The Toxic Avenger

Since its original announcement and first festival screening in 2023, Troma fans everywhere have waited patiently for the highly anticipated reimagining of the 1984 cult classic while it’s been in limbo; and readers will be relieved to discover that Macon Blair’s horror-comedy does not disappoint. The Toxic Avenger is a loving new take on our beloved, mop-wielding Toxie, with lead actor Peter Dinklage taking the helm.

As opposed to a geeky young janitor attacked by his comically murderous bullies, here we’re introduced to Winston – also a janitor and single stepdad of Jacob Tremblay’s Wade – who finds out he’s terminally ill. Much like the plot of The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie, our protagonist is working a job at the evilest company in Tromaville; the head of which is Kevin Bacon giving a fabulously enjoyable, moustache-twirling villain performance alongside Elijah Wood as his Igor-esque henchman.

Post being toxic-wasted, Winston teams up with the cool as hell eco-warrior J. J. Doherty (played by the great Taylour Paige) who’s fighting to expose corruption and take down said company. Writer-director Blair (whom you will have recently watched in Oppenheimer) also has many amusing cameos in the film.

It’s likely that fans of the original series will lament the absence of Toxie’s blind, kooky girlfriend who provided the 80s entries much of comedy and sweetness. However, for a modern release, the character of the son portrayed by Room star Tremblay is probably an easier sell for wider audiences. He’s great in the albeit small role as he gives the story some genuine emotional stakes.

As everyone hoped for, this is a funny, heartfelt gore-fest. In his director’s statement, Blair explains that what appealed to his “sixth-grade brain” was “the feeling that this movie was literally homemade, a thing that a group of friends could make in their own backyard with a video camera and some Karo-syrup blood” (Blair: 2025 | Signature’s Press Kit). And by giving us the perfect balance of vulgarity and sincerity, he manages to keep that homemade feeling alive in this release. He offputs gross-out humour with family dynamics and new friendships; extreme violence with an air of genre-independence and abandon. Much like the original, it feels like watching a live-action cartoon...

Many will compare the self-aware style of comedy to actual trash like Deadpool, which is foolish since this has such a positive, personal, non-cynical sentiment. But it’s also a film which aspires to have as much fun as possible in each and every scene. The Toxic Avenger manages to maintain some of the cheap, exploitation characteristics that make the original a real curio, but tempers these attitudes slightly for the benefit of the modern viewer – there's still plenty of sex jokes and gratuity, yet it rarely feels tone-deaf.

But if there’s an aspect to the filmmaking very much open to criticism, it would be the movie’s use of CGI violence. And this critic’s response to that is this: yes, the film would be better with purely practical violence; however, Blair clearly wanted to go extremely cartoonish with the elaborate nature of these deaths, that one can surely comprehend – much like the recent Final Destination – why the filmmakers opted for the plasticky, digital route. And do not fret dear reader! The Toxic Avenger himself is completely practical and completely beautiful, brought to life through a strong physical performance by Luisa Guerreiro.