About the Author: Jennifer Upton is an American (non-werewolf) writer/editor in London. Her latest book is Japanese Cult Cinema: Best of the Second Golden Age. She runs the podcast Cinema Junction, and writes for Horror & Sons and Drive-in Asylum. She regularly appears on the podcasts Japan on Film, Making Tarantino, Making Scorsese, The Rad Revivalhouse and contributes essays to Cinemaforce. For links to her work, please visit https://www.jennuptonwriter.com or follow her on Instagram @jennxlondon. 

The new Toxic Avenger remake/reboot isn’t just a good Troma movie within the Troma universe. It’s a good movie in any universe. Fans of films like Evil Dead 2 and Dead Alive who have never seen a single Troma movie, let alone the original Toxie, can and will enjoy this film. 

While the hype generated from an unrated release after sitting on the shelf for 2 years piqued my interest, it was the casting of Peter Dinklage that intrigued me the most going into this movie. He’s one of those great actors with an expressive face who can evoke an emotional response for an audience using only his eyebrows. A solid character actor in the vein of Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee who improved any project they appeared in. With the addition of Kevin Bacon, Elijah Wood and Taylor Paige, we’ve got a solid, reliable troop of actors here who approach the material with a sincerity that brings heart to an otherwise the insanely-whacky-in-a-good-way script. 

The plot is updated for modern audiences, removing nerdy Melvin and replacing him with our hero, Winston Gooze. A janitor barely getting by as a single father raising his stepson, Wade. Winston, who recently lost his wife to cancer, works for the evil giant health product company BTH, owned by mob-financed megalomaniac CEO Bob Garbinger (Kevin Bacon). Winston and Wade live in St. Roma, a real shithole of a working-class town. A town where vets hold little old ladies’ cats hostage for their astronomical fees and BTH employees get the runaround from their insurance company. 

Meanwhile, across town, J.J. and her partner steal BTH data with the intention of exposing BTH as the hucksters they are and tank their stock price. Winston and J.J. cross paths when Winston, now desperate for money to pay for his own recently diagnosed cancer treatment, attempts to steal money from the BTH vault. 

A chase ensues, Winston is taken out by The Killer Nutz – a monster core band of BTH henchmen – and our new Toxic Avenger is born. 

From this point forward in the film, the actor in the suit is Lisa G, who does a fine job with the physical elements of the role, while Dinklage lends his voice for the remainder of the picture’s running time. And what a wonderful time it is! Once Winston is Toxie, we get fights, mutations, rogue police officers firing into the air for no reason, declaring, “Fuck it. It’s a mob!” 

We get Toxie interrupting a Killer Nutz performance in a park by singing Motorhead’s “Overkill”(a highlight for anyone who knows of the years-long friendship between Lemmy and Lloyd Kaufman).

The fight choreography is wonderfully over-the-top. Like a Merrie Melodies cartoon on drugs. While the costumes are mostly practical, the gore effects are largely rendered using CGI rather than old-school Karo syrup and silicone. I am at a loss as to how this film was denied an R rating, as AMC’s Walking Dead was more violent and nasty in tone than anything here. Could it be Toxie’s mutant penis? Big deal. 

With a budget that likely cost one day of the catering on any Marvel or DC film, the CGI effects in this movie manage to feel more real than the scene in the latest Superman installment (a film I enjoyed) where he spins around and kills 25 bad guys with his heat vision all in one go. That scene felt overblown. When Winston swipes off someone’s head with his trusty toxic mop, the consequences are clear. Don’t fuck with this new Toxie. 

This movie is likely to find a larger audience once it becomes available on all streaming platforms. I will be watching it again, not only because Cineverse is using the proceeds to pay off medical debt for people like Winston in the U.S., but because there were so many Troma Easter eggs (New Chem High) and off-screen dialogue gags that utilize the surround sound experience, that I missed a few laughing over them. 

Many of the gags are topical, despite the film being completed in 2023. I especially enjoyed the scene where disgruntled thugs take over a burger place – angry over a logo change – the same week half of America lost their collective mind over Cracker Barrel doing the same. 

For the big finale, Bob kidnaps Toxie and JJ. His “scientists” harvest Toxie’s blood, with the intention of recouping their profits by selling it as his latest “healthy” drink.  When Bob’s mob backers show up to collect on his debt, Bob drinks the new concoction. His body rejects the serum, transforming him into a goat-like, clawed creature, along with his zombie-like personal assistant, Kissy, who gulps down the last few drops to join him. 

I hated Bob’s assistant, Kissy, the most of any character in the movie. Because I’ve met her in real life. Multiple times in many places. A sycophant of the highest order just waiting for the CEO to fuck her into relevancy and a mansion. I’ve met Bob, too. We’ve all met him. We see him every day in the news and on TV. He has different names and peddles different products, but we know him. We know Winston and Wade, too. People suffering loss, trying to get by as best they can in a shit world created and run by Bobs and their bitch assistants. 

I cared about Winston and Wade and their struggles to just get through each fucking day at work and school, feeling alone with no money. The fact that they go back to their regular lives at the end is bittersweet. Being the Toxic Avenger doesn’t make Winston any richer, although it does cure his brain cancer. The post-credits scene with Toxie showing the audience how to make cheap, tasty grilled-cheese sandwiches using white bread was a highlight. He might be a green mutant, but he’s still a good dad. Winston Gooze is the hero we need now because our world sucks, too. We all live in St. Roma. And “Sometimes, you gotta do something.” Even if that something is simply going to see a movie that makes you forget your problems for 90 minutes and laugh, as this one does.