The Toxic Avenger (1984)

Directors:

Michael Herz
Lloyd Kaufman

Writers:

Lloyd Kaufman (additional dialogue)
Lloyd Kaufman (story)

Release Date:

11 April 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Horror

Tagline:

Not all monsters are scary to people. Not if it's one fighting crime in the Garden State.

Plot:

This is the story of Melvin, the Tromaville Health Club mop boy, who inadvertently and naively trusts the hedonistic...

Plot Keywords:

Health Club | Toxic Avenger | Superhero | Corruption | Toxic Waste

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Andree Maranda	...	Sara
Mitch Cohen	...	The Toxic Avenger (as Mitchell Cohen)
Jennifer Prichard	...	Wanda (as Jennifer Babtist)
Cindy Manion	...	Julie
Robert Prichard	...	Slug
Gary Schneider	...	Bozo
Pat Ryan	...	Mayor Peter Belgoody (as Pat Ryan Jr.)
Mark Torgl	...	Melvin Junko
Dick Martinsen	...	Officer O'Clancy
Chris Liano	...	Walter Harris
Dan Snow	...	Cigar Face
Doug Isbecque	...	Knuckles
Charles Lee Jr.	...	Nipples
Xavier Barquet	...	Man Killed In Mexican Restaurant
Patrick Kilpatrick	...	Leroy (as Pat Kilpatrick)

Also Known As:

Health Club (USA) (working title)
Health Club Hero (USA) (working title)
Health Club Horror (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

87 min | Canada:78 min | USA:110 min (director's cut) | USA:82 min (unrated version) | Argentina:87 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

New Zealand:R18 (director's cut) | Iceland:16 | Finland:(Banned) (original rating) (director's cut) | Singapore:(Banned) | Norway:15 (director's cut) | Italy:VM14 (VHS rating) | Australia:R | Finland:K-16 | Finland:K-18 (director's cut) | France:-12 | Norway:18 | UK:18 | USA:Unrated | West Germany:18 | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Canada:R (Ontario) | Argentina:18 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Boonton, New Jersey, USA

Company:

Troma Entertainment

Trivia:

Although Andree Maranda was dating one of the film's main producers, she won her part through an audition.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Toxie is chasing Julie, Julie runs into a room, locks the door and puts a plank of wood to secure the door. As she does, she cries and whimpers, yet her mouth doesn't move.

Quotes:

[Cigar Face is counting money, while Knuckles is counting out loud]
Knuckles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Cigar Face: When we lay this wad on O'Clancy, the boss is going to have him by the balls.
Nipples: I don't think O'Clancy will take the money. Everyone says he's a honest cop.
Knuckles: He don't take the dough, I'm going to give him a blow.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "SexTV: Monstrous Desires: Sexuality and Horror/A Moment with... David Cronenberg (#8.2)" (2005)

Soundtrack:

FACTOR 1

The posterchild for the 'so bad it's good' film brigade...

Lacklustre direction by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz, a goofy script (by Joe Ritter), truly poor FX and even worse acting all add up to, for some strange, abstract reason, a stupidly enjoyable film experience.

Maybe it's the camp sounding music, the over the top (and in some cases *way* over the top) 'acting', or perhaps it's just the fact that it's so unashamedly weird and downright cheesy that makes it such fun to watch, who knows? Whatever the reason this definitely isn't a film to spend long hours contemplating such things, instead just sit back and enjoy the crazy show.

Performance wise, as already mentioned, none of the actors give even remotely decent performances, with the exception of Andree Miranda who's actually pretty good in her role as Toxie's blind girlfriend. All of the other actors are so far over the top (or indeed just so downright terrible) that by films end they too have somehow managed to take on their own distinctly cheesy charm and add greatly to the whole 'so bad it's good' motif.

As I may have mentioned once or twice before 'The Toxic Avenger' is cheesier than a block of cheese factories, and as such it takes a special type of person to enjoy 'this type of thing', however for those with their tongue planted firmly in cheek, and for lovers of schlock cinema and 50's z-grade monster movies this is a must see. For most everyone else though it's probably best avoided and will most likely induce headaches and annoyance rather than belly laughs and amusement. Which of the above descriptions best suits you I'll leave you to decide for yourself.

7/10