Despite squaring off with such adversaries as diverse as hit & run fitness freaks, Japanese gangsters, a green Satan and his own multiversal doppelganger, it seemed that the first superhero from New Jersey had finally met his match in the form of a distributer with cold feet. Despite being made back in 2023, the long awaited remake of Troma Entertainment’s The Toxic Avenger found itself stuck in limbo after one unnamed producer going as far to ridiculously dub the film “unreleasable” due to its gore content.
While I suppose we must remain thankful that this dumbass was never plonked in front of a screening of Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV, justice for Toxie was eventually served when his surprisingly lavish reboot finally got picked up for wide release after playing the festival circuit. But can the idea of a big (compared to Troma, anyway) budget reboot of a notoriously anarchic, taboo bating classic work on either level with recognisable stars and significantly less gurning background actors in the mix?
You have to feel for Winston Gooze, a lowly janitor that mops the floors at the BTH factory that’s located in the run down, crime ridden burg of St. Roma’s Village (take away a few letters and see what you get). After his wife died, he’s been struggling to raise his emotionally delicate stepson on the limited funds provided, but soon manages to catch a stay nutshot for fate when he discovers that he barely has only a year to live. Ironically, it’s working for the environmentally hazardous BTH that’s caused his sickness, but to really stick things in and twist it off, it turns out that his company health plan won’t actually cover the fatal illness this it’s given him.
In an act of desperation while keeping his health issues a secret, he sneaks his way in to a lush dinner that’s being attended by amoral BTH CEO Bob Garbinger to plead for salvation, but instead suffers another knock back that pushes him to steal the money he needs. However, in an act of colliding plot lines, Winston’s attempt to rob BTH coincides with whistle-blower J.J. similarly breaking in to prove that the factory is an almighty health hazard. While J.J. manages to escape, Winston falls foul of The Killer Nutz, a rock group that’s part Insane Clown Posse, part Slipknot who Garbinger uses as assassins/muscle.
However, after he’s been toss into some toxic waste, Winston emerges transformed into a grotesque bring of superhuman size and strength who goes against his old beliefs of just keeping your head down and actually starts helping the people of St. Roma’s Village will their sizable crime problem by massacring crooks with his highly toxic mop. Soon, the public have dubbed him the Toxic Avenger and supporting him in all of his violent endeavours, but Bob is smart enough to realise that with his mob ties, Toxie will no doubt be coming for him next. However, once he discovers that Winston blood holds healing properties, the unscrupulous CEO thinks he may have found a way to save his floundering company…
While I have to say that I’m overjoyed that the ludicrous reasons of The Toxic Avenger’s release has finally been settled, I also have to admit that this is one of those reboots that feels a bit like a letdown. While there’s plenty of movies being released with nudity, playful gore and a smash-mouth, punk rock tone that have all enjoyed a release in some form or another, I’m still not entirely sure what the perceived issue with the movie was, but there’s been film far worse released with half the fuss. Still, I was hoping that more of the jokes would have landed with more confidence as it feels that Toxic Avenger ’23 feels frustratingly restrained compared to some of the ungodly shit the original movies managed to get away with.
While I don’t think anyone’s was expecting this new version to go quite as far as a series that’s tried to mine laughs out of the shooting of guide dogs, the murdering of children, jokes at the expense of metallic disadvantaged children and someone being killed by their own shitty diaper (and largely succeeded), it does admirably manage to capture the spirit of 80s Troma surprisingly well. However, I’ve got to say, when it comes to fucked up, anarchic, superhero movies, Steven Kostanski’s deliriously silly Psycho Goreman nails the whole tone miles better and while writer/director Macon Blair puts in an admirable effort, he’s also seemingly trying to make a “real” movie with the tools at his disposal.
Obviously, back in 1984, Lloyd Kaufman and Micheal Herz had no such limitations and the “rough as arseholes” result of them trying to tack a film together proved to be an indie classic that became a touchstone for gorehounds everywhere, but while the new version retains that all-important heart, it’s just weirdly too sensible to simulate any close to the frenzied chaos of true Troma. Even weirder, The Toxic Avenger technically already has a “remake” that genuinely improved on its source material in the form of the 2008 rock musical that’s actually quite magnificent.
Anyway, while the jokes don’t hit as well as they could and the gore could have been practical rather than CGI, you can’t argue that the film itself actually looks pretty damn great with its throwback, comic book colours. More importantly, I was really into the new design of Toxie himself too, with his one, bulbous, bulging eye and his pumped, green muscles pretty much putting a toxic, green tick in all the necessary boxes (tutu, mop, etc.) while still offering something new. There’s also that surprisingly healthy cast too that not only features Peter Dinklage in the lead role (voice only once he transforms), but also has both Kevin Bacon and Elijah Wood both lock in a battle to see who can gnaw on the most scenery.
However, once again, the film seems weirdly stuck between the modern need to provide actual story and characters and just take the Troma route and just go for broke and it’s this sense of uncertainty of tone that causes the majority of the first half to feel so uncertain of itself. At times, it’s a genuinely fun nails a Troma tome (the Killer Nutz in particular are perfectly Troma), but the plot featuring Jacob Tremblay’s step son character pretty much goes nowhere fast and even slows down proceedings. Of course, I will add that you might want to whack on another star if you’re lucky to catch The Toxic Avenger with a rowdy audience who are receptive to its charms and are in a party mood. I however saw it with an audience that didn’t get it and sat there in a stoney, unamused silence for the entire film and thus drained all the fun out of the room like a joyless vampire who feeds entirely on murdering enthusiasm.
I’m glad it got made, I’m even happier that it eventually got released, but despite its various attempts to mix genuine heart with exploding heads, the new Toxic Avenger is merely a charming shadow of its former self. In fact, it just goes to show how far the originals went when a joke about Toxie using his gargantuan penis to piss acid on his chains simply isn’t extreme enough to cut the toxic mustard.
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