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The Toxic Avenger

The Toxic Avenger is a 1984 film from the USA, directed by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz, running 91 minutes. reelscum files it under splatter.

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Year
1984 · 1980s films
Country
USA
Runtime
91 min
Director
Lloyd Kaufman, Michael Herz
Updated
29 Oct 2026
Obscurity
known (23/100)
Also known as
Atomic Hero · The Toxic Avenger: The Japanese Cut · The Toxic Avenger: 21st Anniversary Edition · The Toxic Avenger · The Toxic Avenger - UC

Defined in the glossary: Splatter

Troma's only good film, and the head-crushing is still funny.

Troma's only good film, and the one that built the studio's whole identity. A bullied mop boy falls into toxic waste and becomes a hideously mutated hero who dismembers the corrupt and cruel of Tromaville. The head-crushing is still funny, the tone is pure cartoon, and the satire lands more than it has any right to.

It is juvenile, gory and proud of it, but there is real comic timing under the slime. Toxie became a franchise, a musical and a kids' cartoon, which tells you something.

The high-water mark of deliberately stupid gore comedy.

Something else

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