WFG RATING: A+

Cineverse, Bloody Disgusting, and Screambox presents a Legendary Pictures presentation of a Troma Entertainment production. Written and directed by Macon Blair; based on Lloyd Kaufman’s “The Toxic Avenger”. Produced by Lloyd Kaufman, Michael Herz, Alex Garcia, and Mary Parent. Cinematography by Dana Gonzalez. Edited by Brett W. Bachman and James Thomas.

Stars Peter Dinklage, Jacob Tremblay, Taylour Paige, Julia Davis, Johnny Coyne, Julian Kostov, Elijah Wood, Kevin Bacon, and Luisa Guerreiro.

DISCLAIMER: The following essay/review has some spoilers listed, but not all…

When it was announced in 2010 that Original Media and Endemol announced a reboot of The Toxic Avenger was planned, it was met with both excitement and trepidation at the same time. On the one hand, there were those who were excited about a cult icon getting a new treatment. After all, The Toxic Avenger became the film that put New York-based independent company Troma Entertainment on the map. Troma co-founder Lloyd Kaufman came up with the concept through various influences including an article in a newspaper that claimed, “horror was dead” and the idea of a new kind of superhero. The name was not official until shooting had already completed in 1984 as the film’s original title was Health Club Horror, before settling on the nowfamous Toxic Avenger.

          On the other hand, the idea was met with resistance from lifelong fans of the hero as it was long rumored that the new reimagining was going to be PG-13 to make a more family-friendly film that would revolve around the environment and the consequences of things like toxic dumping, pollution, and more. The film would have had Hot Tub Time Machine filmmaker Steve Pink at the helm of the film and at one point, legendary actor Arnold Schwarzenegger was tapped to play another hero who would serve as a mentor to “Toxie”. However, plans fell through and after a few years of silence, it would be brought back in development.

          With the success of the R-rated animated film Sausage Party, it would be announced in 2017 that co-director Conrad Vernon would make his live-action debut on the film with Archer writers Mike Arnold and Chris Poole scripting. Vernon, who according to Kaufman, was a lifelong Troma fan, was a good choice. However, in 2018, the rights of the character would change hands.

          Legendary Pictures, who were gaining success with intellectual properties like Godzilla, scored the rights and it would soon be announced that Macon Blair, who was given rave review for his 2017 film I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore, would be writing and directing the film. Blair, like his predecessor Vernon, was a lifelong Troma fan and Kaufman even saw the script and was astounded by what he saw, going as far as saying it was better than his original 1984 script.

          With the film finally being greenlit, one thing was clear. Blair was planning to make the film his love letter to Troma and perhaps with the film, usher in a new generation of Troma fans. In other words, he would plan to make a film that would cater to both longtime Troma fans and those who have a curiosity of what Troma is about and perhaps inspire them to see the originals as well as the many cult classics in the Troma universe.

          Casting would be the next step, and fans were shocked when it was announced that Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage would play the role of the new Toxie. It made fans possibly theorize the fact that either Dinklage would play the janitor role with a taller and more muscular actor to play Toxie. However, this was not the case as Dinklage would not only play the janitor but also voice the Toxic Avenger himself. British-Portuguese stunt performer and motion capture actor Luisa Guerreiro, who is slightly taller than Peter Dinklage at four-foot-nine, studied Dinklage’s movements in preparation for the role.

          It would soon be announced that Kevin Bacon would be cast as the main villain of the film, Body Talk Healthcare (BTH) CEO Robert Garbinger. Elijah Wood would be cast as Robert’s brother Fritz, who would look like a meshing of Batman villain The Penguin and The Lord of the Rings character of Gollum, causing irony since Wood played Frodo Baggins in the trilogy directed by Peter Jackson. Taylour Paige would play a new character, investigative journalist J.J. Doherty, who is trying to take down BTH for its true agenda. Julia Davis would play Garbinger’s assistant Kissy Sturnevan, and Jonny Coyne as Thad Barkabus, a local mob boss who bankrolls Garbinger’s company.

          Production began in June of 2021 in Bulgaria and completed nearly two months later. At first thought to be a reboot or remake, Dinklage confirmed the film was not a remake, but a “reimagining” that would bring new characters while sticking to the original planned idea of the environment. While there is corruption within the government in the film, it is not as prevalent as it was in the original film. In addition, the film would take some of the tropes away from the original film, such as the idea of a blind love interest and focus more on a familial relationship. In other words, no love scenes this time around or gratuitous sexual nature. However, there is plenty of gratuitous gore in the film that is sure to please fans of the genre.

          After two screenings at Fantastic Fest and Stiges Film Festival in late 2023, there was silence. In the summer of 2024, a rumored source claimed that the film was deemed “unreleasable” due to its content and no distributor would pick it up. Would the film ever get released? In January 2025, the answer was clear. Cineverse, an independent distributor like Troma, had success in 2024 when they released Terrifier 3 in theaters to major rave and box office. They picked up The Toxic Avenger and started a massive marketing campaign as a means to prepare it for release on August 29, 2025.

          The marketing campaign included the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Chicago, where for the day, the paint the river green; Toxie helping clean up Los Angeles on Earth Day; becoming a spokesperson for Liquid Death Killer Cola; and partnering with the returning ticket service Moviefone.

          The new film replaces Melvin Ferd with Winston Gooze, a diminutive janitor at BTH Incorporated, who claim to be the key to helping people with many medical ailments. Winston’s wife had died from cancer a year ago and is taking care of stepson Wade, played by Wonder star Jacob Tremblay. Their relationship is the heart of the film, somewhat fractured as Wade is an aspiring dancer who also sees Winston as a loser who won’t do anything to protect their neighbor Daisy, a local shopkeeper who finds herself forced to see to one of Thad’s men after her beloved cat is threatened.

          Winston is respected by some of his fellow co-workers. However, when he learns that he has a terminal brain illness and has six months to a year left to live, his attempt to reach the insurance company falls on deaf ears on a technicality. Dressed in a pink tutu and wearing a jacket and suit, Winston crashes a gala event where his boss, Garbinger, wins a major humanitarian award. When Winston pleads his case, Garbinger lies about helping him and this leads to Winston going the old “desperate times calls for desperate measures” and attempts to rob the company to get the medication he needs.

          It is here where he runs into J.J. Doherty, who is not only looking to take down BTH and expose them, but avenge the death of her boss, Mel Ferd (one of the many Easter eggs of the film), as he is killed by Garbinger’s goons, a self-proclaimed “monstercore” band called The Killer Nutz. When Winston is shot by them and is berated by Fritz to kill J.J., he tells them to clean up the mess and this leads of course to Winston being thrown into a pool of toxic waste and begins the transformation.

          Unlike the original Toxic Avenger, which features exciting makeup effects from Jennifer Aspinall (Street Trash ’87), the transformation scene here relies more on the use of CGI but once we see the new Toxie, this is a new look that is approved. The look meshes the original with a look similar to the 1990’s cartoon adaptation The Toxic Crusaders along with some original designs such as Winston wearing a spiked bracelet on one hand and a red and black wristband on the other arm with the suit jacket and tutu fused together. The other new major addition is that this Toxie sports a black and red eye as the lowered eye and a bluer tinge to the other to match Dinklage’s blue eyes.

          The original Toxic Avenger described as a “hideous deformed hero with superhuman size and strength” who can growl like an animal. The new Toxic Avenger has no growls and relies on the vocal performance of Dinklage meshed with the movements of Guerreiro, who does a great job when it comes to the film’s action scenes.

          However, the new Toxie has new powers that were never explored. While the original Toxie can have bullets deflect off him, the new Toxie can be shot or slashed but can instantly heal after bleeding blue. The blue blood allows Toxie to heal those as well as he helps a mortally wounded Doherty heal up after they are ambushed by Thad’s men. This of course leads to Garbinger wanting to somehow get Toxie alive and use Wade as bait to get what he wants. The black and red eye also becomes a power as we see that eye pop out at times, and in the case of one scene, has Winston using it as a binocular of sorts to search a property.

          As seen in the original teaser, there is a scene shortly after the transformation where Winston is deemed a pervert when he tries to talk to Wade. Taking place at a local eatery, a terrorist group takes over demanding the name be changed back to its original state, similar to the recent backlash of the Cracker Barrel logo change that resulted in the keeping of the original logo. However, when there are too many customers, including a blind woman, Toxie arrives and begins to kill using his new super-powered mop, a weapon inspired by the Toxic Crusaders cartoon. There is also the now infamous “butt guts” scene that Macon Blair had promised before the film was released and this scene has the kill, which is sure to be one of the best of 2025, even it is short and sweet.

          As mentioned, the original film title of Health Club Horror revealed Melvin’s nickname of “The Monster Hero” before the official name came in post-production. However, his heroic efforts in the eatery resulted in a news report where Winston is nicknamed “The Toxic Avenger” or “Toxie” for short. In Troma fashion, there are times when we hear an updated version of the famous “Basement Chase” music, originally heard inDisney’s Fantasia and was a major theme of the original film.

          In lieu of the love story between Melvin and Sara in the original film, we see the relationship between Winston and Wade already on life support. However, we see Wade slowly begin to see Winston for who he is and who he is destined to be. When Wade finally sees Winston as the one thing he wants him to be, despite the many complications, their relationship proves to be the heart of the film.

          In addition to the familial relationship replacing the typical love story, Blair does something very unexpected. In a scene where both Toxie and J.J. are held captive by Garbinger, they are both warned they are held by titanium chains, and they are not going to break that easily. One would think that a “hideous deformed creature of superhuman size and strength” would easily pull the chains off, but a futile attempt leads to a revelation. Earlier in the film, we see Toxie relieve himself and we learn the “urine” is made of acid. Upon realizing this, Toxie does something so unbelievable that it has to be seen to be believed. Think of a certain scene from The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) where in a temporary state of depression, we see Andy in bed and something unexpected occurs.

          The Killer Nutz themselves are a crazy bunch who one could say be inspired by the Cretins of Troma’s 1986 cult classic, Class of Nuke ‘Em High. They are the ones who caused Winston’s death and re-birth as The Toxic Avenger and while they gain a following, a music festival is the site where not only will he expose them but unleash his fury on them. There is also a scene where Winston/Toxie talks to a mutated chicken, inspired by the 2006 Troma film Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.

          I have to admit that as someone who has been watching Troma Entertainment’s films since the age of seven with my introduction being Class of Nuke ‘Em High and finally seeing the original Toxic Avenger just a few years later, I had my reservations upon hearing about the reimagining. The idea brought a lot of curiosity to the fold. Questions in my mind were being asked. Would Blair live up to the hype? Can he make a “mid to big budget Troma movie”? The overall answer is a resounding yes. Blair succeeds in not only paying homage to the world of Troma, but has the potential to not only bring Toxie to a new generation of fans, but perhaps inspires them to begin watching Troma’s original catalog of films.

          For a company who started out making cheap dramas and teen exploitation films in 1974, it would take a decade for the company to be on the map with their iconic cult classic. Founders Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz (who are producers on the new film) had the assignment and knocked it out of the park. Now, they will be forever known for this absurdist meshing of the horror and comedy genres with some of today’s big names getting their start at the company. They include director Oliver Stone (The Battle of Love’s Ballad), Michael Jai White (The Toxic Avenger Part II), Vincent D’Onofrio (The First Turn On!), and Billy Bob Thornton (Chopper Chicks in Zombie Town).

          Macon Blair may have taken the original 2010 idea of making a film about pollution and its consequences but focused more on the world of healthcare and its atrocities when it comes to increasing gross profits in exchange for more people getting sick or dying with no help when it comes to the insurance. Sadly, this seems to be something that can happen in real-life, which is why before the film’s release, distributor Cineverse had teamed up with a non-profit organization, Undue Medical Debt, which buys debt belonging to random families and helps pay it off.

          Between the announcement in 2010 and the film’s release and marketing campaign, the assignment has been completed. The 2025 Toxic Avenger is sure to please lifelong Troma fans as well as possibly starting a new generation of fans who are curious to pop their Troma cherry by seeing this, then get inspired to watch the original films and more of the amazing chaotic madness that is Troma Entertainment.

          As a lifelong fan of Troma, The Toxic Avenger ’25 is definitely a favorite and here’s hoping we see the return of Toxie in the near future with Macon Blair back at the helm. Or maybe even a second reboot of Class of Nuke ‘Em High. Or even inspire Lloyd Kaufman to finally make his Toxic Avenger 5 film. No matter the answer, the tagline said it all. The Toxic Avenger is the hero we all need and by that, we mean for both lifelong Troma fans and the ones who sought curiosity about both the hero and the company.

The Toxic Avenger is now playing in select theaters. Go to ToxieTix.com to get your tickets today.