Review of The Toxic Avenger (1984) by Alex R — 06 Jul 2012

This is not for anyone looking to watch a serious film. This movie is made for the "so bad it's good" crowd. Grab a beer and your friends, take a seat, and laugh at all the absurdities.

100 Days of Superheroes:

Day 11- The Toxic Avenger.

"The Monster is a hero, you should be giving him a metal not shooting him".

Here is a film that is completely deserving of the phrase, "So bad it's good". The Toxic Avenger is an over the top, gory, campy adventure of a 98 pound loser named Melvin who is transformed into a disfigured crime fighter dubbed "The Monster" by the town people.

The film takes place in a small town of Tromaville (pronounced Trauma ville), which has become the dump site for toxic waste. It's home of the perverted rapists, corrupt politicians, and teenagers whose favorite sport is running down people with their car.

It is here that we meet Melvin who is scrawny, awkward, and weird in the worst way. He is tormented and bullied by the other kids at the pool where he works as a mop boy. One day they play a prank on Melvin, which ends with him throwing himself out a window and into a barrel of toxic radioactive waste. The incident leaves him horribly mutated, becoming a powerful creature who begins stalking the corrupt town streets for criminals to punish. Unfortunately one of those people is the fat mayor who has been relying on criminals to keep him obese and happy. Almost as compensation for how hideous he is, Melvin also gets a sleek sexy voice that sounds like Pierce Brosnan might be behind it (unfortunately he is not).

Amazingly enough Melvin gets even more girls as an Incredible Hulk- Goonies Sloth hybrid than he ever did as a skinny wimp. When I say more, I mean one girl, the blind Sally whom he saves at a restaurant, boiling her attackers into pizzas or whipping them into human milkshakes. She has no idea how deformed he is or that he is actually the toxic avenger, making her the one person Melvin can carry on a normal relationship with.

The effects are well done in an over the top gore filled fashion. The costume for the Toxic Avenger is decently done, the only problem is every time he opens his mouth to speak, he looks more like a puppet.

This film is really impossible to critique in the classical sense. It really isn't like any superhero film before or after. It combines the quirky campiness of the 1966 Batman with the violence and gore of popular grindhouse and slasher flicks. The story is not even of much consideration. So the only thing left is entertainment value. If its well rounded characters and a strong narrative your looking for then best leave this one well alone. There are none to be found here.

If you are not a fan of excessive gore, squeamish, or don't like crude humor, then this also probably isn't for you. But if you are in a big group (and alcohol might be involved) this can be a great party film if not just for its ridiculous nature and the amount of laughs it creates from pure absurdity. This alone is enough to carry Toxic Avenger out of the gutters and make it a film worth of checking out. It is also why it's become one of the biggest guilty pleasure films out there.