Twitter

Where to Stream:

The Toxic Avenger

Terrible acting, incoherent dialogue, scattered plotlines, and horrible special effects typically lead films to be seen as “bad movies” in the eyes of most viewers. But many “bad movies” are actually incredibly entertaining and are more fun to watch than most “good movies,” which is why so many allegedly awful movies have developed devoted cult followings. With that in mind, we bring you Grading On A Curve, an ongoing column devoted to enjoyable “bad movies” that are streaming online.

The Film: The Toxic Avenger
Year: 1984
Streaming on: Amazon Prime, YouTube, Amazon Video, Google Play

The Toxic Avenger is like Spiderman in an alternate universe where Peter Parker is more pathetic, weak, awkward, horny, violent, and low budget. This cheap superhero spoof is a prime example of the entertaining potential that intentionally bad films hold. Because although most beloved terrible movies (e.g. Troll 2, The Room, Plan 9) are accidentally disastrous masterpieces, Toxic Avenger was designed to be as shitty as it is.

(Yes, that’s The Toxic Avenger above. This version of the movie is on YouTube for free!)

Although the studio strategy behind Toxic Avenger might not feel as “genuine” as visions from eccentric directors like Y.K. Kim, its “corporate” structure only affects its entertainment levels if you want it to. The self-awareness the film features doesn’t intrinsically limit its enjoyment, however there is a large segment of shitty-movie snobs who would disagree.

In a way, The Toxic Avenger was Sharknado before Sharknado was even a glint in its director’s eye. The company behind Toxic Avenger, Troma Entertainment, has long specialized in low-budget self-aware campy shit flicks, and Toxic Avenger is their prototype. It’s the “Mickey Mouse of Troma Studios,” according to the movie’s website. Or as a writer in the Austin Chronicle put it, “This is the main movie that built the house of Troma.” The movie’s cult success spawned three sequels, a stage musical, a cartoon series, video games, and served as the inspiration for a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode. There’s also been talk of a remake, and for a bit it appeared that Arnold Schwarzenegger would play a major role. No other Troma film has generated such a franchise.

(Here’s the first episode of the cartoon Toxic Crusaders. It’s not often that you hear corporations referred to as “Devil Worshipping International Media Conglomerates” on a DVD for a children’s cartoon.)

Troma has been doing their thing since 1974, while Syfy (which broadcasted Sharknado) has only been around since 1992 and The Aslyum (Sharknado’s distributor) was founded in 1997. As far as popularity of these kinds of films goes, Sharknado is in a class of its own, which in some ways makes it The Beatles of cheaply-made self-aware bad movies. If Sharknado is the The Beatles, that makes The Toxic Avenger kind of like Carl Perkins or Chuck Berry.

However, unlike Sharknado, The Toxic Avenger appeals to a niche audience because it is very violent and vulgar. It’s sort of like watching a GG Allin show in that the entertainment comes from seeing a taboo freak show. Not even ten minutes in the film, and drunken young adults start playing a game where they earn “points” by killing people (mostly minorities and children who are described with slurs) with their car. The first victim in this game is a kid who appears to be about ten years old. To some people, this is entertaining because its shock value and cheese factor. To many people, only sick motherfuckers would find the below clip amusing.

Violence is an aphrodisiac to some of the scummy young adults of Tromaville. When one of the guys starts talking about running down people with his car, his girl immediately takes off her clothes and starts necking. And when they run down people with their car, these assholes moan like they’re getting off. Later in the movie, these hoodlums steal an old lady’s cane and use it to beat the shit out of her. With these kinds of misfits roaming the streets, and the cops and politicians under the influence of dirty money, Tromaville needs rescuing.

Luckily for the town, a weakling janitor falls into a barrel of nuclear waste and develops superpowers that he uses to fight bad guys. It’s clear very early on in the movie that Troma wants you to laugh at them for putting out something with such terrible quality. I mean just look at the face of the movie’s protagonist before he falls into the waste.

And then look at his face afterward.

These are not the types of faces that film companies are supposed to assign to their lead role.

After Melvin, the weakling janitor, turns into Toxie, the badass avenger, he develops a mean streak. When fighting crime, Toxie plucks a guy’s eyeballs out of its sockets, smashes two guys’ heads together so that their skulls crack and their brains show, pulls off a guy’s arm and uses to beat people with it, and rips out the corrupt mayor’s intestines after dropping the line, “You fat slob, let’s see if you have any guts.”

In between all the violence, there are also lots of silly gags. When Melvin hides in his mom’s bathroom and screams in agony as nuclear waste melts his flesh, his mom smiles and exclaims, “My little Melvin, he must have finally reached puberty.” Hideously deformed, Toxie develops a relationship with a hot-ass blind woman, and they share several romantic moments that are laughable due to the character’s disparate appearances and her visual unawareness. And Toxie isn’t always violent when fighting crime, as he defeats one criminal by overloading his face with ice cream sundaes.

There have always been shitty movies. But the self-aware subgroup of bad movies is more of a relatively recent phenomena. And when it comes to this subgroup, The Toxic Avenger is a classic. It’s a fun and breezy watch as long as you focus on the film’s entertaining scenes and can get over the movie studio’s intention.

[Where to stream The Toxic Avenger]

Ross Benes (@rossbenes) is working on a book about indirect relationships between sex and society. He has written for The Wall Street Journal, Esquire, Deadspin, and Slate.