I had watched The Toxic Avenger from 1984 years ago long before I had a blog. When a fellow I did some digital art for recently mentioned it, I knew I needed to rewatch this classic movie. I did just that and enjoyed The Toxic Avenger more the second time than I did the first time. This movie is great! It’s no wonder that it has a cult following. I’m designing a fan t-shirt for this film asap. Watch my social media to see it happen. Let’s talk about The Toxic Avenger.
To sum this movie up, there’s a nerdy kid that works as a janitor at a fitness center. He gets picked on and eventually falls into some toxic waste which gives him superpowers. He then uses those superpowers to take revenge against bullies, to rid the town of crime, and then to maintain law and order in the town. While doing this, he falls in love with a girl who is blind. This works because of his horrible appearance. Silly story but, these generally make for the best b movies.
First, I want to talk about the snapshot in time that this film is. It was filmed at the beginning of the 1980s and screamed this decade. Of the iconic decades, the 80s is my least favorite but, this movie has raised my interest. Most people in this movie hang out at the local fitness center where everyone parties and works out. I get it, this is counterproductive and was probably far from accurate. Either way, it allows you to see a lot of the 80s aerobics, gym equipment, and fashion. You even see a switchblade knife with a pink ribbon on it – wow! You don’t see this combo often in life.
The fashion at some points in this movie was super cool. At one point a female is wearing a dress that has loud comic strip style art on it that takes up the entire front. It was a cool dress and looked 80s. Another lady is wearing an odd duck shirt that I couldn’t find anything on anywhere on the net. It reads “Malt Duck: Gets the Party Together” on the front. Near the end of the film, you start to see people wearing shirts that say “I [Heart] the Monster Hero” on the front with the avenger’s picture. This is one of the shirts that I intend to create and wear. There’re others that say “Tromaville Health Club”, which I also want to make a fan version of.
It being the 80s, there had to be a martial arts character involved. In one scene, the setting is a Hispanic restaurant. Anyone who pays attention to backgrounds will notice the odd crossed katana swords under a sombrero. This is funny to even think about it. It makes sense though when the avenger must fight a guy who trades his gun for the nunchucks hidden under his jacket Bruce Lee fashion. Naturally, when the chucks fail, the odd prop over the door provides him with convenient access to a katana. Another thing I noticed and liked in this scene was the red and yellow tile. It was so loud and I need some in my house.
As usual, I paid attention to more of the background and 80s things in this film. You get to see some interesting cars in this movie. For instance, there is 80s military equipment used by the national guard. There is also Uhaul trucks in this movie, which were cool to see. Some bullies drive a 1970s Chevy Impala which is cool to see. It’s great how over the top movies are sometimes. At one point, you can see the rear window is covered in empty beer cans. Also, there’s a shot that shows the gas pedal as the man drives which is also covered in empty beer cans. This reminded me of the Family Guy episode where one of the character’s gets a DUI. As the passenger slides across the seat to drive the others home, you hear the rustle of empty cans in the floorboard.
Surprisingly, this movie had a lot of gore in it. Not so surprisingly, it was really goofy. This movie doesn’t pull any punches with the gore or events either. A grandma falls victim to bullies and even kids. Some of this surprised me, especially for this movie being from the 80s. According to IMDB, this movie had an estimated budget of $475,000 (2022). The production company did a good job with the gore. Obviously, it’s not real but, it looks good for the time and film. If you watch this, know this going in. You might be surprised by what you see. According to an article by James Hibberd, the reboot coming out soon isn’t supposed to lose any of these qualities (2022). I’m looking forward to seeing how true this is.
This is such a great film. I cannot say enough how much I enjoy it. I had forgotten how entertaining this 80s gem is. I hope that a reboot will do this film justice. Often, Hollywood, in my opinion, does not do reboots of classic films well. Maybe this time will be different. That’s all we can do is hope. I understand that originally this reboot was going to be “family friendly” and have a PG-13 rating. I don’t see how The Toxic Avenger could have a reboot that was PG-13 and be anywhere near the original movie so, the recently awarded R rating has increased my hopes for the upcoming movie (Hibberd, 2022). We’ll see, because when it drops, I will be watching this one.
References
IMDB. (2022). The toxic avenger. IMDB.com. The Toxic Avenger (1984) – IMDb
Hibberd, J. (2022, May 11). The toxic avenger remake starring peter Dinklage gets r rating. The Hollywood Reporter. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/the-toxic-avenger-rating-1235144685/