The Toxic Avenger (1984 film)

The Toxic Avenger is a 1984 American superhero black comedy splatter film produced and directed by Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman (the latter credited as Samuel Weil for directing) from a screenplay by Joe Ritter, based on a story by Kaufman. The film was produced and released by Troma Entertainment. It is the first installment in The Toxic Avenger film series and generated a media franchise.

A director's cut was released in 2002, notably adding a scene with Marisa Tomei in one of her first roles.

Plot
Melvin Ferd Junko III is a 98-pound janitor at a health club in the fictional town of Tromaville, New Jersey, where a group of unknowingly murderous customers (Bozo, Slug, Wanda and Julie) regularly harass and bully him.

One day, the group tricks Melvin into wearing a pink tutu and unknowingly hugging a real sheep who he thought was Julie. He is ridiculed and chased around the health club. He ultimately jumps out of a second-story window and falls into a drum of toxic waste, which was on a flatbed truck parked outside. The toxic waste burns his skin and sets him on fire. After running away down the street, Melvin returns home to get relief in his bathtub. However, the chemicals transform him into a hideously deformed mutant with superhuman size and strength.

Meanwhile, a group of drug dealers, led by Cigar Face, are trying to bribe a police officer. When he refuses to accept the money, Cigar Face and his gang prepare to castrate him. Melvin suddenly appears and kills the criminals, and then leaves a mop on their faces as a calling card. Cigar Face escapes, promising to take revenge.

When Melvin returns home, his mother is terrified of him and will not let him in the house. He subsequently builds a makeshift home in the local junkyard.

A gang of three men hold up a Mexican restaurant and attack a blind woman, named Sara. They kill her guide dog and attempt to rape her, but are stopped by Melvin when he attacks them. Melvin then takes Sara back to her home, where they get to know one another and become romantically involved.

Melvin continues to fight crime, including drug dealers and pimps for underage prostitutes. As Melvin gives aid to the people in the city and is celebrated as a hero, Mayor Belgoody grows worried. It turns out the Mayor is the leader of Tromaville's extensive crime ring and fears having the truth exposed. He wants Melvin gone.

A group of men, led by Cigar Face, eventually surround Melvin with guns. Just before they fire on him, he leaps up to a fire escape so they shoot each other instead.

Melvin takes revenge on the four health club bullies who caused his transformation. He first attacks Wanda in the health club's sauna and burns her backside on the heater. He then returns to the club later, pursues Julie into the basement, and cuts off her hair. He finally confronts Bozo and Slug after they beat a woman and steal her car. They attempt to run Melvin down, but he leaps onto the roof and throws Slug out of the moving car. Melvin then gets in and pulls off the steering wheel, causing Bozo to drive off the side of a cliff. The car explodes, killing Bozo. Melvin climbs out uninjured and walks away.

When Melvin kills a seemingly innocent old woman in a dry cleaning store (who was, in fact, a leader of an underground human trafficking ring), Belgoody calls in the United States National Guard. Back in his junkyard home, Melvin is horrified at what he has become. He and Sara decide to move away from the city and into the nearby woods.

Melvin and Sara are eventually discovered, and the Mayor and the National Guard come to kill him. However, the people of Tromaville step in, and Melvin's mother identifies the mutant as her son. The Mayor's evil ways are revealed, and Melvin rips out his organs to see if he has "any guts." Hailed as a hero, the Toxic Avenger continues to combat crime in Tromaville.

Production
In 1975, Lloyd Kaufman had the idea to shoot a horror film involving a health club while serving as the pre-production supervisor on the set of Rocky. Years later at the Cannes Film Festival, Kaufman read an article that stated horror films were no longer popular, so he decided to produce his own take on one based on his idea. It was given the original working title of Health Club Horror, and eventually retitled.

Filming
Principal photography for The Toxic Avenger took place at various locations in New Jersey, with most of it shot in and around Boonton. The car chase scene, which ends with a car driving off a cliff and exploding, was filmed in Jersey City. The scene was inspired by the final truck scene in George Miller's film Mad Max 2. Filming was completed in 1983.

Theatrical
Troma Entertainment released The Toxic Avenger initially in 1984, receiving an early review from Variety in late December. During the next year, the film had a long run as the midnight movie on the single screen of the Bleeker Street Cinema in New York City. On April 4, 1986, the film opened on 45 screens and earned $140,000 for its opening weekend.

Home media
The Toxic Avenger was released by Troma on VHS and Betamax in 1986, and for the first time on DVD on March 25, 1998. It was later re-released by Troma on November 20, 2000 and again on September 3, 2002; with the latter release of the film being a part of a 4-Disk Toxic Avenger movie pack. The film was later picked up for distribution by Prism, who released the film on DVD on February 2, 2004. Troma then released its own 21st Anniversary Edition version of the film on March 29, 2005. On March 7, 2006, the film was released again on DVD by Koch Entertainment. The film would not receive another home media release until Troma released a "Japanese Cut" of the film on December 11, 2012. Troma released the film for the first time on Blu-ray on August 12, 2014. On November 18, later that year, it was again released on Blu-ray by Import Vendor.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, The Toxic Avenger holds an approval rating of 70%, based on 20 reviews, and an average rating of 5.5/10. Its consensus reads, "A silly and ribald superhero spoof, Toxic Avenger's uninhibited humor hits more than it misses." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 42 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "Mixed or average reviews".

Author and film critic Leonard Maltin awarded the film 2.5 out of 4 stars, calling the film, "A funny spoof... Not without violence and gore but still entertaining." Stephen Holden of The New York Times rated the film a score of 3/5, complimenting the film for its "maniacally farcical sense of humor", while also noting that the film itself was "trash."

TV Guide gave the film a negative 1/5 stars, writing "Though it is silly, sleazy, and graphically violent, The Toxic Avenger does hold a bit of warped charm for fans of this sort of thing." Keith Phipps from The A.V. Club was highly critical of the film, writing, "As for the movie itself, it's still a piece of trash, if a marginally entertaining one: it's too self-consciously parodic to be good kitsch, and too gross to be all that fun."

Reboot
On April 6, 2010, a remake of The Toxic Avenger was announced. The remake was set to be co-written and directed by Steve Pink.

On September 12, 2016, Variety reported that Conrad Vernon will direct the film, while Mike Arnold and Chris Poole were attached to rewrite the screenplay by Pink and Daniel C. Mitchell.

On December 10, 2018, it was announced that Legendary Pictures has won the rights to reboot The Toxic Avenger, with the original's producers, Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz of Troma Entertainment, to serve as producers. On March 21, 2019, Macon Blair was announced to write and direct the upcoming film.

On November 30, 2020, it was announced that Peter Dinklage would star in the film. In April 14, 2021, Jacob Tremblay and Taylour Paige were added to the cast. In June 11, 2021, Kevin Bacon, Julia Davis, and Elijah Wood joined the cast.

Principal photography commenced on June 21, 2021 in Bulgaria and wrapped on August 14, 2021.

The Toxic Avenger (2023) premiered as the opening film of Fantastic Fest on September 21, 2023.