Rating: ★★★★½ (4.5 out of 5)
Some people start their mornings with a run and a protien smoothie. I chose to watch heads explode at 8 a.m. in a dark Austin theater surrounded by sleep-deprived film nerds and the faint aroma of cold brew and regret. Welcome to Fantastic Fest.
The 2023 reboot of The Toxic Avenger had no business being this good. This is a franchise that began with a man falling into toxic sludge and becoming a disfigured mop-wielding vigilante. It’s a legacy built on chaos, carnage, and jokes that should never be repeated in polite company. And yet, somehow, this new version manages to honor the original while giving it a slicker coat of grime and an unexpected sense of heart.
A Smarter Kind of Stupid
The story follows Winston, a gentle janitor played by Peter Dinklage, who—through a series of events that can best be described as “unfortunate and very wet”—is transformed into a radioactive antihero. What follows is an unhinged revenge tale filled with corporate villains, corrupt cops, and enough fake blood to make a haunted house jealous.
It is gleefully violent, self-aware without being smug, and just weird enough to remind you that yes, this is still part of the Troma cinematic bloodline. But it’s also competent. Too competent, maybe. At times I forgot I was watching a reboot of a film series where people get thrown into toxic barrels more often than they use doors.
How Did They Pull This Off?
It helps that the cast is having the time of their lives. Dinklage brings surprising depth to a man who looks like he was sculpted out of radioactive pudding. Kevin Bacon, meanwhile, is the kind of villain who delivers every line like he knows you’re laughing at him but he’s still going to finish his monologue because, well, he wrote it. And Elijah Wood shows up looking like Danny DeVito’s Penguin had a baby with Nosferatu, which somehow makes perfect sense in this world.
The movie leans hard into its own ridiculousness. It knows the original’s charm came from how completely off the rails it was, but instead of trying to replicate that beat for beat, it reimagines the tone for modern audiences. There’s still a lot of blood, guts, and goo, but also a surprising emotional throughline involving Winston and his stepson, played by Jacob Tremblay. Yes, that’s a real sentence about a Toxic Avenger movie.
Practical Effects and Questionable Life Choices
There’s a healthy mix of practical effects and digital gore here. Normally, CGI blood can be a buzzkill, but in this movie, it kind of works. When you’ve already suspended disbelief to the point where a man explodes like a cherry pie under a lawnmower, a little digital spray feels right at home.
The creature design and makeup effects are also solid. Dinklage’s transformation looks appropriately grotesque without being distracting. Honestly, it’s impressive that they found a way to keep the spirit of the original character without just giving him the same rubber mask and calling it nostalgia.
Will Hardcore Fans Approve?
That’s the question that might haunt this film more than any vengeful mutant. Fans of the original might find it too clean, too structured, maybe even too… good. Because this version doesn’t quite reach the level of depravity that the original swam in. It’s missing the truly outrageous moments that made Troma famous. But maybe that’s okay.
This movie is not trying to be so bad it’s good. It’s trying to be good but still kind of disgusting. And for viewers who never vibed with the original’s low-budget chaos, this version might be the perfect gateway slime.
Final Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
This reboot pays a proper tribute to a film that most people only remember because it traumatized them in a video rental store. It delivers outrageous gore, genuinely funny performances, and just enough emotional grounding to make you care about a man whose mop is now a murder weapon.
The Toxic Avenger is messy, loud, and proudly weird. But it is also well made, sharp in its satire, and surprisingly heartfelt. And for a movie that opens with a disfigured man turning a corporate goon into paste, that is saying something.