman Living in a Refrigerator?" featurette etc). Watch these at your peril...

Finally, though not available for review, the set is completed by a collectors' booklet and double-sided reversible cover art. I understand a Steelbook release will also be sold exclusively through Zavvi.

A very good release from 88 Films, for a movie truly deserving of its continued cult status.

Review by Stuart Willis