The Toxic Avenger
Movie, 1984, Troma, Set in Tromaville, New Jersey
The Toxic Avenger is #1 of 6 in release order and #1 of 6 in chronological order in the The Toxic Avenger.
The story
A gang of thugs devise a cruel hoax that goes horribly wrong as Melvin, a nerdy emaciated janitor at the local health club, is cast through a third story window into a vat of hazardous toxic waste.
The Toxic Avenger recap
The Toxic Avenger (1984) follows Melvin Ferd, a bullied janitor in Tromaville, New Jersey, who falls into toxic waste and becomes a hulking mutant. Chased out of a health-club window by a prank, he lands in a drum on a truck. Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman directed it for Troma. Melvin is played by Mark Torgl before the change and by Mitch Cohen after it. The four gym regulars who drove him out the window, Bozo, Slug, Wanda and Julie, also run down kids in their car for points. Reborn with an instinct for sniffing out evil, Melvin kills drug dealers, pimps and robbers in gory ways and leaves his mop on the bodies. He rescues Sara (Andree Maranda), a blind woman, from a restaurant holdup, and the two fall in love and set up home in a junkyard and then a tent. One by one he punishes the bullies. Mayor Peter Belgoody (Pat Ryan Jr.), the secret boss of the town's crime, wants him gone. Start the series here.
The Toxic Avenger ending explained
The Toxic Avenger ends with Mayor Belgoody bringing the National Guard to the woods to kill Melvin, after Melvin has killed an old woman who was secretly running a trafficking ring. The townspeople stand in front of him, his mother identifies him as her son, and the mayor's crimes come out; Melvin rips him open in front of the crowd. Tromaville hails him as its hero, the Toxic Avenger. The film flopped at first, found an audience at midnight screenings in New York and led to three sequels and a cartoon.
Where to watch The Toxic Avenger
The Toxic Avenger is streaming on Prime Video, fuboTV, Philo, AMC+, Kanopy, and Fandango at Home Free in the US. You can rent or buy it on Amazon and Fandango At Home.
Ratings
IMDb 6.2/10, Rotten Tomatoes 73%
Where it fits
- Release order: first, before The Toxic Avenger Part II.
- Chronological order: first, before The Toxic Avenger Part II.
What to watch before The Toxic Avenger
Nothing. The Toxic Avenger is the first of the The Toxic Avenger essentials, so it's the place to start.
Cast
- Andree Maranda as Sara
- Mitch Cohen as The Toxic Avenger
- Jennifer Prichard as Wanda
- Cindy Manion as Julie
- Robert Prichard as Slug
- Gary Schneider as Bozo
- Pat Ryan as Mayor Belgoody
- Mark Torgl as Melvin
- Dick Martinsen as Officer O'Clancy
- Chris Liano as Walter Harris
- David Weiss as Chief of Police
- Dan Snow as Cigar Face
Directed by Lloyd Kaufman, Michael Herz.