THE TOXIC AVENGER

1985

Directed by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz

A.K.A. The Monster Hero (really)

Plot Ahh, the Toxic Avenger. The king of the many great films made by the fine folks at Troma (many of whom I've had the great pleasure of meeting) Troma itself is the longest running truly independant movie studio, in case you didn't know, and if you truly want to support independant cinema, do so by taking a click over to Troma's Website. But the Tromite in me digresses. We begin our tale at the Tromaville Health Club, where many colorful characters hang out, such as Bozo & Slug, and their girlfriends, Julie and Wanda, respectively. Working at the club is poor Melvin Furd (later in the series, inexplicably renamed Melvin Junko), a short wimpy loser, whose klutzy antics often nearly lose him his job as janitor, not to mention nearly making him get his clock cleaned by Bozo and Slug. You see, the four are sick, sadistic people, who enjoy playing games such as the "points" system for running people down with their car. But then, they fit right in in Tromaville, a city even more dangerous and corrupt then Batman Begins makes Gotham look. One day, the gang decide to pull a prank on melvin that ends up with him in a gym full of people, wearing a pink tutu, and kissing a sheep. Running away in shame, he ends up falling out a second story window into a vat of toxic waste on a truckbed whose drivers stopped for a coke break. And I'm not talking soda. Melvin, badly burned and still on fire, runs home and jumps in the bath. His scorched, tute-clad body begins to mutate on him. His face deforms, his muscles grow out of control, and he becomes...THE TOXIC AVENGER! The Toxic Avenger, or Toxie to his pals, discovers that he has an irrepressible urge to be drawn to evil and put a stop to it any way he can. In part 2, we'll learn that the toxic waste gave him a particle in his blood called Tromatons that causes this, but for now, lets follow Toxie. Toxie begins his crusade against evil, stopping muggings, saving the life of the only incorruptable cop in town, and slowly, one-by-one, gets his revenge on Bozo and the gang, all to the frustration of the heavily (pun intended) corrupt mayor of Tromaville. One day, while foiling a group of armed robbers (one of whom, he "Un-arms") at a Taco Hut, Toxie meets Sara (Again, oddly renamed Claire in the sequels), a blind girl whose dog was killed in the robbery. He takes her home, and the two strangely hit it off. It's love at first er-non-sight. Obivously, the town is starting to realize what a hero Toxie is, and what a scumbag the mayor is. The mayor, quite fed up with this PR snafu, calls in the national guard to try to take Toxie down. A monumental battle awaits! Will Toxie be triumphant, or will the mayor have the guts (once again, pun intended) to take Toxie down?

Rating I give The Toxic Avenger: Three and One Half Rotting Shambling Corpses out of Five Some fun facts about "The Toxic Avenger": This was Marissa Tomei's first film. Troma didn't even realize that fact until she admitted it herself in an interview. She's an extra at the health club, and if you don't blink, you still might miss her. The dvd features her in it's slide show area. The name "The Toxic Avenger" wasn't decided on until after the movie was finished. Pay close attention, and you'll notice that the words "The Toxic Avenger" are never spoken in the film. Also notice all the "I heart the Monster Hero" t-shirts. The actors that played Slug and Wanda found love on the set, and later married.

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