The Toxic Avenger (1984)

The Toxic Avenger (1984)

 

A bizarre take on the nerd revenge scenario. A stuttering kid who is always being picked on lands in some radioactive waste and turns into a sort of warped monster/superhero combo and goes around beating up bad guys. He eventually falls in love with a blind girl who doesn't know how hideous he is.

A classic bad movie that I'd heard much about but hadn't seen before, this was also the first I'd seen of Troma, a fairly prolific and notorious horror comedy company. The movie started out as great wacky fun for the bad movie lover: very funny and very violent. Just when you think it won't run out of crazy ideas, it does. The second half was not bad, but it didn't do it for me like the first half did. It was less funny and less inspired, and the finale with the tank didn't do too much for me.

Overall, definitely worth a watch and probably a re-watch. Unfortunately I've heard that TA 2 and 3 aren't nearly as good or even worth watching. I will be on the lookout for other Troma films, however, especially Class of Nuke 'Em High.

*** out of ****