There’s a new The Toxic Avenger flick out, a remake of the 1984 original. But before I do get to the new film, I want to take you on a disgusting and (sometimes) entertaining journey from the original film right up to the remake. With a little history of Troma Entertainment along the way.

If you have no idea what Troma is, then please allow me to enlighten you. Co-founded by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz in 1974. Troma makes really low budget, independent, schlocky, B-movies. In fact, they are the longest running indie film production studio in the world. Yep, they’re still going today after 51 years. The main face of Troma is really Lloyd Kaufman, he’s also the company’s main producer, director, writer and more. Lloyd has even appeared is several non-Troma films such as Rocky, Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad. Those last two being James Gunn films because Lloyd and James have a bit of history together, which I get to soon.

Troma began by producing and distributing bawdy sex comedies such as The First Turn-On! (featuring the now very famous Vincent D’Onofrio). The studio even acquired or produced early films of some soon to be big stars. The Battle of Love’s Return featured Oliver Stone in an early acting role before he became an Oscar winning director. Kevin Costner’s debut movie, Sizzle Beach, U.S.A. was distributed by Troma. Nightbeast was also distributed by Torma, which featured music from some 16 year old kid called (Jeffrey Jacob) J. J. Abrams, who would eventually go on to became a massively successful writer/director in his own right and even help destroy the Star Wars franchise. Then there was Tromeo and Juliet, a highly sexualised and bloody (or typical Troma) version of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and this is where the James Gunn connections begin. This was the first film that James worked on as he co-wrote the script, as well as being an as associate director to Lloyd. Yep, James Gunn, the now head of DC films, got his start with Lloyd Kaufman and Troma. Hence why Lloyd has appeared in several of James’ films.

Anyway, along the way, Troma created The Toxic Avenger, a very typical, low-budget, horror B-movie. Over the years, the Toxie character has become a massive fan favourite and as well as having his own franchise, Toxie has appeared in several other Troma films and other media. However, I’m just sticking to the The Toxic Avenger specific flicks for this retrospective, which I guess really should get on with doing.

The Toxic Avenger

Released in 1984 with a story from Lloyd Kaufman, as well as being co-directed by Lloyd and Michael Herz, this was the world’s introduction to Toxie. Taking place in the fictional town of Tromaville, New Jersey (a lot of Troma films do), we are introduced to Melvin Ferd, a very socially awkward and physically weak janitor working at a gym/health spa. As is the standard with these kinds of tales, Melvin has bullies, several of them. One day, the bullies pull a prank on Melvin that sees him humiliated in front of numerous members of the gym. They begin to form a crowd and eventually, Melvin falls though a window and into a barrel of toxic waste.

Melvin transforms from a scrawny janitor to a hulking mutant/monster (and gets himself a blind girlfriend too). Known locally as “the monster hero”, he begins cleaning up the crime ridden streets with his weapon of choice, a mop. Soon, the residents of Tromaville begin to take a shine to the rather unusual vigilante. The town’s main gangster, Cigar Face is not best pleased that there’s a new hero and does his best to put an end to his good deeds. Throw in a corrupt mayor and the mutantly transformed Melvin getting revenge on those who bullied him. It all ends with the residents of Tromaville lauding their new hero and eventually calling him, The Toxic Avenger.

The Toxic Avenger is a really stupid flick, but that’s precisely what Troma films are all about. I’m pretty sure that Lloyd Kaufman has always been fully aware that his movies are not going to win any Oscars. Loaded with excessive gore, violence, and a fair share of titties too. What you get is a OTT parody of the superhero movie, before superhero movies really became so popular for them to be parodied. This is utter shlock, but it is shlock that I find thoroughly entertaining. Gross, lowbrow and unashamedly gratuitous.

As long as you go into this knowing that you’re going to be served up some really low-budget and ridiculously stupid cinema, then you could very well end up enjoying it. I think that The Toxic Avenger works as a really good introduction to the world of Troma, but it’s not their best film. Before I get to the first sequel, I’m going to attempt to clear something up. It has been said that future Oscar winner, Marisa Tomei is in this film. It was an early and very small uncredited role. The somewhat “respected” website, Collider has an article detailing said early Marisa role right here. Even the official Torma YouTube channel has a video of the scene.

However, that doesn’t look like Marisa Tomei to me, even a young Marisa. You can compare how she looked back then by watching The Flamingo Kid, also released in 1984. Definitely different appearances despite supposedly being the same actress from the same year. To add to the confusion, the special features on the director’s cut state that Marisa Tomei briefly appears as an extra in the scene where Melvin runs away from the pool before jumping out of the window and falling into the toxic waste… which is not the scene that both Collider and the official Troma YouTube channel state. The scene mentioned on the director’s cut DVD is pre-Melvin becoming Toxie, and the one used by Collider and Troma’s YouTube channel is post-Melvin becoming Toxie. To add even more to the mix, IMDb does list Marisa in the credits… as uncredited.

Most people think the IMDb is an infallible source… it’s not. It’s a great source, and I do use it quite regularly to check on information, but it is not infallible. People edit IMDb and people are not perfect. Throw in the fact that the official Torma YouTube channel is saying that Marisa Tomei is in this film with a clip as “proof” too, and you have a reliable source, right? Well no, Troma are Troma and they are never serious, that could be playing into the baseless rumour for a laugh. Let’s not forget that the director’s cut of the film states that Marisa is in a totally different scene to the one on their YouTube channel. How can Troma be right by using two different scenes of proof?

Others have pointed out that the actress’s eye colour in the scene is different to what Marisa’s are. Again, you can compare by looking at The Flamingo Kid. I have watched and re-watched the scene mentioned on the director’s commentary (in slow-motion), I did see the same actress (she’s wearing a blue bikini) and she runs away just after Melvin goes through the window. Then there’s this interview that Lloyd did in 2017 with Philip Rogers for Roobla.

Philip Rogers: “One last question, if someone is new to Troma, how would you describe it to them and what films would you suggest they start with, to learn about Troma.”
Lloyd Kaufman: “That’s a very good question Phil. Troma is a 44-year-old independent movie studio. It’s the oldest movie studio in the world that is independent. People like Trey Parker and Matt Stone, James Gunn who did Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) after he did Tromeo and Juliet (1996) for Troma. Eli Roth, Samuel L Jackson, Kevin Costner’s first movie, I didn’t direct it, but it’s in our library. Vincent D’Onofrio, Marisa Tomei’s first movie was The Toxic Avenger (1984).”

I do want to highlight something about that interview. Who are Roobla? There’s not one of the big and known sites, so how do I know how genuine that interview is? The interview does spell Lloyd’s name wrong as “Lloyd Kaufaman” in the sub-headline, so I’m not sure how respected they can be when they spell the interviewee’s name wrong. Also, the whole interview feels “off” due to some not very good editing or really bad transcribing. I could post an “interview” with “Lloyd Kaufman”…

Steve Perrin: “Hey Lloyd, one last question. Is it true that Marisa Tomei was in The Toxic Avenger?”
Lloyd Kaufman: “Do people still believe that crap? No, not at all. Someone made it up as a joke, and we at Troma have just been keeping it alive. It’s just a bit of harmless fun that gets funnier and funnier every year.”

There you go, from “Lloyd Kaufman” (name spelt correctly) himself. At best, I think this could be an Internet rumour that Troma themselves (and Lloyd) are just having fun with. Either that or it really is Marisa Tomei. I guess Marisa could be in the film as an extra, but she’s not the actress that is shown in the clip. If Lloyd himself has said that Marisa was in the scene where Melvin runs away, she could have been one of several people, but we don’t get a good view of her. One thing that Lloyd has never said is that Marisa played the screaming girl coming out of the shower, the scene the Troma YouTube channel says is her. As Lloyd was the co-director and producer, you’d think he would outright say Marisa was the screaming girl coming out of the shower, right? But he never has. Basically, I’m still no closer to the truth. If anyone ever meets Marisa at a con or something, can you do me a favour? Just ask her, will you? A lot of now famous names started out with Troma, so it wouldn’t be that far fetched for Marisa to have been in the film. And this tangent has gone on longer than my retrospective look at the film itself. So, about those sequels…

The Toxic Avenger Part II

For some reason, Melvin Ferd has had a name change to Melvin Junko for this sequel. Okay, I know the reason for the name change, which I will get to soon. Once more co-directed by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz, The Toxic Avenger Part II sees Toxie now working at the Tromaville Center for the Blind. Enter Apocalypse Inc., a chemical company who thinks that Tromaville is the perfect place for its new industrial site. To send message, Apocalypse Inc. has a bomb planted at the Tromaville Center for the Blind, that kills everyone, except Toxie. After a bloody fight, Toxie kills all of the Apocalypse Inc. henchmen and sets out to stop the company from ruining Tromaville.

However, Apocalypse Inc. learn that (before becoming Toxie) Melvin’s father abandoned him and his mother while Melvin was a baby. Using a psychologist, Apocalypse Inc. convince Toxie to head to Japan to find his long lost father… hence the name change from Melvin Ferd in the first film to Melvin Junko here. Because they wanted him to have Japanese ancestry. Anyway, Toxie heads to Japan to find his father and while their hero is away, Tromaville is left unguarded and so, Apocalypse Inc. begin their hostile takeover. After things don’t exactly work out with his father, Toxie returns home to stop Apocalypse Inc. from taking over his town.

This was the film debut of Michael Jai White, so there’s another famous name you can tick off the Troma list. If you don’t mind, I’m going to hold my opinion on this film until after I have covered the third flick, for reasons that I will later explain. So, onto the next sequel.

The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie

Once more coming from the Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz duo. Picking up directly after the previous film, Toxie has done his job of protecting Tromaville a little too well. There’s no more crime, no bad guys and as a result, Toxie becomes depressed. He attempts to find a “normal” job, but fails at everything he tires. On top of that, Toxie’s blind girlfriend wants to have expensive surgery to help her see, which Toxie can’t afford. Will little choice, he becomes a spokesman for Apocalypse Inc. (the evil company from the previous film) as they offer him enough money for the surgery.

The residents of Tromaville can’t quite believe that their hero has joined the very company he was previously fighting against, and they turn against him. Meanwhile, Toxie is enjoying his new life a little too much and becomes a yuppie. Eventually, Toxie sees the error of his ways and decides that he needs to take on the big boss of Apocalypse Inc., who just so happens to be the Devil himself.

Okay, so the reason I decided to not offer my opinion on The Toxic Avenger Part II before is because these two films were originally supposed to be one. The story goes that when Lloyd Kaufman was filming the sequel, he shot over four hours of footage. It was his wife, Patricia Kaufman who suggested they he could make two films out of the footage instead of one. The result was these two sequels… which are really, really drawn out and boring.

For me, this is the main issue with both The Toxic Avenger Part II and The Toxic Avenger Part III, there’s really only one film’s worth of story (very, very thin story), but everything is needlessly dragged out over two. Fight scenes go on way too long, dialogue scenes are tedious and such. Once you know that this was supposed to be one film, but split into two, you can really tell. Don’t get me wrong, the Troma tropes are here and on full display. The OTT violence, the stupid humour, the titties, etc. As a result, there some some good moments here and there… good moments here and there. As two overall films though, they’re pretty awful.

It has been said that films are truly made in the edit suite. A bad film can be edited to be better and editing is massively important. Without a good edit, a film can needlessly drag, which is the case here. Thankfully, it looks like Lloyd Kaufman is fully aware too… 36 year later, because there’s a new edit. Called Mr. Melvin, this new official cut takes the these two sequels and combines them, using the original script, to deliver a single film closer to Lloyd’s original vision. I have recently seen this new cut and yes, it is far better than the two films separate… but it still feels like there too much going on. Mr. Melvin has a runtime of around two hours and I reckon it still could’ve had 20-30 minutes trimmed. Still, if you really want to do a Toxie marathon, then forgetting all about The Toxic Avenger Part II & II is best, just watch the Mr, Melvin cut instead.

Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV

Of course, Lloyd Kaufman is back in the director’s chair for the third sequel. Before the recent advent of the Mr. Melvin edit, fans would suggest not even acknowledging the previous two sequels and would often state that this film was the “true sequel” to the first flick. This time around, Toxie finds himself fighting himself. The Diaper Mafia (don’t ask) carry out a mass shooting at Tromaville School for the Very Special. Toxie turns up and kills the shooters in his usual bloody way. However, the gang leader, Tex has left an explosive device. When this device does explode, it sends Toxie to an alternate universe.

Now stuck in Amortville, a mirror version of Tromaville, Toxie learns that he is seen as the bad guy here and not a hero, as the police do their best to kill him. Meanwhile, Amortville’s version of Toxie, Noxie (The Noxious Offender) is sent to Tromaville. So we now have the good Toxie trapped in a universe where people think his is the bad guy (Noxie), and evil Noxie trapped in Tormaville where people think he’s a hero, but he spends most of his time murdering the residents. Long story short, Toxie has to get back to Tromaville and stop Noxie from killing everyone.

In terms of the fans suggesting that this is the real sequel to the first film, I get it. It’s not as long and as boring as the previous two sequels, and it does feel more “genuine”. Even this film tells you to ignore the previous sequels. This starts with a declaration that The Toxic Avenger II & III were shit and that this is the real sequel. So it’s not just a fan thing, it is officially canon to skip the first two sequels according to Troma. So The Toxic Avenger IV is really The Toxic Avenger II. But now that we have the new Mr. Melvin cut, I guess that is officially the first sequel, which now makes The Toxic Avenger IV the third film.

Who’d have thought that trying to work out the sequel order of these flicks would be so convoluted? It’s almost as confusing as the multiverse plot concept. In fact, this film features a little exposition of how there can be two Toxies and how they come to be in each other’s universes, which is explained by a Stephen Hawking parody character called Dr. Flem Hocking in typical Troma style…

And who is that playing Dr. Flem Hocking? Yep, James Gunn. This all goes back to what I covered in the intro about how Troma kickstarted a lot of now famous careers and how Lloyd Kaufman and James Gunn  have remained good friends over the years, what with Lloyd being in some of James’ more recent big films. James Gunn seems very happy and proud about his Troma history and will openly talk about it. I very much doubt that Vincent D’Onofrio, Oliver Stone, Kevin Costner or J. J. Abrams ever talk about their humble Troma beginnings.

Anyway, The Toxic Avenger IV is a big improvement over the previous sequels. Still with all the Troma staples, the OTT gore and violence, the stupid and often immature humour and of course, some titties. Still not as good as the first film, but well worth a watch and a return to the B-movie schlock that Troma are famed for. And now, we are all up to date and ready for the remake…

The Toxic Avenger

Given an old-school trailer makeover (above) that looks like it could’ve been made in 1984 by a low-budget B-movie studio (they should do that for the whole film). There’s no more Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz (though they are credited as producers) instead, Macon Blair is in the writer and director chair for this one. Originally made for a 2023 release, but no studio had the balls to distribute it due to the excessive violence and gore. It has taken until 2025 and the studio behind the infamous Terrifier flicks to get this one unleashed on the public.

This new The Toxic Avenger boasts a pretty impressive cast with the likes of Kevin Bacon, Elijah Wood and Peter Dinklage as Winston Gooze, this film’s version of Melvin Ferd/Junko who gets turned into Toxie. Though, Peter doesn’t play Toxie in the make up/suit, that role goes to Luisa Guerreiro while Peter does the voice work. So then, the story. Winston Gooze is a janitor at BTH, a large, unscrupulous pharmaceutical factory pumping harmful chemicals into the town and doing immense damage to the environment and wildlife. BTH is run by a slimy CEO Bob Garbinger. Wistron is diagnosed with an incurable disease (in a very funny way) that BTH’s insurance won’t cover medication for, he has no money, and is struggling to bring up his stepson following the death of the mother.

After seeing his CEO boss enjoy $5,000 corporate dinners, Winston has had enough of living on the breadline and pleads to Bob for help, only to be shunned and insulted. Out of desperation, Winston heads to BTH and robs the place’s vaults of money, using a mop soaked in the same toxic substance that his employer pumps into the town. Winston is killed as he tries to escape, his body and mop are thrown into a vat of the toxic chemicals by BTH’s questionable “security team”. Brought back to life as The Toxic Avenger, Winston/Toxie seeks his revenge and tries to re-connect with his stepson.

Right from the off, this remake has a much more involved plot and deeper character development over the original. As much as I do adore The Toxic Avenger 1984, it is very bare basic. Melvin is a nerd who get bullied and comes back for revenge as Toxie. That’s really all there is to it. With The Toxic Avenger 2025, we get to know Winston and get to explore his life more. We understand his struggles and when he does come back as Toxie for revenge, it feels much more satisfying. It was fun watching Toxie in the original. It is meaningful and righteous in the remake… and still fun.

Now, I’m not going to sit here and try to make out that this remake is some well-written, deeply emotional epic and Oscar worthy storytelling, it’s not. This is still low-budget, B-movie shlock. it’s just that this is low-budget, B-movie shlock with a little heart. I can see Toxie purists being put off because it does stray quite a lot from the original. Outside of the idea of someone coming back as Toxie, the two films share little in common.

Where the is common ground though is the gore. The Toxic Avenger 2025 does not shy away from the excessive blood and violence. Now that I have watched the film, I can see why no studio wanted to distribute this and why the guys behind the Terrifier films were the ones to finally step forward to release it. While bloody and violent, it is all rather OTT to the point of becoming comical. There is a bit where Toxie removes someone’s internal organs via shoving his fist up their arse, this is the lowbrow level we are dealing with here. This flick is gruesome and mostly uses practical effects… mostly. There are a few CGI shots that aren’t great, but it is 2025 and CGI has now become common place, like it or not.

Yeah, you still get all of the classic Troma tropes here with this new The Toxic Avenger, but it all feels more “grown up”. There’s stupid (and funny) humour, there’s ridiculous violence and gore and yep, some titties too. But the fact that there is more to the story and characters than, nerd turns into Toxie and gets revenge, give this remake more gravitas. It’s still puerile and goofy, but “grown up”. There are plenty of references to the original films and the obvious paying respects is here, but this remake still stands out on its own and dare I even admit… I much preferred this new The Toxic Avenger than the original.

Well, that’s ‘yer lot in terms of the main films in the franchise. Toxie did have a life outside of those movies, so I may as well give them a brief mention at the end here. Because most of the Troma films take place in the fictional town of Tromaville, Toxie has appeared in non-Toxic Avenger films made my Troma such as Class of Nuke ‘Em High Part 2 and Terror Firmer. I think the most bizarre appearance is the kids’ cartoon, Toxic Crusaders. I guess that this ties into an article I penned a while back about adult films being turned into kids’ entertainment. We are talking about a film series crammed with nudity, sex, blood & gore… and a scene where a kid gets knocked off his bike by a car, to then get his head run over which explodes like a watermelon. Yeah, this massively adult aimed films series was turned into a cartoon for kids. There were three videogame based on this cartoon too. All released in 1992 and for the NES, Game Boy and Mega Drive/Genesis. A new Toxic Crusaders game is being released at the end of this year too.

There were a series of Marvel produced Toxic Avenger comics and even some Toxic Crusaders comics by Marvel and a separate series from Fleetway Publications in the U.K. Just as with a lot of previously adult-aimed media, there was a toy line for Toxic Crusaders as well as junior novels, colouring books, card games, jigsaws and so on. There really was a lot of kid-friendly merch for such an adult in origin series. Still, if you want a very unexpected Toxie appearance, then I’m not sure that you can top the fact that there was a very successful musical. Yep a The Toxic Avenger: The Musical.

Originally running from 2008 to 2017. This thing began in New Brunswick in the U.S., it became an Off-Broadway production in New York, went on a U.S tour. It was also shown in Melbourne, Australia and ended its run in 2017 as a genuine West End musical in London. The show has since been released on DVD so you can take the toxic magic home with you.

Honestly, for a low-budget, B-movie The Toxic Avenger has done very well for itself over the last 41 years. I hope that the new remake opens the doors for more Toxie in the future too.