‘The Toxic Avenger’ (2023)

Combining the superhero genre with black comedy and a touch of splatter horror, ‘The Toxic Avenger’ follows Winston Gooze (Peter Dinklage). A lowly BHT janitor having recently lost his wife, Winston tries to move on whilst also raising his stepson Wade (Jacob Tremblay). Tension at home is exacerbated when Winston receives unexpected medical news and scrambles to make ends meet.

Hilarious and self deprecating from the outset, the film knows exactly what it wants to be. Opening on the titular character delivering exposition over a semi-psychedelic sequence, it quickly cuts to the story, arguing that for the most part people are tired and too familiar with the trope.

Poking fun at tired clichés, the villain of the piece – Kevin Bacon’s Bob Garbinger, operates as an over-the-top, moustache-twirling baddie. As head of BHT, a corrupt pharmaceutical company that’s responsible for poisoning its customers and surrounding environment, Bacon embodies the definition of immorality as he chews his way through the scenery, selfishly pursuing his own goals at any cost.

Besides the comedy, horror and sci-fi, the heart of the film lies with Dinklage’s Winston and Tremblay’s Wade. Lost without a wife and mother, the two try to get along and live in the shadow of her death. With Winston also finding out that he has 6 to 12 months left to live due to an inoperable growth spreading through him, he seeks help wherever he can.

Being slighted and refused by Garbinger, Winston takes it upon himself to break into BHT and steal the money he needs for a pricey experimental drug trial. Fuelled by the need to make sure Wade is taken care of, Winston breaks into BHT, but is mowed down by Garbinger’s lackeys. With Winston’s corpse dumped into a nearby BHT run-off, he reawakens as the Toxic Avenger – a deformed and mutated superhero – and goes on a revenge spree against Garbinger.

Using every chance it gets to saturate each frame with either a nod to the original film, its creators, throwaway gags or just bad puns, the film sails along providing for an exciting and hilarious viewing experience as it demands a keen eye on every shot. Almost akin to ‘Airplane!’ (1980) or ‘The Naked Gun’ (1988), the movie is gleefully suffused with oodles of unexpected hilarity, providing for a high-energy viewing experience and a more than welcome thrill ride.

Perhaps too violent for a wide reaching audience, the unrated version of ‘The Toxic Avenger’ chooses to splash blood and guts across the screen on multiple occasions. Overkill for sure, but achieving its ultra-violent goals, the film goes the extra mile to deliver a truly outrageous bloodfest, establishing a singular and hard to achieve tone, as the film provokes at almost every turn. It can be hard to watch but also manages to remain hysterical and positively uplifting.

Supporting the cast, Taylour Paige, Elijah Wood and David Yow complement an already excellent panel of funny and sometimes scary characters. Rounding out the line-up, each one brings to the table something new and memorable, be it a strong fighting spirit for what’s right, a last minute heel-turn in aid of the main character or just a general vibe of insanity. Adding layers of flavour to the overall composition Paige, Wood and Yow shine as support to the general mayhem that unfolds before us.

An integral part of the feature, Luisa Guerreiro provides her talents as the Toxic Avenger after Dinklage’s transformation into the oozing ghoul. With an incredible body suit and outstanding make-up, Guerreiro and Dinklage, dubbing over his voice in post, combine to deliver a true and heartfelt performance. Allowing us to suffer, grieve and endure with the hero, both exceed expectations as the green vigilante.

Gross, funny and highly effective, ‘The Toxic Avenger’ overperforms in terms of expectations. Showing us that fighting for what’s right can look crude and disgusting, the film, not unlike it’s main character, forge ahead no matter what and are not phased by how dirty their hands get.

Score: 3/4