Day Three: "The Toxic Avenger"
The Toxic Avenger is my first Troma film. Since Troma is notorious for poorly acted, gory horror films with bizarre plots, it seems really odd that I've not seen any of their films before.
Nerdy Melvin is the janitor at the Tromaville Health Club. Unfortunately for him, Tromaville is filled with corrupt officials and psychopaths. Melvin manages to piss off four psychopaths (two couples who routinely go hit-and-run driving with the girls taking pictures of the bloody aftermath). They enact a plan that winds up dunking Melvin in toxic waste. Melvin mutates into the "monster hero of Tromaville" and begins to violently clean up the streets.
I can see why people love this movie.
It's funny. Not always in the ways it means to be, though. The gay jokes are a little uncomfortable now, but they do treat the two gay characters as characters rather than jokes. they just happen to be stereotypical characters. The writer/director is aware of how silly the premise is, and he fully enjoys it. Toxie's one-liners are pretty hit-or-miss, mostly as the result of timing issues. For example, he's chasing a murderer through a basement. She runs to the elevator to escape. The doors open to reveal Toxie; she screams and runs away. He yells after, "Going up?" If he had yelled that just a second earlier, it would've been a hit.
Also, the gore effects are really good. One of the best is the head-smashing scenes. They use a watermelon in a wig, but it looks fantastic.
And I can see why people root for Toxie. He was a nerdy, wimpy kid who got picked on all the time. Then, he became super strong, found a hot (blind) girlfriend, and became beloved by most of the populace. All of the villains are horrible people, and you cheer when the die. (We're talking little old lady slave traffickers, people who run over children then back up and run over them again, guys who point a shotgun at a baby and then kill a dog.) It fits into the basic revenge fantasy structure.
I quite liked The Toxic Avenger. I may end up doing a full review of it one day.
Nerdy Melvin is the janitor at the Tromaville Health Club. Unfortunately for him, Tromaville is filled with corrupt officials and psychopaths. Melvin manages to piss off four psychopaths (two couples who routinely go hit-and-run driving with the girls taking pictures of the bloody aftermath). They enact a plan that winds up dunking Melvin in toxic waste. Melvin mutates into the "monster hero of Tromaville" and begins to violently clean up the streets.
I can see why people love this movie.
It's funny. Not always in the ways it means to be, though. The gay jokes are a little uncomfortable now, but they do treat the two gay characters as characters rather than jokes. they just happen to be stereotypical characters. The writer/director is aware of how silly the premise is, and he fully enjoys it. Toxie's one-liners are pretty hit-or-miss, mostly as the result of timing issues. For example, he's chasing a murderer through a basement. She runs to the elevator to escape. The doors open to reveal Toxie; she screams and runs away. He yells after, "Going up?" If he had yelled that just a second earlier, it would've been a hit.
Also, the gore effects are really good. One of the best is the head-smashing scenes. They use a watermelon in a wig, but it looks fantastic.
And I can see why people root for Toxie. He was a nerdy, wimpy kid who got picked on all the time. Then, he became super strong, found a hot (blind) girlfriend, and became beloved by most of the populace. All of the villains are horrible people, and you cheer when the die. (We're talking little old lady slave traffickers, people who run over children then back up and run over them again, guys who point a shotgun at a baby and then kill a dog.) It fits into the basic revenge fantasy structure.
I quite liked The Toxic Avenger. I may end up doing a full review of it one day.