The Toxic Avenger (2025) | Film Review

If you grew up in the 80s and loved campy horror, Troma Entertainment was akin to Froot Loops; it had everything a growing boy needed. Absurd plotting, B-movie casts, excessively unnecessary gore and nudity, glorious practical effects, and laughs. Hearty, ridiculous hilarity. Troma might have excelled in this style of film, but it was also an indie juggernaut that launched the careers of James Gunn, Eli Roth, Oliver Stone, and even South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, among others. The studio was as infamous for its development of talent as for its most fabled creation, The Toxic Avenger. Now, due to the magic of IP recognition through remakes, Toxie has returned.

“I didn’t want any of this.”

So, it begins in this modern-day retelling as Peter Dinklage stars as Winston Gooze, an everyman who is continuously walked on by almost any person he encounters except for the son, Wade (Jacob Tremblay), of his deceased love that he has taken under his wing to raise as his own. Winston places little value on his own life, much less his career at Bio-Technological Hub or BTH, until he finds out it might be shorter than expected. Winson has a tumor in his brain, and he is given 6 months to a year to live.

While there is experimental treatment, his insurance refuses to cover it and Winston takes it upon himself to plead his case with BTH’s villainous CEO Bob Garbinger (a gloriously unhinged Kevin Bacon) for an exemption. When that fails, Winston decides to rob his shady employer. His luck being what it is, Winston crosses paths with J.J. Doherty (Taylour Paige), an environmentalist vigilante of sorts with proof of BTH’s nefarious dealings. She is being hunted by Bob’s sadistic mercenaries who are also a local band known as the Killer Nutz, and soon Winston finds himself shot and drowned in chemical waste.

Every great superhero needs an origin story and thus begins Winston’s as he emerges from the emerald ooze as the Toxic Avenger, a superhuman deformed monstrosity armed with overwhelming strength, a greenish hue, and a mop so destructive it is impossible to quantify. Seriously, it’s basically a magical murder mop. Winston, now known as Toxie, begins to hone his powers to protect those he could not before, and possibly disembowel a few criminals along the way.

Peter Dinklage nails the comically tragic Winston from the opening frame, infusing empathy anywhere he can while maintaining that element of continuous failure that seems to haunt the character with every step. Once he mutates into Toxie (Dinklage voices the character, while Luisa Guerreiro donned the prosthetics), he retains that sensibility of Winston’s naïve innocence even as he yanks limbs from various torsos.

The remainder of the film is well-cast and unafraid to throw everything at the screen, with Bacon in particular clearly relishing his opportunity to play an over-the-top billionaire on a mission to protect his assets by dispatching a few innocent civilians. Standing out even further is Elijah Wood as Bob’s brother, Fritz. His physical appearance is also mutated into an almost Quasimodo design, and while he orchestrates the murderous muscle on the hunt for J.J. and Winston, Wood elevates his performance by layering Fritz with vulnerability and the occasional moment that sparks involuntary laughter. If Sin City had Troma’s baby, it would be Fritz. I would easily watch Bob and Fritz in a road movie prequel, can we Kickstarter that?

Macon Blair, who wrote and directed this obvious love letter to Troma, absolutely “gets” this world. His camera elevates the surroundings beyond a cheesy slaughter-fest. The cinematography is lush, the color palette is eye-popping, and the commitment to 80s schlock in a modern setting is impressive. I would add, The Toxic Avenger is releasing unrated, and this is completely unnecessary. The violence here is extreme yet almost cartoonish, and never any more hedonistic than anything we have seen in countless Saw sequels over the years. The very fact that the studio struggled to get an R rating here is farcical.

The story does feel rushed at times – Toxie is a beloved, murderous superhero almost instantly – but if you are too focused on the plot, I think you are already missing the point. We are here for insanity, gore, and laughs in whatever order Blair finds suiting. He finds his tone early on and holds to it throughout. Even the media reports blended into the backdrop hold countless jokes worth paying attention to. Sure, if you were a fan of those early Troma films, there is a nostalgia factor. That said, Macon Blair does not rest his laurels solely on that: The Toxic Avenger stands on its own for a completely new audience.

Whenever you mention films like The Toxic Avenger, you are often met with the phase, “it’s so bad it’s good.” It is a collection of words that infuriates me as both a critic and fan. If you enjoyed your time in this world, with these characters, and hopefully with your friends, then it is just good. Simple as that. There is no need to quantify it or excuse your taste, because there is nothing wrong with being entertained. This is damn good. In fact, The Toxic Avenger is easily the best film of its kind in years.