Hacker Cinema
The Toxic Avenger
1984 · Film · 110 min
Directed by Lloyd Kaufman, Michael Herz
ActionComedyHorrorScience Fiction
A gang of thugs devise a cruel hoax that goes horribly wrong as Melvin, a nerdy emaciated janitor at the local health club, is cast through a third story window into a vat of hazardous toxic waste.
3 neutralfrom 3 commenters
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3 comments on Hacker News
I think it was the US TNT cable tv network that used to run a late night “100% Weird” movie block on Saturday nights that used a lot of clip art from this movie in their promo spots and actuality showed this movie one night - it was the first and only time I’ve ever seen it. It mostly triggers flashbacks to my own parents obsession with trying to get me to play the piano.
It’s really hard to find movies like this anymore, nobody bothers to stream them. If you know about them you can sometimes find them on Amazon but if you don’t know them I don’t know how you’d ever discover them.
There was one movie called Night Patrol which was a standard police farce movie except the main character (credited as “the unknown comic”) wore a paper bag over his head in every scene.
And all of the Trama Team movies from the 80s - Toxic Avenger, Surf Nazis Must Die, Rock ‘N Roll High School.
And the worst horror film ever -Student Bodies - which had an on-screen body count, helpful pointers to the fatal mistakes each character made before they died, and the main bad guy “The Breather” who would lose all his footwear every time he went up stairs because he’d constantly step in gum.
Even NetFlix doesn’t roll out gems like those.
Bad movies without mentioning Troma entertainment movies (like the iconic toxic avenger) or "Il bosco 1" (evil clutch in English) or Peter Jackson's bad taste?
It's funny how you watched a Troma film without actually knowing what it was. Trust me, they were very aware of their "cheesy 80s context". Nuke 'Em High is one of their classics along with Toxic Avenger, which even spawned toys and a children television show. But I understand you reaction. Even I, as a cult-film guy, find their stuff hard to watch at times.
Their output is astounding though, and once in a while they launch great careers (South Park, J.J. Abrams).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troma_Entertainment