Jack's Pile of Pages: The Toxic Avenger

Troma Entertainment - 1984


I'm 256 pounds of solid nerd, and I'm still me.

Troma isn't known for high-quality movies, they're known for crap like this. But this movie may be the most bestest pile of crap in the entire universe. Take everything I said about Army of Darkness and turn it up to SMH levels of WTF. You read me, kiddos? Yeah, you read me.

So, we've got this place called Tromaville (Subtle), which just so happens to be the mecca of garbage. Of course, it's in New Jersey. I think Troma has something to say about New Jersey, but then again, I don't think anybody from the garden state has seen this movie. I hope.

There's this dork named Melvin, and some violent, idiotic, racist bullies hate him, and get him into a barrel of toxic waste. So, Melvin is kinda like Bruce Banner, but not to such an extreme extent. So, Melvin gets turned into Toxie, the Toxic Avenger, and goes on a mission to fight all the bad guys and get revenge on the bullies.

It's weird. This movie is a combination of a superhero action movie and a slasher movie. Toxie just goes around mutilating awful people in some of the most horrific ways possible. I commend the special effects, and they're incredibly gruesome. Think Tom Savini's work, but on less of a budget. You see a kid's face get run over, and a criminal's hands getting deep-fried.

I can't describe the movie any further without just flat-out saying what happens in the scenes, but unlike Crippled Avengers, that wouldn't do it justice. Watch this movie if you get the chance. I'm not saying that this is some underground cult hit, because it was successful enough to spawn:

Three Sequels