Posted in: Movies, Review | Tagged: Cineverse, kevin bacon, peter dinklage, toxic avenger

Toxic Avenger Is Terribly Bad, Which Means It's Awesome {Review}

The Toxic Avenger remake is a terrible film in every aspect, which means it is a perfect Toxic Avenger film. Go see it and have a blast.

Toxic Avenger is a nonsensical and frustrating watch that is also thoroughly entertaining and exactly what it needed to be. Lionsgate looks like fools and chickens for letting this film sit on the shelf for so long, allowing Cineverse to swoop in and reap the benefits. Director Macon Blair proves that he is the heir apparent for schlock comedy horror, mirroring the wackiness and absurdity of the cult classic Troma films of old. In no way should this film work, and yet it does in every way possible. That being said, if you do not like this type of gonzo filmmaking, it may turn you off. In any case, you should give it a shot.

Toxic Avenger For A New Generation

Let's go ahead and get this out of the way. This film is a mess; it makes zero sense, the performances are over-the-top and border on cartoonish, and it feels like it was made while everyone on set was on acid. The little bit of plot that exists does not matter in the slightest. What the Toxic Avenger remake has going for it is that it makes zero sense, the performances are over-the-top and border on cartoonish, and it feels like it was made while everyone on set was on acid. This is a perfect tribute to a guerrilla-style of horror filmmaking that fell out of fashion for a little while, and the problems and issues with the film are worth it, like a badge of honor. It knows it is terrible. It wants to be. That is the point. It pulls no punches and easily has some of the most off-color, offensive, and hilarious one-liners in a film in the last ten years. Anyone who is a fan of offbeat humor will relish in the depravity in the script. No matter what, stay till the end; it is one of the best post-credits scenes ever.

Macon Blair has channeled the one and only Lloyd Kaufman, who unleashed the original film onto a public not ready for it in 1984, in the most loving way possible. No decisions in filmmaking make any sense. The script is hilariously bad, and every actor, Peter Dinklage, Kevin Bacon, Elijah Wood, Jane Levy, everyone, all of them feel like they are in different films, even when in the same scene together, but it works. Bacon, in particular, has not looked more alive in a movie in years. You can tell he is just here to have fun, and he dials it up to 13 in most scenes. Special shout-out to Luisa Guerreiro for wearing all that makeup as our Toxic Avenger. It all works; it is just pure, unfiltered chaos onscreen, which is exactly what fans would want. Not to mention the gore. If they had not used practical effects, we would have rioted, and everything looks so fantastic and deliciously disgusting in certain parts. All great stuff and excellent work, though not as unseemly as expected. For a film that was deemed "too risky" to release, there has been worse onscreen in the last year.

Toxic Avenger is not for everyone, nor should it be. This is an acquired taste, and if you get it, you will have some of the most fun you can have in a movie theater this weekend. You watch this film and smile to yourself at how bad it is, because you are having too much fun to care. Give yourself over to it and let its absurdness wash over you, and it just might ignite a love for something you didn't know you could have. Otherwise, for the love of god, stay away.

Toxic Avenger

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Review by Jeremy Konrad

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7.5/10

The Toxic Avenger remake is a terrible film in every aspect, which means it is a perfect Toxic Avenger film and exactly what it needed to be. Go see it and have a blast.

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