- Directed by: Michael Herz, Lloyd Kaufman
- Written by: Joe Ritter, Lloyd Kaufman, Gay Partington
- Stars: Andree Maranda, Mitch Cohen, Jennfier Babtist
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 22 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2BOcrMcsbw
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This is over-the-top, raunchy, gross, over-acted, silly, stupid, and hilarious all at once. It’s got a large cast and lots of special effects, with a hero you can root for. We thought it was very entertaining.
Spoilery Synopsis
We hear a voiceover about pollution and technological advances. Millions of gallons of radioactive waste is disposed of… in Tromaville. We hear about a man named Melvin, whose entire life was changed by toxic waste. We cut to the gym, where all the sexy people are, more or less. Melvin, the mop boy, is funny looking and hated by everyone. Bozo and Julie have anger issues and just can’t deal with Melvin.
Slug and Wanda talk about running people over with their car; they are vehicular serial killers. They’ve assigned “points” for various targets. Melvin watches them having sex. They get together with Bozo and run over a kid on a bicycle– twice.
The next day, Julie gets the others involved in a plan to “get” Melvin. Outside, a big truck of radioactive waste pulls into town and parks in front of the health club. Julie talks Melvin into putting on a pink tutu and lures him into a huge crowd of laughing spectators. He runs from them and falls head first into a barrel of toxic waste.
Melvin gets all mutate-y and bursts into flame. He runs down the middle of the street all the way home. In the bath, he gets all bumpy and swollen, and changes completely.
We cut to some clearly vicious, hardened criminals who try to pay off honest cop O’Clancy. They all fight, three-on-one, and it’s looking back for O’Clancy. Suddenly, they’re attacked by a monster– no, it’s the Toxic Avenger! Toxie beats up Cigar Face, Knuckles, and Nipples in the bloodiest, goriest way possible. At least he mops up afterward.
O’Clancy talks to the press and explains what he saw. The monster makes headlines, and the Mayor gets involved. The bad guys from last night worked for the mayor. The mayor wants to move the waste dump right next to the city’s water reservoir.
Melvin goes home and scares his own mother. He goes to live in the toxic waste dump.
A bunch of guys rob “The Mexican Place” that looks suspiciously like a Taco Bell. The baddies all introduce themselves to the crowd. You know they’re bad because they shoot a dog. Suddenly, the monster appears and tears off Frank’s arm. He does other bad things to the others. What he does might be considered excessive.
At the end of the battle, he talks to the blind girl whose dog was killed. She can’t see his horrible face. She takes him home with her, and she’s nearly as violent as he is, only by accident. He tells her that he has acne, so she can’t feel his face.
The Toxic Avenger finally comes to the Tromaville Health Club. As Wanda “enjoys” her photos of the people they’ve murdered, Toxie comes in. He has a basic instinct to destroy evil. He then mangles a clown car full of pimps. We then get a montage of him being heroic. He becomes the local hero.
The mayor wants to kill the monster before he kills him. Sara, the blind girl, gets harassed by bikers until her new boyfriend shows up. Now it’s time for a very weird romance montage! She moves in with him and makes the toxic dump all homey.
The monster chases Julie all over the basement of the health club.
Bozo and Slug beat up an old woman and steal her car. They see the monster in the road and try to run him down. Melvin ends up taking them for a ride.
Later, at the dry cleaners, he puts a literally little old woman in a dryer which gets him some bad press. He thinks maybe he’s losing control and tells Sara about what he does every day. Turns out, the little person wasn’t so clean after all, she was a very bad person. The monster and Sara move out to the country to live in a tent.
The mayor orders that the monster be killed, but the people he’s saved get together to question that choice. The mayor calls in the National Guard to fight the monster.
Literally everyone has the monster’s tent surrounded. The good people surround Melvin as human shields. The National Guard won’t kill him, but the mayor shoots repeatedly. The monster is bulletproof and soon has the mayor cornered. He rips the mayor’s guts out.
Everyone, National Guard included, cheers Melvin and Sara.
Brian’s Commentary
Half-naked women, horrible acting, crazy script, and over-the-top gore– this is the one that really put Troma on the map. On the other hand, it doesn’t look like it was an especially low budget film; the weirdness is all intentional.
From comments you hear about the film, you’d think it was really awful, but it’s actually quite good.
Kevin’s Commentary
I’ve seen many Troma films, but this was the first time I had seen this one. I knew what to expect going into it, and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s got all the awful goodness that their movies exude. I thought it was a lot of fun.