It's time. Granted it hasn't been on my list for a long time but the motion pictures of Troma have grabbed my interest enough to where I'm gonna review a good selection throughout the decades starting with the movie that truly made Troma what it is today. The Toxic Avenger is a great movie, I have no qualms saying that. For a relatively low budget movie about a dweeby janitor getting covered in toxic waste and mutating into basically a superhero (albeit a bloodsoaked one), it's hard to deny it's charm and more so the comedy. It might just be the most outrageous, over the top, completely unserious movie I have ever laid eyes on to the point where the absurdity is in excess. You could be the most prudish, stick up your ass, fucking square² person on the face of the earth and you couldn't take this seriously! You don't even need a certain sense of humor to get it, you just need A sense of humor to get it! I was pretty invested not too far from the opening shot and credit to where it's due on the production side of things they did make this as good as they could, and I read Lloyd's book All I Need To Know About Filmmaking I Learned From The Toxic Avenger and it sounds like a shoestring crew of very talented people contributing as much as they can. The effects are great and delightfully gory, the stunts are not too flashy but done very well, and the overall cinematography I felt was just right for this movie. It's definitely one of the most 80s movies I've seen in pure aesthetic choices but what I truly appreciated was the stances the film took on real life issues, damning landfills and improper waste management, showing elected officials who have no interest in the people they serve, and they even take a jab at the health craze going on around the mid 80s. Lloyd is a wacky guy but the man is well read and forward thinking about issues and combine that with Michael Herz booksmarts on running the production company and sharing the same views meant there was going to be more to this than just a monster movie. Toxie is shaping up to be my role model after this movie, you'll think I'm cracked out a bit saying this but this is a very uplifting movie, sure it's got headcrushing and guts plus some of the most hilariously ludicrous crimes but it has definite heart. Simple acts of kindness from Toxie while also cleaning the streets of scumbags speaks to me. I'd happily walk a little old lady across the street before dashing some child prostituting asshole's grey matter out on the pavement. There's even a funny and cute romance with him and a blind girl named Sara, I'm rooting for that until the day I die! Definitely a movie meant to be watched late night with likeminded friends and junk food aplenty. It's an odd piece of cinematic history but is a lot more than most anybody would ever give it credit for. Super strong recommendation from me, 4 stars easily, 8.5/10!
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