When it comes to independent horror, you cannot ignore the enormous effect Troma had on the industry. Despite being populated by filmmakers and producers who were considered vulgarians on the best of days, and lacking any real support, leading to many artists being forced to make their films on nothing but spare change and their inner ambition, the studio still reigned supreme as far as counter-programming to the sleek, complex horror films that dominated the industry during its heyday. The studio never truly disappeared, but rather lost its initial lustre, which was one of the few downsides of the rise of independent cinema as a far more beloved form of artistic expression. There were several films produced by the studio that remain iconic and cherished in one way or another, but it seems impossible to argue with the belief that their masterpiece is The Toxic Avenger, the brilliantly strange passion project developed by Lloyd Kaufman, who took a premise as absurd as a janitor being mutated into some grotesque creature that, through simply the pure desire to get revenge, becomes a vigilante, seeking to assert his dominance over those who tried to end his life, while also protecting the community in the process. Decades later, we return to this world in the form of The Toxic Avenger Unrated, a long-gestating project that saw the reigns being handed down to Macon Blair, who has proven himself to be a fascinating voice in contemporary independent cinema on both sides of the camera, marking his second directorial outing after the tremendous I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore, which saw him establish his authorial voice, while also exploring a few core themes that would come to be reflected in this peculiar voyage back into the genre that inspired him as a young artist. Telling essentially the same story, while also bringing it to the contemporary era in terms of both plot mechanics and the exploration of new ideas, this film is relatively entertaining, but does contain a few too many flaws that prevent it from actually being all that effective, despite the abundance of potential lurking beneath the surface.

All art is political, and while it may seem slightly odd to use this in a discussion on a film that is essentially nothing more than an elaborate B-movie about a hideous monstrosity wreaking havoc on those who tried to murder him, there are elements to The Toxic Avenger that make it very clear that Blair was attempting to say something. Whether or not he was successful is entirely up to individual interpretation, but it is quite clear that this is a film crafted by someone attempting to communicate a very particular message. In this case, we are introduced to a few core tenets of the modern environmentalist movement – no longer are the people protesting industrialisation simply focused on acknowledging climate change, but rather have developed into a full-scale battle between activists and industrialists, leading to militant actions from both. This is not a topic that needed to be central to a film to be evident, but Blair does work surprisingly hard to develop something quite engaging, even when it does quietly veer towards being a bit heavy-handed in communicating its message. The idea of a superhero that is essentially the product of the brutal exploitation of the environment (by virtue of the fact that he is killed and resurrected by the same material that is slowly killing our planet) is not subtle, but one that quite effectively informs this film and a lot of its core ideas. As a superhero film, The Toxic Avenger is decently effective – it’s not redefining the genre in any way (in fact, it acts as more of a parody rather than trying to stand alongside the more prominent entries into the genre), but we can’t deny that this is a very entertaining film, albeit one that doesn’t always arrange its ideas in quite the way that we would expect. It’s nothing particularly revolutionary as far as conceptual content goes, but it has enough charm to get by without stirring too much cynicism in terms of its story – unfortunately, the rest of the film doesn’t do much better in this regard, and we see it gradually falling apart when it comes to actually executing a lot of these fundamental ideas.

There aren’t many instances where we can genuinely say that a film having a strong cast is an impediment, but in the case of The Toxic Avenger, it’s clear that being well-connected was not a wise strategy, since it’s the rare example of a film being weighed down by too many strong performers. To be clear, it’s not their presence that’s the problem; it’s that these are some of the world’s most celebrated, acclaimed actors, given roles that are beneath them. Except for a few cases, there’s a reason why classic horror and science fiction B-movies were rarely occupied by famous actors at the peak of their craft, since (quite frankly) these films don’t need them to be entertaining. Instead, they relied on less-gifted actors who could command the screen in their own way, bringing a certain renegade charm to the proceedings that would otherwise have been lost had the parts been given to more legitimate actors. At the very least, everyone seems to be having fun – but this does very little to improve the film as a whole. Peter Dinklage leads The Toxic Avenger, and he’s quite good, and perhaps a better approach would have been to retain him, but look elsewhere for the rest of the roles. He’s able to play this vengeful creature with both a grotesque intensity and a quiet charm that works very well for this version of the character – but when it comes to actually putting it all to practice, we see the film lets him down slightly, especially since he’s put under heavy makeup for most of the film, giving him very little opportunity to actually deliver a particularly strong performance beyond the earlier portions of the film. The supporting cast does very little, even if they are doing what they can to elevate these thinly-written roles. Jacob Tremblay is adorable as the protagonist’s well-meaning stepson, Elijah Wood is a fiend as the main villain, and Kevin Bacon is a riot as the final boss – but none of these actors bring anything to the film that could not have been done with lesser-known actors, and their presence actually feels distracting, never being particularly memorable and just coming across as a tacky attempt to showcase the director’s connections more than his ability to appropriately cast his film.

Leading on from the questionable performances, we find that The Toxic Avenger is not very well-made either, with Blair straining far too hard to make a film that resembles the ones that inspired him (including Kaufman’s original classic), but squanders it on something that feels like merely a pale imitation. Arguably, the films that Troma made have a distinct look that is difficult to replicate, but everything about this film feels forced and unnatural, and not in the way that we would hope. The film moves at a strange pace, leaping between shots without any rhyme or reason, and actively being quite confusing – and this is all a result of very poor writing and the eventual editing, since it isn’t clear whether or not Blair and his crew were actually on the same page when it came to putting this film together. What we do find quite peculiar is the extent to which the film goes to convince us to take it seriously as some challenging and daring work, when it becomes increasingly clear that this is not going to be a legitimate work at all. It is often quite overwrought in terms of its emotions, with storylines such as the father-son connection or the heavy-handed environmental themes that derail the film, not only causing it to drag in some points, but occasionally even bringing it to a screeching halt, which is far from ideal. There is absolutely no reason why The Toxic Avenger needed to be over 100 minutes in length, since at least a twenty of those minutes could have been cut (especially since there were sub-plots and cutaways that add nothing to the film), and the writing is simply too scattered to leave any real impression, turning this film into an ordeal in ways that we actually find to be deeply disappointing, despite the best efforts of absolutely everyone involved in this film’s creation.

The Toxic Avenger is not a complete misfire, but it is a far less effective work of filmmaking than we may have hoped. Blair is extremely passionate about this material, since he poured every ounce of passion he had into remaking something that he was evidently willing to develop by any means necessary. Unfortunately, it falls apart at the seams far too frequently and doesn’t do enough to justify some of its more peculiar narrative and aesthetic choices. It ultimately is caught in the awkward space of having too much prestige (in terms of the star-studded cast and clear support from the industry) and lacking any real depth, which is not ideal for something that wants to be entertaining, but fails to truly capitalise on its potential by simply having very little patience to develop on its core ideas. It’s not a good film at all, despite having some strong concepts that could have made for something more nuanced. Blair is not an untalented director, but he’s also not at the point in his career where he can afford to sustain an entire film on passion alone, especially when The Toxic Avenger feels less like a tribute and more like a tacky attempt to revive a series that was fine to remain in its original form. A revival should at least add something – a new perspective, a distinct voice, or at least just remind us of the value of the source material. This film does none of that, and instead just compels the viewer to seek out the original, just to see what this story would look like when actually handled properly and with the appropriate respect for the material. There’s no denying that Blair loves this material, but clearly not enough to step away and see that his homage is not very good, and actively feels lie it is working against the sensibilities of the original film, which needed a far more nuanced hand at the helm, or at least someone to guide it away from just being a jumbled mess, which is all we remember when we step away from a mildly amusing but otherwise trite attempt at reviving an iconic series.