Saturday 15 June 2013

The Toxic Avenger ~ Why nuclear waste is bad for you

Not so long back, well it was a few months ago from time of writing but that’s not long is it? Anyhow, not so long ago and at the behest of my friend I sat down and watched my first ever Troma movie.

Oh My Fucking God!

You better be prepared for cursing because I think there may be a bit of it in this post.

I’ve seen lots of different types of movies, so I thought I’d be prepared for this one, holy shit how wrong I was. My eyes and brain have only just recovered from the sheer brutal assault upon them. In fact it’s very possible that at some point I may need counselling to deal with the troma … sorry trauma of this experience.

If any Troma fans want to help me pay for sessions then I’m open to donations!

Would it surprise you after reading all the above to learn that I really enjoyed this movie? I know it surprised the shit out of me to realise that once the end credits started rolling I was sad there wasn’t more to watch. If I’d have seen it as a teenager I’m damn sure I would have loved it obsessively.

It’s got violence, bad language, gore, tits and really bad sex what’s not to like? Well aside from the really wooden acting, but if you watch a lot of porn you should be used to that. There are a couple of disturbing scenes, but they don’t detract a lot from the enjoyment.

What’s it all about though?

Well I’m not going to do a thorough review as that would just be spoiling it and I certainly don’t want to do that. But a very basic description would be, “nerd gets revenge and gets the girl”. Sounds very clique doesn’t it? But it’s what surrounds that basic premise that lifts this movie into the fucking surreal.



We’re introduced to the town of Tromaville (I’m taking a wild guess here, but I’m thinking this town may be made up), a typically American town filled with thugs, big breasted women, corrupt officials and a slight toxic problem. Well it was the mid-eighties and everyone seemed to want to do a Chernobyl before it actually happened. Lovely little Tromaville (location unknown) is also home to Melvin Junko, the man with the mop, the man with teeth so huge dentists the world over would likely have wet dreams about them.




Melvin is our hero, well sort of, he’s gotta suffer horribly a bit first before really earning the hero tag. And suffer he does, from looking like an advert for pure nerdiness to the endless abuse he gets from Bozo and his hit and run loving pals. But that’s all mild compared to the pain and suffering caused by taking an involuntary bath in a barrel of toxic waste. Yes you did indeed read that right, barrel of toxic waste and man swimming in it. Thanks to a malicious prank and a couple of idiots who’d prefer to get stoned rather than doing their job properly, this is Melvin’s fate. Well at least it’s a memorable way to go out, right? Even if it’s excruciatingly painful it’s still memorable. So alas poor Melvin, we didn’t know you very well.

Don’t grieve too much though, because if you’re a geek with teeth the size of a small fucking country then toxic waste isn’t bad for you, in fact it’s the best thing to ever come into your life. Because for geeks toxic waste is the route to ultimate superhero status.

See these posts can be quite educational.*

So in defiance of all natural laws, Melvin Junko, mild mannered goofy geek, becomes The Toxic Avenger!!!
I totally never saw that one coming (that was sarcasm by the way).

Now the fun can begin.



On to the scene now steps The Toxic Avenger (henceforth known by the popular name of Toxie), a hideously ugly, gruesomely deformed monster who is driven to destroy evil. Destroy is definitely the right word for the way Toxie treats his victims. He rips off arms and beats villains with the soggy end, dry cleans little old lady’s (they are obviously evil), deep fry’s robbers and crushes heads in gym machines. As a calling card he jams a mop into the skull of his every victim. You’d think that people could figure out who this weird superhero was off just the mop bit alone, but they’re morons so obviously they don’t.

Toxie’s main aim in his new ugly life is to gain revenge on all those responsible for his ill-fated dive into a drum of toxic waste. Unbeknown to him though he has another enemy and wouldn’t you know it he’s political. The worst ones are always in politics aren’t they? The mayor of Tromaville is corrupt, well most politicians are but he takes it to extremes, and being corrupt he’s quite worried about the possibility of a monstrous freak of a hero bringing him down. You just know that such a conniving shit of a man is going to do all in his power to bring Toxie down, manhunts, guns, the army, that sort of thing. Will Toxie survive the mayor’s attentions? Well it would be a fucking pointless hero movie if he didn’t.

Being a mutated freak isn’t all bad it seems, whereas Melvin couldn’t pull a girl to save his life, Toxie has a bit more luck. True the woman of his dreams may be blind and not exactly the sharpest tool in the box, but love blooms in the strangest of ways. They may not be Romeo and Juliet, but they do make an oddly cute couple. You may need to be slightly drunk like I was to see them as cute I suppose.

I guess you can get the gist of the movie from all that. Nerd gets bullied, gets transformed into freak, rips villains to pieces, saves cute kids from maniac drivers, gets the girl and saves the day. Simple premise really.
If you’ve never seen this movie, then trust me you’re missing out on a rare and cheesy treat.


*Don’t try diving into toxic waste, it actually doesn’t work!

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