The Toxic Avenger
A grim and thundery sky hangs over the city of Saint Roma’s Village, investigative journalist Mel Ferd waiting for the arrival of his “inside lady” J J Doherty who has the evidence they need to prove that the manufacturing plant run by Body Top Healthstyle is dumping toxic chemicals in the river, but she has been followed back to his office by a hit squad with orders to kill, not subtle, not low profile, and not particularly competent…
A BTH cleaning technician diagnosed with a degenerative brain disease, Winston Gooze has at most a year left to him and his supposedly comprehensive insurance is meaningless and won’t cover the expensive experimental his doctor suggests; confronting chief executive Bob Garbinger, a promise is made, but instead Winston finds himself turfed out, and taking matters into his own hands goes badly, ending up shot and tossed in a waste tank…
Written and directed by Green Room’s Macon Blair and based on Lloyd Kaufman’s 1984 classic of the same name, The Toxic Avenger is the final “midnight madness” presentation of the 2025 Edinburgh International Film Festival, screened as a rough cut at Fantastic Fest in 2023 but now making its UK premiere in a finished and “unrated” version of over-the-top dismemberments, disembowelments, head crushing and general mayhem.
Starring American Dreamer’s Peter Dinklage as the normally gentle Winston and Shut In’s Jacob Tremblay as his soon-to-be-orphaned teenage stepson Wade with Welcome to Derry’s Taylour Paige as J J, refusing to give up when her story can bring justice to the city, the Garbinger brothers Bob and Fritz hiding in their mansion Chüdhaven are played with villainous glee by Flatliners’ Kevin Bacon and The Monkey’s Elijah Wood with Phantom Thread’s Julia Davis as henchwoman Kissy Sturnevan, scheming and coordinating sinister science represented by jars of floating coloured bobbles.
Manic, messy and hilarious, playing to the faithful crowd but expanding that audience with what might be seen as toned down from the iconic studio’s notorious extremes while still satisfying with over-the-top cartoon violence and clear anti-capitalist subversiveness, the crass gutter legacy of Troma making an unlikely bid for the mainstream and the inclusion of Mussorgsky and Mozart alongside murdercore band Killer Nutz adding to the air of class.
The Toxic Avenger fighting pollution, corruption, corporate negligence and the gun-toting toxic masculinity of the Nasty Lads who take hostages in outrage over a changed diner mascot as well as predatory business practices, the situation escalating from an insurance peddler having his arm torn off to locals running Toxie out of town with flaming torches to shelter in Yonder Spooky Woods pretty quickly, it is only the truth which can change things and set them all free, truly a hero for our troubled times.
The Edinburgh International Film Festival continues until Wednesday 20th August
The Toxic Avenger will be on general release from Friday 29th August
