First cheeky, then it was grown to death: “Blue Ruin” star Macon Blair must have felt like his second directorial work “The Toxic Avenger” in 2023 as the opening film of the Fantastic Festival by the fans, but was still not a rental that was ready for a long time, the remake of the in Germany under the title “Atomic Hero” Video library classics of the legendary TROMA-Trash-fore to bring them into the cinemas regularly. But such a time in the poison cabinet can also have its good sides, especially if at some point the rumor is circulating that the film is simply too extreme to let it go to a wide audience.
This narrative also suited that in the end, of all things, cineers, i.e. the studio behind the extreme splatter megahits “Terriftier 2” and “Terrifier 3”, jumped into the breach for the wiping-swinging anti-superheroes. But little is eaten as hot as it is cooked-and indeed: the “The Toxic Avenger”, which is peppered with Easter Eggs, has earned his FSK-18 release, after all, for the central effect of a scene in which someone was fully used to swell his collected intestines through a torn asshole, even a special “butt good unit”. But the surprisingly warm toxia new edition does not come to the absolutely merciless fuck all-attraction of the TROMA wedding.
Winston (Peter Dinklage) would really do anything to enable his stepson to make a better future – including Tutu.
Although he is not the biological father, Putzmann Winston (Peter Dinklage) lovingly takes care of his stepson Wade (Jacob Tremblay) since the death of his wife. But the toxic waste at his workplace in the chemical factory of the local large industrial Bob Garbiger (Kevin Bacon) demands their toll: Winston only stays for a few months due to cancer -like growth – and then his health insurance does not even cover the treatment costs.
But for the first time in his life, Winston doesn't just let something sit on him. Instead, he dates his mop into a radioactive substance to crack his boss's safe. But he is discovered – and quickly thrown into a pelvis full of toxic chemicals by Garbiger's henchmen. Actually, the body should dissolve in it and leave no traces. But instead, Winston mutates. From then on he has self -healing powers and a superhuman strength. At the same time, it is also completely deformed. The Toxic Avenger (aka toxie) was born …
Those were still royal times
Because the toxic Avenger had by far developed by far the largest box office hit, Troma, even in the sequels “Atomic Hero 2” and “Toxie's last battle”, paid attention to a certain amount of mass suitability. And with “Toxic Crusaders” a 13-piece cartoon series even appeared in 1991, which-flanked by video games and comic books-was broadcast in the children's program. After this triumphal march through the pop culture, it is easy to forget how roughage the beginnings of the Kulthelden were really:
In “Atomic Hero”, the evil bully teens are delivering a driver's escape competition, in which there is a particularly high number of points for dead children and seniors-close-up of a crushed children's skull. In addition, Melvin Ferd (Mark Torgl) is anything but a sympathizer before his mutation, but a horny nerd freak that is more reminiscent of the lost third buddy by Beavis and Butt-Head. Even the-surprisingly well-aged, because handmade-gore effects still hurt really today, for example when a petty criminals are properly cooked in the frying fryer.
Peter Dinklage is not under the toxia costume, but the actress Luisa Guerreiro.
But none of this is really no longer possible these days. Instead, Macon Blair does everything we can from the start that we take Winston directly to the heart with his loyal dachshund eyes. “Game of Thrones” star Peter Dinklage plays the tragic figure of the overwhelmed single parent with consistent seriousness, which bites wonderfully with the oversubscribed cartoonfulness of the poison waste world capital Tromaville. But at some point this search for an emotional core is also at the expense of the pace: especially son Wade, embodied by ex-children's star Jacob Tremblay (“room”, “miracle”), given the fact that the character hardly contributes to the entertainment value of the film, receives a lot of space.
The monster costume itself looks as if it were primarily modeled on the bright toxia action figures for the cartoon series-but you can immediately see that it is actually handmade and does not come from the computer. (But there is still a trick, because although the voice continues to come from Peter Dinklage, the actress Luisa Guerreiro is actually hidden underneath.) Also handmade are also many of the gore effects-which is why Macon Blair regularly enriches the scenes in question with CGI splatter.
The classic troma motto “More is more” does not apply here: The additional pixel blood only increases the artificiality of individual scenes, even if the gore is most handmade. But for that, the wonderfully self -ironic appearances by Kevin Bacon (“Hollow Man”) and Elijah Wood (“Maniac”) are a fairly effective comfort …
Conclusion: A remake of fans for fans who prefer to ride all sorts of (guest) stars on the toxia nostalgia cell instead of being truly careful sides of the original. The result is an entertaining cartoon splatter, in which a villain is literally torn up the ass, which fewer CGI bloods and more real border crossings would still have good in order to fully resolve the subversive bad taste promise behind the name Troma.
We saw “The Toxic Avenger” at the Fantasy Filmfest 2025.