IS IT STILL RELEVANT? THE TOXIC AVENGER (2025)

It may have come out this year, but Jason is all about the 2025 Toxic Avenger, and here’s why!

It’s been a strange year for film. Maybe it’s the company that I keep, and the fact that most of them are horror fans,  but we’ve seen two Marvel films, a Jurassic Park film and a the final Mission Impossible film come out and almost immediately disappear from conversation, while a musical disguised as a vampire film is still being raved about despite releasing earlier than all but one of those previously mentioned films. I’m not here to talk about any of those movies though. Instead, I want to tell you about one of my most anticipated films of the year, a movie that overcame all obstacles and defied all odds, initially releasing two years ago and just now finding its way into our homes and our hearts, and a film that I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that one day in the near future will be considered the Citizen Kane of our time.

If you guessed The Toxic Avenger, then you’re goddamn right.

Considered a reboot and a remake of the original, this film had my nerves frayed. Being a massive fan of the original series and of Troma as a company, and with this being a lot of peoples first exposure to the joys of truly independent cinema, I went in with my expectations low but my hopes high, and I can honestly say that it hit every single note that any longtime fan would want. The gore is excessive, the jokes land and it’s easy to see that the actors performing these roles are all having an amazing time, most notably Kevin Bacon, who plays our villain with all of the grace, charm and professionalism that you would expect him to use while portraying the lead in a high profile drama, and Elijah Wood, who I will forever champion as one of the greatest and most unfairly overlooked horror actors in the history of this genre that we all love so much.

The job of actually bringing the character of The Toxic Avenger to life however fell directly on the shoulders of Peter Dinklage, which I will admit had me more than a little hesitant as while I do love him as an actor, The role of the Toxic Avenger is supposed to be an extremely physical one, and I was worried that he would fall short of the expectations of such a beloved character.

You know what? I’m legitimately really sorry for that comment. I’m not going to erase it but know that I feel absolutely horrible.

Diminished stature aside, we still get all of the limb-ripping, head crushing and mop swinging chaos that is too be expected from this franchise, and the way that the film works its way around our hero being far shorter than the majority of the villains gets explained in such an obvious way that I felt a little stupid for not seeing it coming, and it opens the door for the exploration of some genuinely brilliant bloody carnage that was deemed so excessive that there are reports of multiple people walking out during its run on the festival circuit. While the film does get intensely violent, it’s done in such a fun way that I can see a majority of the viewers laughing too hard to allow the gore to affect them in a negative way.

 It’s this gore that leads to my one complaint for this movie. While I can understand why, I feel that it relies on CG effects a little too heavily, and I would have loved to have seen it a bit more balanced between the computer generated and the practical, even if it involves running over a watermelon as a simulation of a head. This, however, is a very minor complaint, and honestly it’s just nice to get a movie these days where the gore is so upfront and unashamed. Despite this, the makeup department deserves full applause, as all of the characters that have undergone transformations look amazing.

As a bonus, those of us that have been fans of this franchise for a while can expect quite a few little easter eggs that illicit giggles, including a blind character in a restaurant and a cameo from Uncle Lloyd himself, the latter being a reason to watch this and smile all its own. Topped off with a truly solid soundtrack, including Peter Dinklage singing Motorhead, which is something that one doesn’t consider how badly they need in their life until they receive it, and now I wonder how I lived this long without it, and it truly becomes difficult is attempting to explain how this could have been done any better.

Ultimately, at its core, this is a film that shows us that no matter how outsized we may feel, inside of all of us is the potential to do something great, even if that something great is just making someone else’s day slightly better. It shows us that money, power and a psychotic rock band turned assassins at one’s disposal might give one the advantage, but as long as there are those of us out there willing to fight to make the world safer, then evil will have a far harder time triumphing and it makes it far more likely that the good guys will win in the end. This seems to be a vastly important lesson in today’s climate, where it feels like the bad far outnumber the good, and we witness the true evil that man inflicts on mankind on a daily basis.

This has just been released in home media, so securing a copy is not only easy right now, its damn near essential for those that enjoy a solid story, a lot of laughs, a lot more violence and a heart that makes us want to become better people. Go snag a copy and support the rebirth of the first superhero from New Jersey and enjoy the ride. It truly is an amazing film and makes me proud to still be a fan of Toxie after all of these years.

Jason Kuykendall has been a horror fan since the age of two, when his mother sat him down in front of When a Stranger Calls, so she began using horror movies as a babysitter. His favorite job was a mom and pop video store that he worked at when he was sixteen. He runs Creepy Bat Book Review but is thinking about firing and replacing himself due to how slack he’s become in his work. He’s made of 85% tattoos, 35% compassion, and 69% spite, and he also doesn’t understand math. He won’t pet your service dog, but he really, really wants to.

PLEASE NOTE: The views and opinions of the staff of Memento Mori Ink do not necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or Crystal Lake Publishing. Thank you for understanding.