The Toxic Avenger (1984) Review

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

If you doubt heroes can come from anywhere, The Toxic Avenger proves otherwise.


PLOT


The 1984 film takes place in the fictional New Jersey town of Tromaville and follows Melvin Ferd, a socially awkward janitor who works at a health club. Everyday, he is bullied by a group of obnoxiously psychotic adults that relish in inflicting racism & pain on others. The group’s names are as followed: Bozo, Slug, Julie & Wanda (Gary Schneider, Robert Prichard, Jennifer Babtist & Cindy Manion). Their latest actions involve running over a child named Skippy (Dominick Calvitto). The following day, they prank Melvin by tricking him to kiss a sheep in the dark, making him think it was Julie. When chased out of the building through a two story window, he falls into a drum of toxic waste on a truck parked outside, transforming him into a deformed mutant with super strength and various abilities. He quickly finds purpose of this freak accident by confronting every bit of evil he can detect, starting with confronting a group of drug dealers trying to bribe an officer. When returning home, his mom would be petrified of him that she doesn’t allow him inside, resulting in him to make a makeshift home in a junkyard. He continues his vigilantism when saving a blind woman named Sara and multiple hostages from a completely different gang at a restaurant. Shortly after does Sara become romantically involved with the monstrous hero when he isn’t doing right by the city. In one press conference, a scientist is able to explain his consistency of detecting evil compels him to attack as brutal as possible. Corrupt mayor Peter Belgoody wants him gone to prevent him from finding out his past & future schemes, having already killed a member of the health club, Dennis (Dennis Souder), who was dealing drugs for him. This leads to the first he attacked, Cigar Face (Dan Snow), to try getting even when holding him at gunpoint, but Melvin retreats via fire escape, causing him and his gang to shoot each other down. He then decides to take revenge on the four who caused his condition in the first place. He burns Wanda at the health club’s sauna before attacking Julie with a pair of scissors. He then confronts Bozo & Slug as they stole a car, throwing the latter out during a chase and causing the former to crash. His vigilantism is questioned however when killing an old woman named Ms. Haskell (Norma Pratt) in a dry cleaning store, as it was kept under wraps she led a human trafficking ring. This gives the mayor a chance to send the national guard after him. Because he’s a unaware of detecting evil, Melvin is so horrified of his actions and decides to move into the woods via tent with Sara. The mayor & national guard find them both, but the civilians defend the toxic avenger and his mom eventually recognizes him. Just as the mayor reveals his evil intentions, it paves the way for Melvin to disembowel him and the film ends with the whole town celebrating him for his heroism. 


THOUGHTS


I have heard about this Troma production for years and never understood the popularity of it until I heard of the remake by Bloody Digusting that released 40 years later. Michael Herz & Lloyd Kaufman have made a trademark in helming content that is downright bonkers and this is the definition of it all. It’s exploitative all the way and does not hold back in its underground vibe of insanity you wouldn’t think of tolerating compared to other things since it pushes the envelope with its over the top violence at every given turn. Not only is a child ran over, but a service dog gets shot and a baby is held at gunpoint. You don’t always see that in bigger Hollywood productions, which made it batshit crazier here. Then you get floored with misplaced comedy in order to figure out where the line is, which is kinda how Troma works in the given budget. It seems to me that people dig this kind of raunchiness after all this time because it’s purely authentic in saying justice is more earned than given and that is the case in the titular protagonist’s unorthodox journey. For the most part, we try to get used to Melvin because we all got that one dork to relate to. He’s the most timid character ever depicted, which is quite ironic when everyone in the health club are sick fucks, roid rage or not. Mark Togl gets the ground going this guy is an outcast everywhere he goes, whereas the combo of Kenneth Kessler’s bold voice and Mitch Cohen being the physique of his Toxie form, you’re set with a hero for the ages. Even if you think his way of action is as shocking to what all his enemies do, you can’t help but think to yourself that he knows what the cards are dealt with and would rather play fire with fire at this point rather than risk holding back. You definitely sense this when seeing him take out a pimp in between all the gangs he deals with. Although not even he gets how he works, he’s still willing to try and it’s hard to not like someone with that will. In that case, that makes him worth finding love he wasn’t even looking for. Andree Maranda is undoubtedly sincere as the blind Sara who is the biggest bystander off of surviving all her trauma and that is part of what makes her a good match with Melvin when looking back. These two become compatible for accepting their inner selves rather than out, which is how every real life relationship should be when it comes down to it. Every time she hears of the baggage he deals with, she stands by him because she still trusts his big heart more than her instinct. With her being the only peer by his side, it’s honestly what inspires the rest of the town to do the same. If she loves him, there’s no reason for them not to. Having said that, it’s quite easy to discuss the elephant in the room on who’s the big bad. While the core four at the health club are diabolical, there is still credit that must be given to the mayor. Thanks to a solid performance by Pat Ryan Jr., he’s on par in making him as gluttonous as you’d expect from a corrupt figure because he’s shameless in what he’s part of and doesn’t care how it affect others. Thankfully, his reign of terror ended before it could get worse. While this isn’t the end of evil itself due to how the sequels that would come after, it’s always a relief in knowing justice is always around the corner. While this movie is indeed entertaining in most cases, there are still some things that confused me deeply when sitting through it. Like for instance, why would Slug & Wanda want to have sex in the gym locker room when all the lockers are open and the towels & socks haven’t been washed yet? That doesn’t even include the benches that likely haven’t been sanitized yet. That’s not sexy, that’s just gross. That confuses me more than how the kid Skippy is allowed to go cycling at night. Moving on, I’m surprised the sheep was trained to bleat on command when it came to pranking Melvin, let alone did the guy assume Julie grew hair and didn’t think twice about it. There’s even a continuity error of a reflection spotting Melvin one on a mattress and it drives me nuts more than the take difference between how one thug gets covered in tortilla chips in one frame, only to be taco shells in the next. And there should be an explanation on why would it be cool to have katanas on display of a Mexican restaurant because that’s a huge safety hazard bound to happen. Also, how does Melvin know about Slug’s prank on Wanda to know how to get the jump on her? I mean if he’s psychic, that should be exposited as well. And then it’s odd how his evil radar doesn’t work when it came to taking so long to go after the mayor. I say this because he was willing to take out the gym drug dealer, yet didn’t sense the mayor being in the same health club as that happened. On top of that, if he can piss toxic waste, how is he able to have sex with Sara? I mean there should be more time explaining his powers if we want it all to make sense. Heck, Sara didn’t even have to move out to the dump when their apartment was just fine, which sounds dumber than her not hearing the national guard pull up on her tent. If you can try ignoring these issues however, then you can try what this is going for. To wrap up, The Toxic Avenger is one of those movies that fits into the middle so well in being one that can be bad, but not too bad. If those are the kind of movies you’re into, then you’re in for a treat with this.