DVD review: The Toxic Avenger (1984)

Welcome to Tromaville, New Jersey - a small American town, terrorized by criminals. The towns corrupt mayor sits idly by, while muggers, robbers and teenage punks victimize helpless citizens. Among the residents of Tromaville is Melvin, a nerdy emaciated janitor at the local health club. That is, until he becomes The  Toxic Avenger!  A gang of thugs devise a cruel hoax that goes horribly wrong as Melvin is cast through a third story window into a vat of hazardous toxic waste. However, an unexpected metamorphosis takes place. As the chemicals take hold of his body, Melvin turns into the Toxic Avenger, doer of good, and brutal mauler of evil! The rest, as they say, is history! The excitement is non-stop as the hero sets out to single handedly wipe out the forces of evil that torment the people of Tromaville. The Toxic Avenger is written Stuart Strutin, Gay Partington Terry, Joe Ritter and Lloyd Kaufman. It´s directed by Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman (as Samuel Weil). The acting is hilariously bad but this is a intentional move on behalf of the filmmakers. The camerawork and editing is good. The pacing is good, another gore-gag or joke is never far away. I guess I should point out that the jokes mostly are of the bad taste variety that are sure to offend the politically correct. Some of the violence is most probably going to offend those who are squemish as neither children or the elderly are safe from harm in this. It´s gory and it is, of course, all practical fx and the highlight is the infamous roadkill scene. There´s gratuitous T & A in this.
This review is based upon the region all (Region 0) DVD release from Troma Entertainment.
Rating: 6½ out of 7. Many will be put off by the bad acting, bad jokes, violence and gore but in my opinion The Toxic Avenger is a very funny, hilarious and entertaining flick. Highly recommended if you´re a fan of bad taste comedy and gore. If you´re a fan of Troma Entertainment I´m pretty sure that you´ve already seen this classic feature flick from them.

/JL