The Toxic Avenger

The Toxic Avenger is a 1984 American superhero black comedy splatter film directed by Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman (credited as Samuel Weil) from a screenplay by Joe Ritter, based on a story by Kaufman. It is the first installment in The Toxic Avenger film series. The film was released by Troma Entertainment, known for producing low budget B-movies with campy concepts and gruesome violence. Virtually ignored upon its first release, The Toxic Avenger caught on with filmgoers after a long and successful midnight movie engagement at the Bleecker Street Cinema in Greenwich Village in late 1985. It is now regarded as a cult classic. The Toxic Avenger has generated a media franchise. In 2019, it was announced that Legendary Entertainment would be producing a reboot of the film, with original creators Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz of Troma Entertainment serving as producers and Macon Blair serving as writer and director. Plot Melvin Ferd Junko III is a weakling who works as a janitor at a health club in the fictional town of Tromaville, New Jersey, where the customers—mostly Bozo, Slug, Wanda and Julie, a particularly sadistic quartet—harass him constantly.