When it comes to bizarre indie b-movies, Troma is the best place to go. Their films feature everything from rabid grannies to nymphoid barbarians. Though many consider their films to  be trash, there's much brillance to be found in Troma and their rabid fanbase knows that for sure. They've been the support that's kept them running for 30 years and Troma gladly acknowledges this. In this review, we'll take a look at the film that put Troma on the map: The Toxic Avenger. After producing four late 70s "sexy comedies", Lloyd Kaufman(who went under the pseudonym Samuel Weil to prevent a DGA lawsuit) and Michael Herz were ready to make a new film. After reading a Variety article that said horror films were dying, they decided that horror should be the genre they attempt. The film, which was originally titled Health Club Horror, wasn't much of a horror film at all. More of a mish-mash of genres that all worked out to create one of the most memorable b-movie title of the 80s.

We open at the Tromaville Health Club, where a weakling mop boy named Melvin (Mark Torgl) finds himself teased and taunted by his much cooler peers. During a prank that resulted in Melvin kissing a sheep in front of a large crowd, he decides to end it all by jumping out of a window. However, he didn't expect a truck with barrels full of toxic chemical waste to be right outside. Melvin lands into one of the barrels and the chemicals transform him into The Toxic Avenger (or "monster hero", since the title The Toxic Avenger didn't come until after production). Using his new superhuman size and strength, Melvin takes to cleaning up Tromaville and ends up falling in love with a beautiful blind woman he saves from a fast food robbery. But the corrupt mayor of Tromaville isn't fond of the cleaner and safer Tromaville, so he sets out to have the monster hero killed.

In case you can't tell from that paragraph, The Toxic Avenger isn't your average film. It set up the wacky horror/comedy style that Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz (even though he doesn't direct anymore) continue to perfect with each film. The film is a classic for b-horror fans for it's creative gore, including heads being smashed by weights, a child being backed over by hit-and-run drivers, a dog who slides across a restaurant floor after being shot causing a large amount of hate mail as well). Unfortunately, a lot of that saw the cutting room floor in the R-rated release, which is why we're fortunate for Troma to be releasing the film in it's unrated, uncut glory on DVD. Overall, if you haven't seen a Troma movie, start here. They are good and bad Troma movies (the bad are mostly the ones they've distributed and not produced, though), but The Toxic Avenger is certainly a great little b-movie gem. Besides, how can you go wrong with a super-gory, offensive film that inspired a Saturday morning cartoon in the early 90s?

The Toxic Avenger is presented in 1:33:1 open matte aspect ratio. Lloyd Kaufman has stated that the full frame ratio is how he prefers his films to be seen, so there can't be much complaining here. The transfer isn't pristine, though it's much sharper than the VHS release. There are scratches and specks around throughout the film, which was also visible on the VHS release. It's the best the film's ever looked, but it's a shame there wasn't a new cleaned up transfer. As the same for most of Troma's movies, The Toxic Avenger was shot in mono and is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0. The sound wasn't remixed to stereo, so it's simply a stereo recording of the original mono track. Overall, the audio matches the video quality: it's not pristine, but it's acceptable. Though I'd love to hear Toxie in 5 channels, the mono track does the film justice.

Troma packed the DVD with extras. There's a hilarious commentary with Lloyd Kaufman, the Tour of Troma and Troma Intelligence Test that appeared on every Troma DVD at the time of Toxie's release, several deleted scenes (including one that shows what happened to characters that died in the final cut), a still gallery with a shot of Marissa Tomei's brief cameo, the opening to the animated series Toxic Crusaders, clips from Tromaville Cafe, a visit with Toxie 15 years after the film was released, an introduction with Lloyd Kaufman, and trailers. Troma always does a good job with DVD extras and they didn't skimp on their flagship title.

I recommend that Troma newbies rent the film first before purchasing. It may not meet your taste. However, if you've seen the film before, definately purchase the DVD. The extras alone are worth the money.

THE TOXIC AVENGER is available from DVDEmpire.com

THE TOXIC AVENGER 2 is available from DVDEmpire.com

THE TOXIC AVENGER 3 is available from DVDEmpire.com

THE TOXIC AVENGER 4: CITIZEN TOXIE available from DVDEmpire.com