The Toxic Avenger (1984): Straitjacket Talk

The hero we never knew we needed! Yes, he’s a monster but a lovable one. Kevin, Nathan, and Gill explain how this is a b-movie deserves the admiration of the horror community. The Toxic Avenger loves trash…and we do too!

Your hosts- Kevin, Nathan, and Gill

Produced by Nathan

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“Dismember” Theme Music by Nathan

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The mop boy can't even mop. He's stressing me out, Julie,
He's stressing me out. That's a cold open right there.

(00:26):
Hey everyone, welcome to Straitjacket Talk where it's two
guys, a girl, and a horror show.My name is Kevin.
I'm joined by a guy who used to be known as the monster Hero.
It's Nathan. I was cured of the toxic waste
burns and also becoming 6/7. You're back to regular Nathan.
Now I'm. Back to regular Nathan.

(00:47):
Yeah, yeah, that was a weird time when I was the monster
hero. I'm also joined by a girl who
would let the Toxic Avenger walkher home.
It's Jill. I let him do more than that
personally, but yeah, I'd let him walk me home.
Into asymmetrical eyes. That's your thing.
I don't know if I want to talk about this now or later.

(01:09):
You know, he's just a beautiful person.
He's ugly as all sin. But when he gets that like, deep
voice and when he starts like helping people, like helping
women open jars, holding babies,saving babies and helping
grandmas across the road, I don't know, does it for me.
I guess I love a good monster. He also has big hands.

(01:31):
He also has giant hands. Right.
We watched The Toxic Adventure from 1984.
It was written by Joe Ritter, directed by Michael Hertz and
Lloyd Kaufman. The film was produced and
distributed by Troma Entertainment, arguably best

(01:52):
known for its shock exploitationfilms.
I would say fun films though. Yeah.
The Toxic Avenger had an estimated budget of $500,000.
Do you know how much it made at the box office?
When did this movie come out? What year with 198484?

(02:14):
So it must have actually gone tothe theaters, right?
Because there wasn't really homevideo back then.
I'll say 1,000,000 1/2. I'm going to see $800,000.
According to Lloyd Kaufman himself, because I couldn't find
any other official numbers on this movie.
He had a little bit of a bias though.

(02:34):
Well, that's what I'm saying, sowe'll go by Lloyd Kaufman for
this. He told Washington Street
Journal in 1989 that it had grossed more than $15 million.
Oh. Jesus.
Christ. I mean it wasn't huge hit for
it's the reason trauma like evenstill exists right at the end of

(02:56):
the day. Yeah, they consider this the
biggest trauma film of all time.I mean, this is really the movie
that made trauma, pretty much. I don't know if 15,000,000 is
definitely accurate, but I do know that it had a really good
opening weekend in the in the box office.
The bad reviews I think brought people into this movie too.

(03:19):
It's the kind of movie where that can happen, yes.
Yeah. So everyone had to see what
everybody else was talking about.
So you know, it's like the old adage that bad publicity is
actually good publicity when youwhen you think about it,
sometimes the IMDb rating is at a 6.2 out of 10 and currently

(03:40):
the thermometer sits at 70%. So not bad.
But what do we think of this movie?
Before we go any further, if youcould please hit the like and
subscribe buttons and also hit the notification bell because
when we have a new video, you'llbe the first to know.
Isn't that right, Nathan? Yes, it's a privilege.
This movie I think we're reviewing at the right time

(04:02):
because the new one or I guess it's a remake, correct?
It looks more like a reimagining.
There's a longer trailer out now.
There's like a 3 minute trailer out now and the stories are
don't seem to be even close to the same at all.
But oh. OK.
So maybe like a reboot reimagining sort of deal, I

(04:22):
don't know. OK, that sounds cool.
Where just weeks away from its official release finally because
it was made in 2023, so it's been shelfed for a little bit.
Yeah, at some point, distributors deemed it
unreleasable. No idea what that means or
exactly who said that, but it makes me want to see it more.

(04:43):
Yeah, you know. Has intrigue.
Well, it's awesome that we were able to watch the original Toxic
Avenger. Nathan, what's your overall
thoughts? Have you seen it before?
Yeah, I have seen it before. The first time I saw this was
maybe about 15 years or so ago. My bass player, we were all

(05:03):
hanging out and drinking and stuff, and he was like, ah, we
got to watch this movie that I have on VHS.
Oh, yeah. So he had seen it way back when
he was in like high school. And I was like, I don't know,
you're a great friend of mine, love you.
I don't really trust your taste in movies.
But he was, he was right about this one.

(05:28):
I loved it the first time I saw it, and I'd never seen anything
quite like it. I had never seen any of the
Troma movies. I wasn't really big into B
movies either. This is hilarious.
One of my favorite things about it is that the very first thing
you see when you turn it on is warning The Toxic Avenger

(05:50):
contains scenes of extreme violence, and then it keeps that
promise. Doesn't let you.
Down. I love how campy it is.
I love how stupid it is. It's a movie that knows what it
is. It's greatly entertaining every
time I watch it. Few things here and there kind
of dated. It has to be expected from AB

(06:12):
movie from 1984, but that almostadds to the charm.
No way. Sometimes.
For sure. Jill, what about you?
This is my first watch of The Toxic Avenger.
It's actually kind of shocking that I haven't seen it before.
Another Troma movie. Frankenhooker is like one of my

(06:32):
favorite movies of all time. Hell yeah it's sick.
We'll have to talk about it sometime.
I know this movie gets a lot of flak from some people for some
people say it's like so unwatchable, it's boring.
It's it's that's what I've been seeing, like reviews of Wow.
Yeah, yeah. I was reading reviews earlier on

(06:52):
Letterbox and it's kind of like,you either like it or you don't.
Yeah. You hate it or you like it.
Yeah. So the bad reviews, I was kind
of like, I don't know, I don't really understand it because I
feel like it's not a stupid movie.
I feel like it's a very clever movie, like you said, Nathan,
Like they know what they're doing.
They make plenty of social commentary.

(07:13):
War. Aware, of course, that that
replace our new toxic chemical dump just 20 feet from the
reservoir for the entire area. Which we can talk about later.
It's funny and it adds in Comic Relief, like, just when you need
it. To me, like you said, 82 minutes
for this movie, and they pack a lot in there.

(07:34):
And it's funny. It's funny as hell.
Yeah. There's like some outdated
stuff. What can you expect for?
The movie here and. There, yeah.
Then lots of different kinds of stories.
Jews. Whomps, yeah, but.
Most of them come out of the mouths of villains though, yeah.
Yeah, and it kind of adds to thelayer that everyone is kind of

(07:57):
horrible. So yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's my first time watching it, and I had a fun time with it.
What about you, Kevin? So this is my first time
watching it as well and it's always been on my list to see
for like for a long, long time. I remember growing up as a kid
and seeing like they had the toys.

(08:17):
I think I bad toys from it actually.
They turned this into a Saturdaymorning cartoon cartoon.
Yeah. I know how the jump is a lot I
think in a way, but whoever saw?This movie to a six year old
ever. Whoever saw this as a cartoon?

(08:41):
I mean, they're a visionary. Yeah.
Yeah, this movie for me is like my perfect horror movie.
And and we can debate like if it's horror, not horror.
I I get that too. I just love the vibes of it.
It's a trash movie. It knows what it is.
It's fun. It has such a big 80s vibe,

(09:05):
which I'm a huge fan of. I love the cheesy music.
I love the over the top nudity. I love the over the top gore
effects. This is really like the trifecta
of everything I love in horror. And I think what's really good
about it is I think this movie has influenced a lot of other

(09:27):
movies, especially in horror. And I don't think it gets enough
credit for that too. Because you know, it really I
think shows you what you can do with low budget for effects
wise. Some of the gritty grindhouse
vibe too, I think is in this movie, which I love.
You know, movies like Terrifier,for instance, I think maybe took

(09:49):
some things from this as well. I know the tones are different,
but I can see it in in that movie, which you'll add said
about Frankenhooker. I think if you have a perfect
double feature, it's Toxic Avenger and Frank and Hooker
100. 100% agree. Yeah, I don't care which one you

(10:10):
watch first. It doesn't matter, you know, I
think it would be a fun, fun night.
Popcorn some. Beers.
Perfect. They could be in the same
universe, honestly, and they probably like are.
And they're both like, taking place in New Jersey, which I
think is hilarious. That's so true, I didn't think.

(10:31):
About that, yeah, I didn't thinkabout that either.
Is that like saying something about Jersey, I wonder?
I don't know. I mean, that's.
My armpit. That's my first note is, of
course, all of New York City's waste is dumped in New Jersey.
And of course, Tromaville is in New Jersey.
Makes a lot of sense actually, yeah.

(10:51):
That's so funny because I was thinking like, I was like, man
Jersey, like Tromaville, it, it seems like the perfect New
Jersey town. Yeah.
Sure is. Yeah, I I love too, how they
brand stuff. Tromaville, you know the Troma
Health Club, right? Troma Health Club.
It was like. Troma National Guard, Tromaville

(11:15):
National Guard. I was like, they got their own
National Guard. They're a village.
Oh. My God.
I love it. It's it's perfect for this
movie. I got to ask right away, what
are your thoughts on The Toxic Avenger himself?
Why isn't this character more widely recognized?

(11:35):
Right. It doesn't seem like he's talked
about that much. I mean, he is like the most
recognizable B movie character out there.
I think. I would say that this is not a
movie for everyone, as Jill was touching upon earlier.
If you don't like trashy ultraviolent B movies, this

(11:56):
movie very much isn't isn't for you.
I mean, it's extremely cheap. You know, even with the
restoration you're seeing scratches all over the film
because I, I'm sure it was not stored properly, the original
print. And I, and I think just the type
of movie it is, doesn't lend itself to Toxie being, you know,

(12:20):
on the level of a Jason or a Freddy.
But do you think he could be? I don't know, he'd have to be in
a more mainstream friendly movie, I think, for that to be
the case. Yeah, because there are some
similarities with Jason. No, I mean I know this ones more
over the top than Jason movies, but like Jason lives for

(12:41):
instance has a lot of these overthe top gags of you know like
when he pulls the mayors guts out and things like that.
So, I mean, that's what I was thinking.
I don't know, like I said, I just think that if this movie
was more, you know, it it this movie has its demographic that

(13:01):
it's aiming to please and it ain't everyone.
Whereas Jason movies are more, you know, any horror fan can get
into it. I don't know, that's just sort
of the way I feel. I get what you're saying that
maybe some of the later Jason movies were similar to this, but
yeah, the silly over the topness.
I mean, an 11 year old gets his head run over in this movie.

(13:24):
And I don't think Jason ever didanything like that.
But you know, I mean, maybe in amodern time now that like Tara
Fire is more mainstream than youwould ever expect it in any
other decade back in the 80s. I don't.
I just don't see it happening. I mean, he's iconic among fans
of this type of movie for sure. Yeah, funny, like you had
mentioned, like the later Jason movies, because I think his

(13:48):
makeup really does influence some of those later Jason
makeups without the mask, like in Seven and Jason Takes
Manhattan, he has more of that toxic waste look to him.
So yeah, that's a good, good analogy there.
Joe, what's your thoughts on theToxic Toxic adventure?

(14:08):
Before I go on, I just want to say Jason's also an ugly boy.
So they got that in common. Yeah.
Yeah. Both from Jersey No?
Holy shit, Yeah, Everybody in Jersey, what's going on?
Whoa, do you think some of the toxic waste leaked into Crystal
Lake and. Same universe, man.
Yeah, we're just gonna link it all together.

(14:29):
Yeah, I agree with what Nathan said.
Like, it doesn't have that commercial success enough to get
that recognition, but it is likebeloved amongst people who are
into that sort of movie. And I kind of like that he's an
underdog in that way. I think it kind of adds to like
the cult status of the movie. Something you touched on

(14:51):
earlier, Kevin, was that is thisa horror movie or is it like, I
don't know what else? Like, we could even describe
this as like a dark comedy, the superhero movie, superhero
movie. So it's it's got a lot going on.
So and it also like fractures the audience because not a lot
of people are into this sort of thing.

(15:12):
So yeah, it's hard for, I think Toxie to be able to kind of get
that recognition because of all those factors.
However, Art the Clown, I feel like is pretty like iconic right
now. Like everybody knows who that is
and he's in like really graphic kind of movies.
So I don't know. Maybe he will.

(15:33):
If he talks, he will have like acomeback.
With this remake, maybe, yeah, it's.
Getting good reviews yes so yeahthat's true I'm.
Gonna see it as soon as I can, Ithink, yeah.
Yeah, I want to now for sure. What do you guys think about
this movie and specifically the Toxic Avenger remake now into

(15:53):
this modern era? Do you think you could make a
movie like the 1984 one in this era?
I, I mean, I think there are some things that you were able
to do in 1984 that you just kindof can't do now.
Because it's offensive, right? I mean, there's a lot of.

(16:15):
There's a lot of slurs, there's a lot of use of stereotypes.
For your information, everyone knows monsters prefer blonde.
Although I'll be I don't actually think with that it
actually targets minorities to be honest with you for the most
part. Even then, you know there's some
gay stereotypes at the beginning.
You have the dude in the dress who's, you know, I I think O

(16:37):
Clancy is a is an honest cop. I don't know how much that sort
of thing could fly, but I think you could still get sort of over
the top and offensive and and mean with it enough that it
still retains some of that trashy, sleazy vibe.

(17:00):
And the the over the top gore ispretty important.
And we've seen from the trailer that it definitely is going to
have that over the top gore. I don't know.
I think there that's sort of a mixed bag sort of deal, not
going to be exactly like the original because there's stuff
that dust isn't going to fly. I'm looking forward to it
anyway. I don't know.
Joe, what do you think? Do you think this movie could be

(17:22):
made now? Like Nathan was saying, we have
certain rules in society. Just like in the movie.
You know when they say you? Can't go around dry cleaning
little old ladies. The public won't stand for it.
Public won't stand for it. So the public isn't going to
stand for racial slurs. No, I think it's totally
possible to take seeds from the original The Toxic Adventure and

(17:48):
plant something totally new, which I think after seeing that
first trailer that we reviewed, I think that's totally there.
Like was there like a diner scene we watched or something?
Yeah, that when I was watching like the like, fast food scene
this time I was like, oh, this reminds me of the diner scene in
the trailer. So I wonder if that's what

(18:10):
they're trying to go for there and like, keep the over the
topness of it and just make it ridiculous.
I don't think it's going to be the same tone.
I don't know if it's going to beas like, you know, like 80s kind
of cheesy and camp. But I think it's going to retain
like a special sort of, you know, shock value that's

(18:30):
pertinent to 2025. I think I'm just worried that
like because I think it's a tough balance and and spoiler, I
think that this movie, the ToxicAvenger balances the tones
perfectly and like we said at the beginning, knows what it is.
I think I'm afraid for maybe thenew Toxic Avenger or a movie

(18:53):
that wants to be like this, where they're going to make the
tone too serious to appease likethis audience, where you need
more of the camp and you need tolean into it, especially for
this type of movie. I don't know when we saw that
trailer and it started with likean advertisement for what was
it? What was the what was the dish

(19:15):
that they were serving? It was like burgers or something
like that. The.
Big cock. Yeah, I forget it.
Made me think, oh, OK, they're they're, they're going for it.
They're going to the right places for this.
And maybe that's why he got Shelf for a while too, because
they're like, whoa, like, I don't know if he can release

(19:36):
this. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. How's the public going to react
to something like this in 2025? Yeah, screw it, you got to go
with it. I want to get to some of the big
scenes in this movie because holy shit, the villains in this
movie are villains. Like they're, they are not
likable characters, right? I mean, no, no.

(19:59):
What? What are you trying to say
something or are you taking a rest?
What are you doing, Kevin? Thinking if I should say it.
Say it. That the the villain tricks are
hot. Oh yeah, they are.
Yeah, yeah. Oh my God, yeah.
You know who's one of my favorites though?
It's Bozo. Yeah, Bozo.
I love. I love Bozo.

(20:21):
Holy shit I love Bozo too. You're not alone on this.
Yeah. It was hilarious.
He is so stressed out, stressing.
Me, Julie, he is stressing me. Holy shit, if I could find
somebody like Bozo has in Julie,Oh my God is that not That's
like the perfect. Boy can't even mop.

(20:43):
Take a look at that fucking guy.The mop boy can't even mop
right. He's stressing me out, Julie.
He's stressing me. Out I do the hands in there,
yeah. I love it.
That's your cold open right there.
I mean Bozo and Julie. Man, this is like Romeo and

(21:03):
Juliet. Tromeo.
Tromeo. Actually Tromeo and Juliet I
believe is the name of another Troma movie.
Wow, I didn't realize that this is the love story I want.
They are amazing together. They are terrible people.
They know what they are. Julie.
I mean she's just in in it with this guy Bozo.

(21:27):
I love how their names too are Bozo and Slug.
Bozo and slug, yeah. And then you have Julie and
Wanda, right? Julie and Wanda.
Wanda. Wanda.
Wanda. Did you like Wanda, Jill?
I feel like Wanda didn't have much staying power compared to
Julie. Like I'd even know her name
until I looked it up. Right.

(21:48):
You know I'm. Not even sure they said her name
in the movie. I also looked it up.
OK, that might be it. I'm not positive of that, but
Wanda did masturbate the pictures of a decapitated 11
year old. So.
Oh yeah. Wanda had the better death scene
too. Like Julie kind of got killed
off camera, right? Yeah, that's sort of like a

(22:08):
maybe they ran out of money for that one sort of scene, it looks
like. Wanda got the hot ass.
Let this be a lesson to your hotass.
But that was after she was jilling herself.
Oh boy. Pictures of a deadline.
Which is so so fun. So fucked.
Up. Jesus fuck.

(22:31):
It's fucked up that they actually like play out the car
like hitting the scene where like you get points for hitting
certain people. And you, you expect them to cut
away, right? Like I mean if they're going to
kill the kid, at least cut away.No no, that tire goes over that
kids head and crushes it. Like a watermelon.

(22:53):
That, I believe, is what they used for the special effect
actually. I'm.
Pretty sure it was a melon of some sort, yeah.
Cost effective and. It looks really good.
It looks. Good, yeah, it's it's it's
screwed up. I mean the whole them in the car
scene and just bozo he's he's all ready to go do.
We the points, the rules, what are they?

(23:13):
He's so geared up for this shit.Like tell me the.
Rules. Do we tell me the rules?
Like I said, what a woman. She's right in his ear giving
him the rules. Yeah, yeah.
Calming him down is he hires this just his way.
Like this is who we. Are they doing like are they
doing drugs at one point? They were doing AB crunches and

(23:36):
passing a joint between them every time they did a crunch.
OK. Wasn't one of the guys selling
out of the health club there? Yes.
Get syringes. So that's probably steroids.
But seemed to have like a plethora of drugs in his locker
other than possibly steroids. Well, there was that guy in the
green shirt who gets it when Toxie smashes his head with the

(23:59):
weight machine, and he's got allsorts of drugs in there.
Yeah, that's the guy. And he was getting drugs from
the mayor and his group. Is that how it was?
I guess so. I think so.
He walks up to the mayor. He's like, here's our, here's
the money from the drug division, Mr. Mayor.

(24:20):
I got today's receipts from the drug division.
No, for real. Like, I think one of the like
big themes or like messages or like storylines in this is that
the mayor is like, so corrupt. But he, yeah, he's on these
billboards and he's like, vote for me to make Tromaville
healthy again. Yet this guy is like morbidly

(24:42):
obese. He's like in the gym, like
eating food and like just getting massages, getting his
belly rub, which is disgusting. He was.
So gross. The toxic Avenger comes in and,
like, not only does he, you know, kill off the drug dealer,
he also kills the mayor, who waslike, the reason why this town

(25:04):
is so corrupt and he's like a disease, you know?
So like, there is this, like, thread of him, like, keeping the
town healthy. Yeah.
Corruption and environmentalism are actually big threads in this
movie. I I agree with you entirely on
that. This movie has more to say than
most movies like it. I think normally would.

(25:25):
Yeah, which is is cool. It would still be great without
it, but I think it's I don't know it helps it.
Has lots of layers and that's why I think it sets it apart and
makes it so good like from like other like B movies that are,
you know, they're there for the tits and the drugs and the
laughs and the gore. But this, this is also like
saying a lot of things, and it is like deceptively smart.

(25:49):
And deceptively wholesome at times, too.
Yeah, yeah. So for sure, I think this movie
has a heart. So it's like.
Yeah, for sure. You know, like Jill said, it's
not just all fluff like there is.
Yeah, underneath it all, a good message.
Kind of like the Toxic Avenger underneath them all.
Big heart. Yeah.

(26:09):
Yeah, exactly. Big Duke.
Like, there's definitely cruelty.
A big toxic Dick. Yeah, yeah.
I'm sorry. Continue.
There's definitely cruelty in this movie, but it does feel
like that they're trying to balance that out and that the
movie overall has a good heart despite all the cruelty.

(26:30):
It's so ridiculous that the the relationship between this blind
woman and this giant monster, itjust is so heartwarming and
wholesome. Like you are rooting for those
two crazy kids to, you know, be together forever at the end of
this. So you know.
Yeah, and he like her dog, They get shot, he puts like the

(26:52):
picture up of it and she can't even see it because she's blind.
But like, he does it anyway because he loves her and he's
just so freaking sweet. Yeah, they're.
Cute. They are cute.
Not as cute as Julian Bozo. No way cuter.
Listen, if that is the type of relationship that you like yearn
for, you need to sort something out because you should be aiming

(27:16):
for the nice wholesome relationship between Toxie and
Was it Sarah. I mean, Julie and Bozo are very
supportive of each other, yeah. God, I don't condone anything
they do I understand. Oh my goodness.
Yeah. I I think that's important in

(27:37):
this movie because I've seen other like B movies, like kind
of the over the top movies. I just beat you down with like
the meanness. Yeah.
And the negativity and like and like, I like kills and seeing
the effects. But like when you just are doing
that over and over again, like spot after spot, and you have no

(27:58):
substance underneath it, it falls flat for me because it's
like, OK, why do I care? At this point?
I don't. Who am I rooting for?
Sort of deal and yeah. It's also draining to just have
something so serious, you know, like when you watch Terrifier,
like yeah, if you like it, it's fun, but morally, like at the

(28:18):
core of it, it's kind of draining.
But like I said earlier, this iskind of clever with it's like
well timed beats of Comic Relief.
For example, we were just talking about the car kill with
the little kid and they're taking photos and afterwards
they they wanna go kill more andI love that.
I think it's Slug. He objects.

(28:39):
Yep. And he's like, well, I can't
'cause I gotta wake up early to go to church tomorrow.
I gotta go home. Well, I gotta get up early in
the morning, gotta go to church.And they're all like.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just so funny, and it takes
like a little stab at like, you know, the type of people who are

(29:01):
like, devout in their faith, butthey, you know, ironically go
out and do all these horrible things.
And I love that it does that too.
Yeah, it definitely is poking fun at that, you know, and and
the high moral ground and stuff like that too.
Like we touched on with the mayor and and things like that,
the people that should be keeping you safe aren't.

(29:24):
And then like, I like how that'sthat's a thing in this movie
too, where like the mayor almostbecomes like jealous of the
toxic Avenger because he's cleaning up the streets.
Yeah, he's beloved, right? Nobody's making T-shirts with
the with the mayor's picture on it with I love the mayor Toxie.
He's got T-shirts out there. You know what I really love too?

(29:47):
Is he ever known in this movie as the toxic adventurer besides
the narrator? I don't.
I don't think so. He's just the monster hero,
right? Yeah.
Yeah, and actually I keep calling him Toxie, but nobody
calls him Toxie until the 2nd movie.
I'm pretty sure you're right. Nobody called.
They just call him the monster. Melvin, Melvin and the Monster
Melvin let. Me ask you, do you think he goes

(30:08):
through a character arc here? Because Melvin?
Hell yeah. Biggest character arc?
Yeah. Melvin His.
Changes. This slimy, but like even as
like personality wise cuz they didn't show him as like a nice
guy, you know who's just kind ofa little nerdy and awkward or

(30:29):
whatever. He was like a full on kind of
creep guy, right? Or am I just reading into him
he. Was creepy.
He was. Creepy and he.
Had like two brain cells and notbeing, I mean, like he like had
nothing going on up there. Do you know what it reminded me
of his character. I don't know if this is related,
but, you know, in The Creepshow movie, have you seen it?

(30:50):
Have you seen it either? No, fuck.
OK. There's a character that Stephen
King plays and it's like this Hick named Jordy.
And kind of the same thing happens to him, but it's a
plant, like a not a plant. It's like an alien substance
that comes in the farm and it like overtakes him.
He turns into this like big green monster made of like, I

(31:11):
don't know, fucking Moss and shit.
And it's very similar cuz he's like also in the bathtub when he
like dies from it. And it just reminded me of the
toxic avenger cuz it's like all green also.
And he's in the bathtub and he'slike screaming in pain and
stuff. And he's, he's also like really
dumb, like goofy dumb. So I was like, which one came
out first? I I.

(31:33):
Don't know 198282 OK, yeah, it came out before.
It came out before I mean. One might have been influenced
by the other, that's for sure. The Toxic Avenger might have
been influenced, but that was a really good special effect in
that bathtub, by the way. I was going to say that too.
Yeah, yeah, This is before like CGI and stuff, right?
Like. Those practical effects were

(31:54):
really good, like the bubbling you could see and stuff.
Yeah, and there was a fire walk,a fire walk in a $500,000 movie.
That's crazy to me. Like how do you find the money
for a fire walk and a half $1,000,000 movie?
Somebody didn't get the hazard pay or something, I don't know.
They just lit them on fire and we're like, hey buddy, go on.

(32:16):
Yeah, you need a better union man.
Yeah, I mean it it, it really had a lot of good effects.
I mean, like even something likethe substance I could see being
influenced by this as well. Just with the the changing in
the bathtub and stuff. Yeah, I really like to.
In the bathtub scene, when the transformation's complete, it

(32:38):
kind of goes to that negative filter.
You know what I'm talking about?Like the screen.
I'm not sure I remember that. I'm sure I'll find it in
editing, just like I found the Sinner's screen thing in
editing. But.
Hopefully I'm right on this. Maybe I was hallucinating but I
don't know. I I just liked those little

(32:59):
little things. I also liked how the Toxic
Avenger his voice was different right?
It was overdubbed. The first time I saw this movie,
the moment I realized the whole thing was genius, isn't the
first time he starts beating up thugs.
You know, the thugs who were about to kill the police
officer. He's walking around going.

(33:24):
I'm sorry, I do not know what came over me.
You know what came over me? I just couldn't control myself.
I've never done anything like this before.
Like that just cracked me up so much.

(33:45):
A new man, yeah. Yeah, yeah, he really, he really
changed even his voice and and everything.
What was that guy's name? Cigar face.
Cigar face, Yeah. They were an awkward group of
thieves, were they not? There was no commentary made on
that though. Just kind of was a thing that
was, which was interesting. You know, for 1984.

(34:07):
I don't know how to feel about that.
Like from a modern context, not that weird.
We can really judge it that way.But yeah, no commentary was
really made on on the one of thethieves being a cross dresser.
I love, I love that. That was just a little touch.
It made me care about it more. If it's, if it's just like
regular men, like who cares? But you got one, like dressed

(34:28):
and dragged a little bit. Like hell yeah, that wig was
awful. I was there for it though.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think that wig was
intentionally awful. I you know what I'm saying?
Like I, you know, I don't think it was meant to look good.
Didn't he pull it off him and was like.

(34:49):
Oh yeah, he wasn't wearing it. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I love to. Like when I was watching this
scene, I was looking at the cop the whole time and how he was
reacting to everything. He's a big fan of the Toxic
Avenger. He couldn't.
Believe in the monster, Yeah. Same.
Honestly, it was amazing cinema cinema.

(35:09):
Cinema. Yeah, Yeah, I gotta ask about,
like, probably the biggest scenein the movie, right, is the
Mexican restaurant here. Yeah, the big standoff that
happens. And again, villains that you
love to hate. I mean these guys.
Are horrible. Leroy is fucking great.
The guy with the painted face, he's amazing in this scene.

(35:34):
We got teeny boppers here. Hey, Frank.
Teeny boppers. You like video?
Games Teeny boppers Your mom give you quarters for video
games? We'll cough them up.
Aren't they cute? Yeah.
That's The thing is like, they really get what they deserve a

(35:54):
little bit. So it's like that violence is
justified in them as well, right?
The guy who played the main villain here, he gets his arm
ripped off Frank. He was an amputee in real life
and they kind of used that for their.
To their advantage. Yeah, because he got his arm
ripped off in the movie. Wow, OK.

(36:16):
I've seen this movie a few times.
Obviously if you look for it, you realize that the arm that
they have on him for before it gets ripped off, he just looks
awful, terrible. Like it is the worst looking
prosthetic arm you've ever seen in your entire life, but they
don't show it very often. They're most of his shots are

(36:38):
from like the shoulder up so that they don't have to show the
really awful looking fake arm. They blew the budget on the
flaming man, Yeah. Exactly.
We got to give you this paper mache hand.
It's what it looks like, yeah. Yeah.
But then the special effect of the arm getting torn off looks

(36:59):
really, really good, because theman actually doesn't have an arm
there. Yeah, and then he uses it to
like, beat him. And I just love that, like
defending himself with the the guy's arm.
And you have like a whole bunch of guys like, you know, kicking
him and stuff. It was, it was so fun that that
whole scene was fun. And then this is where he meets

(37:20):
Sarah, who's blind. I think this bitch is blind.
Sure, she's blind, Frank. It's like perfect beauty and the
bees sort of thing, no? Yeah, Hell yeah.
I love Sarah, Sarah is great. Poor Sarah's dog though.
Oh. My God.
That was really graphic. I don't like that.

(37:43):
Yeah, I mean, at the same time, you can sort of tell that they
just took a dog that's still alive and put some stuff on top
of him and filmed him for a couple of seconds.
Yeah, you. Can see him breathing.
Yeah, that dog looked like he was having the time of his life,
if you actually. Shooting the dog.
Yeah. No, Awful.

(38:03):
Yeah. That whole scene made me really
hungry, though. Like I had to pause it and go
get some nachos because I was, like, starving.
Yeah, yeah, look. At you go to that Mexican
restaurant with that guy, he puts his hand down his pants
looking for. Dude I bet that happens like all
the time actually. I'm so scared.
I'm sure. I want to think about.

(38:23):
It you need that good crotch whiskey.
Jesus, that's where all the bestwhiskey is.
At least he didn't have tacos down there or nothing.
Like pull those. Yeah, no, it could have been way
worse. When he went down his pants, I
was like, oh God, where's this going?
Yeah. And it was almost relief that he
was getting his whiskey. Yeah, I.
Also love when the cops are likeeating tacos while they're like

(38:46):
investigating. Looks like I got a strawberry
thick shake over. Here next to these dead bodies
and stuff. One of the cops is literally a
fucking Nazi. That's my imputer, not mine.
Mayor. Oh, he.
Built, yeah. Police and he's literally a Nazi
speaking. He did a Nazi salute.
He did. He did.
Yeah. It was actually less obvious

(39:07):
than the one that Elon Musk did,but you know.
Better edit that one out. Facts.
These are facts. You too.
We're gonna have like 2 watches on this video.
The mayor? Did the mayor not remind you of
Trump? Also yes.
Yeah, yeah, I could see it for. Sure, not helpless.

(39:28):
Yeah, yeah, it's. Literally the mayor and the cop
are Trump and Elon. They they're going to put the
toxic waste dump right next to the reservoir that feeds the
whole town. You're going to end up with an
entire town full of toxies that.'D be interesting.
These deaths, though, that happened in the Mexican
restaurant, they are amazing with the milkshake death, yeah.

(39:49):
The milkshake especially, Yeah, you know, putting his hand in
the fry later. Oh, it's like, oh, that's going.
To hurt my fingers hurt watching.
And there's nothing he could do like.
His acting well, that's happening is great too.
Like his face acting just like it's great.

(40:10):
I got to ask because this was a part of the movie I was a little
confused on was the lady in the laundry room?
Yeah. So I'm like, why is he targeting
this lady? Like I I almost went back to
like, see if I'd missed something with her in the movie.
The. Cops.
The cops say it after Yeah, yeah, they say that she's like

(40:31):
the leader of a Is it a white slavery?
Or a white slavery ring. Yeah.
That little old lady was hardly a pillar of the community.
In fact, she was head of an international white slavery
ring. That's the joke, this cute
little old lady. Very little, yeah.
Yes, it gets put in the dryer and you're like, what the fuck?

(40:53):
He's not supposed to do that. Well, that's why this.
Comes out that she runs an international white slavery
ring. We have to keep this from the
public. Apparently they managed to keep
it from Kevin too, but no. No, no, I remember that scene,
but I was just thinking there was something I had missed
earlier that showing us. Yeah, yeah, yeah, same.
You know, when I was watching it, yeah.

(41:14):
I was like, why is he killing this lady, Right.
And even he's questioning it too, right?
Because he's like. And every day I go out and I
mash people, I tear them apart and I can't stop.
Wait a minute, I'm just a killing machine now?
He's drawn to evil man. I mean they do explain in some
of those like science, like he'sjust drawn to killing evil like.

(41:35):
Like a professor. This monster may have developed
a very Basic Instinct which draws him, or should I say
commands him to destroy evil. I guess he just knows
instinctively that she's actually an evil person, and
that's like what that was sort of explaining.

(41:57):
Gotcha. Yeah, because I was like, well,
if he's confused now, like he's killing people, why would he
want to like, separate himself from Sarah, too?
He tried to well. Kind of.
He was like, I, I, I shouldn't be around you.
You shouldn't be around me. I'm dangerous.
And she convinced him. You know she.
Was just like, hey, let's go live in a tent.
He's like, OK, hey, can you bring that blue bikini?

(42:20):
He. Doesn't end up killing anyone
though, who's like actually innocent so.
And I also liked the fact that he kind of put his personal,
like, revenge spree on the back burner and he kind of just
intervened when someone was doing something awful or if he
was like getting revenge, you know, to help someone else.

(42:43):
Like, I think that speaks again to like, the wholesomeness of
his character, but also probablyhe's attracted to evil and it's
like something programmed in him.
I don't know. It's seen where the 12 years old
and only $12.00. Only 12 years old and only
$12.00. Oh, you're not David Bowie.
Oh. My God and.

(43:05):
It pans to the moth to his face,and he's clearly not David
Bowie. He's not David Bowie.
Did I actually laugh so hard? That's my favorite quote, Yeah.
I love how he's pissing going. He's pissing like green, yeah.

(43:26):
That's actually right after theyshow the monster.
Did you notice that they didn't actually show his face until
about 40, almost 50 minutes in? Somewhere around there.
Yeah. Which I thought was.
Cool, they saved it. You know what's awesome too is
this movie is really smart. They had teased something
earlier with Wanda, I believe, where Slug wears like a sack

(43:49):
over his head and and comes up to her and then when she's
jilling herself in the the saunathere, it's the Toxic Avenger
with the with the sack on his head.
So I thought that was a really cool call back.
She's like, how long are you going to do this Elephant Man
act? Like please stop that Elephant

(44:12):
Man bullshit. I am not an animal.
We're referencing David Lynch here.
One of the things I love especially are the like, cheesy
scenes between Sarah and the Toxic Avenger, like dancing and,
you know, just the sweet momentsin between.

(44:33):
There's a love story. It's comedy, but you also feel
actually heartwarmed by it. You know, while you're laughing.
I have a weird parallel and no, no one freak out when I make
this comparison. OK especially you, Nathan.
OK preparing myself. So when I was watching this, I
was like, this is just kind of like the horror version of Pee

(44:56):
Wee's great adventure because he's kind of.
He's freaking out over here, Jill.
I know, I know. Hear me out.
They're both like really quirky,right?
And kind of kind of dumb and goofy.
And then someone does something like, I don't know, steal a
bicycle or, you know, throw you into toxic waste and humiliate

(45:20):
you and then you have to get revenge.
But on the way you fall in love and you have like a really
wholesome love story. So in that way I thought they
were similar. I I get it, I guess.
Yeah, that works. They do have sort of similar
tones when you think about it a little bit, even if Toxic

(45:40):
Avengers much more sleazy and then you know.
Yeah. Not as wholesome, maybe.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I guess.
Yeah. I'll tell you what wasn't as
wholesome. Poor bozo, you know, driving his
car, trying to play his favoritegame.
And who comes the Toxic Avenger first?
He pulls out Slug. I'm not sure Slug died here.

(46:03):
I don't see him living through that.
Yeah, I mean, they don't show him dead, but you know the
suggestion is there because you know he'd have gone after Slug
afterwards if he hadn't died, right?
Maybe this car scene is pretty epic I thought.
Like. Yeah.
Yeah, it's, it's just a crazy scene where like cars are

(46:24):
flying, they're driving into stuff.
At one point he's like, take thewheel.
Poor Bozo stressed out. Here you go.
You want the wheel, take the wheel.
I feel bad for my man Bozo, he can't take the pressure.
This doesn't go too well. What I love is when they finally

(46:46):
crash, it cuts to like the, you know, explosion, but then
afterwards there's no fire and you see Bozo's body all crisped
up. Toxic Avenger gets out and he
kind of gives like a like a, youknow.
Just another day at the office. Tough 1 today.

(47:07):
Walks away. I thought that was fun.
Like that whole scene just was like cheesy car chase.
It was like an 80s car chase butToxic Avengers style I think.
It was a lot of fun I. Thought they were going to hit
those kids too and like in the playground there and.
Oh. Holy shit he's going to kill
kids. Too Like what the.
Yeah, I don't think the. Yeah, they're not going to make

(47:28):
Toxie do that, you know, and if they did make Toxie do that, it
would turn out that those kids are like running drugs to the.
Elementary. School or something?
Yeah, they're Nazi kids or something.
Yeah, they could have been. Let's talk about the ending.
What's your thoughts on the ending?
And you know, apparently the National Guard is called in to
go after the Toxic Avenger in his tent.

(47:50):
I. Think the end is great.
I think it's another super wholesome scene in this sleazy B
horror movie. The whole town loves him because
he's been, you know, helping everybody out, opening jars and
kissing babies and all that stuff, and they refused to shoot
him. Then do a human shield sort of
thing. You can't shoot our monster.

(48:11):
I love that. And then he says to the mayor
who was shooting at him. You fat slob.
Let's see if you have any guts. You fat slob.
Let's see if you have any guts. Pulls out his guts and the
mayor's like and starts trying to.

(48:32):
He starts trying to push his guts back into his stomach.
Was this a good ending for you, Jill?
Yeah, I like that. In the end, the Toxic Avenger
prevailed and all of the corruption was pretty much like
driven away. I think it's funny that such
like a horrific movie has such ahappy, wholesome ending.
So that's funny. I think at first I was wishing

(48:55):
for more ending like a sadder ending where?
You sick puppy. Yeah, I was gonna say.
I was thinking maybe more of an ambiguous ending, like is he
alive? Is he not alive?
Like maybe an explosion at his nice.
Yeah. Camping in the tent.

(49:16):
It's like one of those like, is he alive?
Isn't he alive? And I was thinking it would be
cool, like for a post credits scene, you know, his hand sticks
out, he's still alive. So it gives you hope.
Something like that. Now that I've thought about it,
this movie, the ending's perfect.
Like it's, it's, it needs a happy ending, right?
I feel like the ending fits its tone, fits everything that I was

(49:36):
trying to do, where is like whatyou're talking about is more
like a traditional, you know, Jason Voorhees sort of ending
and. That's true.
So more horror. Yeah, I think it was perfect,
for sure. The Toxic Avenger, I think he's
a cool anti hero for sure. I got to ask Jill, do you think
he's attractive? Yeah, not physically, but I'm

(50:00):
drawn to the voice and the fact that he's a monster, but also
like really sweet and squishy onthe inside.
Yeah, I'm in. I'm into that.
I was going to say I put it, just put the bag over his head.
We're fine. Yeah, yeah, I know you like
monsters, so. Yeah, this is.
I don't know though after seeinglike that neon Pi don't know if
I want but his bodily fluids inside.

(50:24):
Of me. That is an understandable thing
to be nervous about, yeah. So I wonder if he was wearing a
condom when he was going down. To mind that's.
True, that's true. So I guess she wouldn't really
know anyways. Yeah, his Dick was extra ribbed
from all the toxic waste. No, actually that would only add

(50:46):
to it. That's what I'm saying.
She that's she was happy. She made him eggs in the
morning. Cut this part out.
No. Do the eggs with the butter, the
wrapper, the egg shell. I love how he's eating it too.
He's just like. He's loving it dude.
Is he in a bathroom too? We didn't even talk about how he

(51:07):
just made his house at the dump like tires and shit.
Well, Jill said he he puts pictures up like he's making it
a. Home.
He's really making that dump a home.
Yeah. And he's resourceful and not
only cost effective, but good for the environment, you know,
reduce reuse cycle. He's doing all of them.

(51:30):
Is there anything else you want to talk talk about?
This movie has one of my favorite tropes, which is like
society creating a monster, but the monster really being
society. I'll talk about this later, but
I'm currently reading a book that was kind of inspired by
Carrie. So that's like really like in
the foreground of my mind when reading this and like seeing the
humiliation, especially the scene with like the sheep.

(51:53):
Holy, I'm OK. Turn our lights.
Before it all goes down with thewaste, they're really awful to
him. And you know, he's this
aesthetically, he's this monster, but not really on the
inside. I love to see it.

(52:14):
Jill, he's, he's overreacting. He's faking it.
He's faking it. All right, he's overreacting
like a. Nuclear reactor, OH.
My God, actually the first time I watched the the movie I was
like really mad about that prank.
Yeah, it's not that. Pranks.
But every time I've watched it since, I know what their fate is

(52:36):
gonna be, so it takes the edge off and I can laugh.
You know what though, in retrospect, what they did to
him, I mean, they, they didn't force him out the window, but
like the the goat situation in retrospect is not as bad as like
killing a kid or something, you know what I mean?
Like, no, no, it's made very clear that they're much worse

(52:57):
than this prank that they're pulling, right?
Yeah, yeah, this seems. Beneath them.
I mean, it was a chance to humiliate him in front of
literally everyone. And the worst part about it is
the entire gym show. God, you can't fit that many
people into a gym like that. There'd be no room to work out.
They're all laughing in his face.

(53:18):
That gym was always popping. Like I would actually like to be
a part of the Tromaville Health Club.
Everyone's like either getting amassage or in the the pool like
everyone's. Having them in music, you get to
wear the little man thongs. Gross.
But to your point earlier about how you think this might be
beneath them, they're always doing like a variety of awful

(53:41):
things. Like it ranges from the extremes
of like murdering people and beyond.
But also they're they just do like petty things like the the
snake and the instructors like sure, yeah, they're just going
around like causing havoc and there's little shits.
When Melvin goes to apologize toJulie for the whole thing with

(54:03):
the mop and the the the hot tub and she just screams in its
face. I can't believe I believe you're
talking to me. I I didn't mean to do it and he
was sitting there and I. How dare you talk to me in a
twerk? That mop going into that hot tub
is the least of your worries if you're going into a hot tub.
That's in public. Did you see the color of the

(54:26):
water when he, like, takes the mop out?
It's like brown. For real.
Yeah, so I think it was dirty before he put them up in there.
Yeah, I liked that they used Knight on Bald Mountain.
That's the song as he's transforming.

(54:47):
Just takes me back to my favorite segment of Fantasia.
For more like the Fantasia music, that must have been
public domain, no? Had to have been Yeah.
It was composed in 1867, so that's the song's public domain.
It must have found a recording that's also public domain.
Oh, and in the last scene, there's a guy in the background

(55:07):
with a Red Hat that says Dairy Test Milk, and I don't know what
that's about. Yeah, I just saw it this on this
watch and I was like what the fuck?
What does that mean? Yeah, exactly, exactly.
I don't know. I was like, I got to bring this.
Up testing the milk. Is this true?
Is Marisa Tomei in this movie? Yes, she's just like an extra

(55:28):
though. She is.
She's like in the locker room atone point and I'm going to have
to look up what scene it is to edit it in even.
But yes, Marisa Tomei is uncredited in this movie.
I'll be talking about Marisa Tomei later, actually.
We're ready for quote or kill. We're going to give you our
favorite quote of the movie or our favorite kill of the movie,

(55:49):
or both quote. I got to go with my man Bozo.
He's stressing me. Truly, he is stressing me.
I can't. Take Julie.
I cannot pick it. He is screwing up my karma.
He is something up my karma. Put a screwing up my karma.
That's what it is. I cannot take it.
He is screwing up my karma. I'm stressed.

(56:12):
I mean, Academy Award. Winning.
This is what makes Bozo great. Just shit like that.
He's just so over the top. He's a cartoon character in
human form. It's perfect.
My kill. I was going to say the milkshake
death because I really love thatone.
I'm going to give props to the lady going into the dryer a la
My Bloody Valentine. Miss Mabel.

(56:34):
That's what I was thinking of. Yeah, I like the The Call back
there. So I thought that was cool.
This movie has a lot of great deaths, which I think I think is
is really awesome. Like the effects, some of them
obviously are over the top and alittle like cheesy, but some of
them I thought were really, really good too.
So yeah. Yeah.
And then the owner of the shop comes in.

(56:55):
It's like, you know, that peoplearen't allowed on that machine.
Miss Haskell, Mrs. Haskell, whatare you doing back there?
You know, customers are not allowed on that machine.
She's. Just laying there.
Why would she go up there in the1st place?
It didn't. Oh my goodness.
Why would that have to be a rule?

(57:16):
Do people just go up there and lie on it?
I don't. That reminds me, that reminds
me, I love the scene where he's walking past the pool, the Toxic
Avenger, and it's like, no goingin the pool.
If you have boils, rashes, blah,blah blah.
It's like God damn it. Yeah, poor guy can't go in the

(57:37):
pool. That's actually one of the more
stylish shots in the movie too, because there's like like some
dry ice sort of effects going onin the pool and there's like a
glow going on there. The filming of this movie is
pretty basic, but that shot and I thought was pretty cool.
He had a little smoke rising toowhen he was getting turned on
there from Sarah, right? What are you doing to me?

(57:58):
I've never felt like this before.
Yeah, yeah, that did happen. Bang Smoking Jill, how about
you? I briefly mentioned my favorite
quote, which was the He's not David Bowie.
You said you were going to take me to see the David Bowie
concert. He's not David Bowie.
So funny. Predictably, my favorite kill is

(58:20):
the milkshake kill. Yeah, that one, yeah.
Oh. Nathan too, so two of us.
OK wow. I love that the guy Leroy just
gets waterboarded with milk and then he gets like all of the ice
cream or milkshake toppings, like put on them.
And then the best part is like he daintily puts like the cherry

(58:41):
on top. And I was I was just like
screaming. It was just so funny.
Like. And then he puts his head in the
fucking milkshake mixer and yeah, brutal and God I just
love. This everywhere and yeah.
So that's yours too, Nathan. Yeah, that's my favorite kill as
well, for all the reasons you just said.
We just went over my favorite kill, but my favorite quote is.

(59:05):
Julie, this guy, if you can't take a joke, he stinks.
If he can't take a joke, he stinks.
All the while, Melvin is on the ground, just like burning away.
Boils are starting to puss up from his skin.
Something about that just, it made me laugh a lot because

(59:27):
it's, you know, it's just such aridiculous thing to say.
Well, somebody is clearly not ingood shape.
Yeah. Again, just the over the topness
of the evil of these characters is.
Pretty hilarious. All right, well, we're on to our
letterbox rating. We're going to rate this movie
from one to five stars. 5 is thegirl boobs in this movie, they

(59:51):
are amazing. The girl boobs.
Girl boobs 11 is the mayor's boobs.
Everyone did. Because.
Holy God man, him eating a sandwich getting rubbed down
was. Rough.
That was a bad juxtaposition to the girls.

(01:00:14):
Jill, why don't you start us offon this one?
So earlier I kind of alluded to how I was reading reviews online
talking about this is one of these it's so bad, it's good
kind of movies. I genuinely don't believe this
is one of those movies. I also briefly talked about one
of my favorite movies of all time, freaking Hooker, being a

(01:00:36):
Troma movie, which also gets thrown into the bad movie
category, but I think that one'sbrilliant.
And similarly, I believe that The Toxic Avenger is another
brilliant movie. Like I said before, it's
deceptively smart and makes plenty of social commentary
without overly trying to do so. There's themes of morality,

(01:00:58):
social justice, corruption and environmentalism.
It's graphic, it's gory, it's gross, but it's also really
funny. It has heartfelt moments that
will make you smile. And I love a good anti hero and
I love a good monster fucking movie.
So it's a five stars for me. I I really enjoyed it.

(01:01:20):
I have nothing bad to say about it.
Like I enjoyed it the whole time.
So Yep, 5 stars from me. What about you, Nathan?
Yeah, I'm, I'm gonna give this 41/2 stars.
I love this movie quite a bit. It's probably my favorite movie
in the like, your favorite is Frankenhooker from that sort of
genre, and my favorite is this one.
Might partly be because it's thefirst one like this I've ever

(01:01:45):
seen. I think it's is hilarious and
it's gory. Sometimes it's hilarious and
gory at the same time. I love how it goes places where
you know, you're not supposed togo, you know, especially like
you're not supposed to kill an 11 year old.
And if you are going to do that,you're not supposed to just show

(01:02:05):
it, you know, I also love that it's heart warming.
I, I, I do think this movie is deceptively wholesome and that
just makes me happy. It's sort of like certain John
Waters movies in that way. Like Serial Mom is actually
deceptively wholesome because she does everything she does to

(01:02:25):
protect her children, which is pretty wholesome.
Yeah, 4 1/2 stars. I'm I've always, I've loved this
movie for a little while now, soand I'm looking forward to the
remake. Don't bother watching the
sequels though. Those aren't very good, 234.
I was gonna ask you, yeah. I've seen all of them.
The the tone is definitely, a lot of the sleaze is gone.

(01:02:47):
A lot of the darkness to the tone is gone.
It's and it's just replaced withmore silliness, you know, and
just, it feels like almost like the movies were inspired by the
Saturday morning cartoon. And so it feels like a movie
made for 10 year olds, except with violence and boobs.

(01:03:07):
I agree with you man that the first one.
This one is great. And I'm actually agreeing with
you on your score too. I have this at 4 1/2 on my
letterbox and it's the same score I gave Frank and Hooker.
These movies are pretty identical for me.
Frank and Hooker and Toxic Avenger.
They're super fun. They're everything I really like

(01:03:28):
in horror. The over the topness in both of
them is so good. I really wish The Toxic Avenger
was talked about more. I wish this movie was talked
about more. And I think what's cool about
this movie is it is a cult classic like we touched on
because it isn't for everybody. It's funny because I'm going to
bring up Terror Fire again, which I'm not a big fan of, but

(01:03:48):
like Terror Fire for me, and I've said this when we reviewed
it on Mouse of Madness, it feelslike punk rock.
It feels like it's against everything and it's against
establishment and I just didn't like it and I was sad.
I didn't like it because I want to.
I want to be punk rock. I want to be don't like it.
Yeah, I want to be against everything.

(01:04:10):
The Toxic Avenger is my punk rock.
This is this is my tone. Yeah.
It's super punk, yeah. This is my tone, this.
I think what they do in this movie, it's balanced perfectly
for me. And I agree, I don't think it
works perfectly for everybody, but it's so hard to make.

(01:04:31):
I think a film that has fun withitself, can be scary at times,
can be over the top. You know, it can do all the
things really well. And that's what The Toxic
Avenger does. It does everything really well.
That's why I have a four and a half.
This is 1 I want to pick up on physical media.

(01:04:52):
There's a 4K coming out at the end of the month actually so.
Oh cool. Yeah, Synapse is doing it and
right now it's priced at $40.00,so I might wait for a sale on
that. I like some of the art that's
associated with this movie too. I'm a huge fan of the art, you
know, I love the vibrant green colors and stuff, so.

(01:05:12):
Yeah, I'm, yeah. Excited for maybe some.
You didn't even talk about how cool the toxic waste looks in
this movie, by the way. Yeah, not that it's a big thing,
but it just looks fucking cool it.
Does it reminds me of freaking Hooker of the Purple Lightning?
You know, you have those vibrant, vibrant colors
associated with with these movies.

(01:05:34):
The tones can be dark if you really think about it, but I
think it's like, let's lighten it up.
Well, before we end our episode,we want to let you know what
we've been up to lately. Last night I went to see the new
Fantastic Four movie with my sonLogan.
I'm not a huge like superhero movie fan.
Logan loves him. He he's really into it.

(01:05:55):
And I think it's cool because this generation, his generation,
they have a lot of superhero movies.
When I grew up, we had hardly any so.
Yeah, the original Christopher Reeves Superman and then the Tim
Burton Batman's basically is what you had.
Yeah, exactly, exactly. I love Dick Tracy.

(01:06:16):
That was like my my favorite of the time.
But I really liked the FantasticFour and kind of harkening it
back to Dick Tracy. I think what this movie does
really well is it's not like theover the top action superhero
movies like a lot of the newer action ones are or superhero
ones are. Like I think they did work on

(01:06:39):
the story a lot in this and it has also, I think a very comic
book vibe to it, which I love. And it's set up kind of like a
drama in many aspects too. That was cool.
It felt a lot deeper than a lot of the other superhero movies of
late. So I enjoyed it a lot.
I'm excited to see more of thesebecause the last couple I've

(01:07:02):
seen like Thunderbolts and even the new Captain America movie, I
thought were really good. I don't think they're like that
over the top, just chaotic CGI explosion events.
Like they're trying to be a little bit more with what
they're doing and I think that'scool.
I gave it four stars on my letterbox.
I really recommend it. Go see the theater if you can

(01:07:25):
too, because the soundscapes, they're so, so good.
I mean, Galactus, when he's on screen, man, it's like, like you
feel his presence. But that's pretty much all I've
done. How about you, Jill?
So I read a book called Blood onHer Tongue by Johanna van Veen.

(01:07:45):
It's really pretty addition. Oh.
That's awesome. And so it's a gothic horror set
in the 1800s in Netherlands. And it follows the main
character, Lucy, who is like traveling to see her twin
sister, whom we find out throughletters is unwell.
So her sister Sarah has a history of mental illness.

(01:08:06):
But this time it's different because she finds a bog body on
her estate and she becomes obsessed with it and attends the
autopsy and after that bog. Body.
A bog body. So like a body.
Do you know Bog. Yeah.
So Boggs. Yeah.
So Boggs actually have, I forgetwhat chemical it is, but they

(01:08:29):
can preserve bodies perfectly. Oh, so they, yeah, there you go.
There's like a lot of bog bodiesand horror.
Actually, I have a couple of books.
I don't know why. I'm like, I don't know why I
know so much about bog bodies. I've never heard this term
until. Tonight, neither have I.
It's kind of like finding like amummy, you know what I mean?
It's like preserved because of the chemical.

(01:08:51):
They find this bog body and she becomes obsessed with it and she
attends the autopsy and then weird stuff starts happening to
her. Can't really say much else
without spoiling it. It's really good.
I highly recommend it to anyone who likes to read horror with an
emphasis on like, gothic horror.It's kind of in the same vein as

(01:09:11):
like Dracula and Frankenstein. It's a feminist.
It's a little bit sapphic and it's beautifully written.
Right now, I'm also listening toan audio book simultaneously.
I'm like also trying to read thebook on Kindle.
But it's called Mary by Nat Cassidy.
It's a horror novel that was inspired by the author's

(01:09:32):
experience with Carrie as a kid.So I kind of talked about this
in the episode. You know, society creates a
monster sort of thing. That trope is happening here.
It follows Mary, who's like a 50year old woman whose life is
crumbling. She's facing this crisis and
feels like no one cares about her anymore, partly because
she's a woman and partially because she's old and she faces

(01:09:54):
health issues, including like strange nightmares and
hallucinations. The male doctors don't believe
her because why would they? They chalk it up to menopause.
So then some weird things start happening and she moves in with
her aunt and she feels this likepool to this Haunted Mansion in
in the town. And yeah, I'm enjoying it so

(01:10:16):
far. I'm not done yet, but yeah,
I've. Nat Cassidy is like a big horror
writer right now. So yeah, recommend that.
I also went to see Together in theaters featuring.
How was that I'm I'm interested in this.
It was really good because I've seen the like advertisements of
like the trailers over and over again and I had already seen, I

(01:10:41):
talked about this in the episodeon Now Slaying that me and
Colton recorded. Should be coming out soon if you
want to go hear all my thoughts on together.
It really exceeded my expectations and I had watched a
short film called A Folded Ocean, which was pretty much the
premise of of this movie but more abstract.
So I didn't have too much of high hopes for this one.

(01:11:01):
It is very much like horror mixed with a dark comedy.
It's not trying to be funny. It's like kind of subtle.
My theatre was packed and everyone was like laughing.
It was really gruesome. Also like it was gnarly.
Was the, was the. Crowd reacting like to the
gnarly. But yeah, yeah, they're reacting
to that. They're laughing.

(01:11:22):
It was a very vocal crowd, so that was cool to see.
You don't see that very often anymore.
As long as it's not people talking, that's cool.
Yeah, no one was talking. I had a good experience.
The last thing I'm gonna talk about is I've been playing a
game called Phasmophobia. I've heard.
Heard of it? Yeah.
Yeah, I've never played it, but.Do you know what it is?
No, but people talk about it on the reddits.

(01:11:45):
Oh the reddits, yes. It's kind of like a ghost
hunting game where you have to use certain tools to and go into
a haunted house and figure out what type of ghost it is based
on the evidence that you find before it kills you because it
haunts you. Also, it's terrifying.
Like I'm such a baby so it's really fun to play with other

(01:12:06):
people. I've been playing it with my
friends, but also I'm like, I'm too scared to go into the house.
Sometimes I'll just stand at thedoor.
You guys investigate? Yeah, Yeah, I'll be right here
to reap the benefits. It's scary, man.
Yeah. Yeah.
That's all I've been up to. Nathan, what about you?
Yeah, so I've just got a couple of rewatches.

(01:12:27):
We were talking about Marisa Tomei earlier and I rewatched My
Cousin Vinny. Oh yeah.
Which which is a Have you seen it, Joe or?
No, but I've heard of it. Is that also in New Jersey?
It takes place in. No, no, the the lawyer is from
New York. OK, OK.

(01:12:48):
Played by Joe Pesci and his girlfriend is played by Marisa
Tomei. Where does it actually take
place in? It's like Kentucky or Tennessee.
South, right? Yeah.
These two kids go into a store and they accidentally steal a
Tenetuna and they get arrested. But what they don't realize is

(01:13:13):
that they've been arrested for murder because two people who
look exactly like them went intothe store and shot the clerk.
And so they're in jail. They call their mom and she's
like, oh, we've got a lawyer in the family.
It turns out to be my cousin Vinny, who is not a very good

(01:13:34):
lawyer. He's played by, it's a basically
a fish outer water movie with Joe Pesci being the lawyer from
New York. He plays Joe Pesci, you know, he
plays a monster basically, but he's not actually a monster.
He's a lawyer, but he's down in Tennessee with the good old boys
and everything's different. And Murray Marisa Tomei plays

(01:13:56):
his girlfriend who is extremely New York and she's, you know,
wearing these skin tight purple dresses.
And like I said, it's a fish outof water story for the two of
them. And I don't know, they get they
get into some hilarious high jinks and it is funny all the

(01:14:17):
way through. I'm not sure what else to say
about it. I gave it four stars on my
letterbox. I love when he has to buy the
suit. It's like.
That old school. Are you mocking me with that
suit? No, Sir, I am not Marissa
Tomei's final speech. I can't say anything about it
because it's huge spoilers to how the movie ends, but it's

(01:14:39):
it's great. Marissa Tomei is amazing in that
movie and she looks amazing in that movie.
She's the highlight of it. I think Joe Pesci's great, but
Marissa Tomei I think is is better.
And then The Karate Kid is, is the kid who get one of the kids
who gets arrested. What's his Ralph Macchio?
He's fine. I don't know, whatever.

(01:14:59):
I also rewatched Predator because I mentioned something
about Predator in our last episode.
It's one of my favorite movies. I've watched it a million times
since I was, you know, once. 7thgrade was probably the first
time I watched it. It's got Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Jesse the Bossy. Ventura Yeah.

(01:15:23):
And it's got Carl Weathers. It's got a couple other guys.
MO Carl Weathers. Yeah.
This is the origin of the epic handshake meme.
These two muscley men doing the handshake.
Mets fans, Red Sox fans hating the Yankees, like, you know,
right. But anyway.
And then there's a monster that is from space who tries to kill

(01:15:45):
them. It's a great.
Fun all around. That's.
Never. Seen.
Who hasn't seen? Oh, you haven't seen?
Predator shit, that was awful timing.
Yeah, I've never. Seen it.
I I don't know if you'd like it to be honest.
I don't think I would. I, I feel like, I think it's,
but already because I like Alien, I'm like, I don't, I
don't want to watch Alien versusPredator because I don't know if
I'm gonna like Predator. Well.
If you like Alien, you might like Predator.

(01:16:07):
It's very different from Alien. The reason I thought you might
not like Predators? Because it's one of the manliest
movies of all. Time that that's what I mean.
Like I'm not into that and Alienis the opposite.
Yeah. Opposite.
Yeah, that is definitely true. Too much men.
Although, I mean, there's a whole bunch of like, analysis

(01:16:30):
that says it's actually about masculinity too.
OK, maybe I should. Maybe I should be a little more
open minded. These are big muscly men.
They're all giant piper, masculine men.
And at the end of the day, that doesn't matter when you're up
against the predator. So.
And then even in the ending, Arnold does not solve the

(01:16:52):
problem by being a big muscly man.
He has to use intellect, you know, having guns and muscles
doesn't help against the predator so.
I'm shocked. I know, right?
I ain't got no time to bleed. I ain't got no time to bleed.
Although the thing that's funny about that line, too, is the
other guy goes, yeah, OK, man. Like the movie understands that

(01:17:16):
the line is absurd, like and it's like almost part of the
commentary that he says the dumbest man thing ever and the
other guy's like whatever you say.
I also watched a movie called Happiness.
Don't watch that. I gave it four stars.
File 4 stars. I also have been playing Donkey

(01:17:37):
Donkey Kong Bonanza on my. Switch too and that's a.
Great move, the great game. Did it just come out?
A couple weeks ago. Nice.
Yeah, you get to smash all the levels and stuff.
The whole level breaks apart when you smash it with your
fists. Are there minecarts?
Yeah, there's some minecarts in there.

(01:17:57):
You go around getting bananas. It's a sort of open world ish.
That's fun. That's all I got.
Well, if you wanna see any of the movies that we've been
watching and what we've been rating them, we're gonna have
links down in the description for our letterbox.
Also, if you're interested to see what Jill's reading, we're
gonna have a link for her Goodreads down in the
description as well, so check itout.

(01:18:19):
That does it for our review on The Toxic Adventure, but we'll
be back soon with another episode and we're gonna be
reviewing Nathan's pick for a movie, Teton.
It will be fun. Oh yeah, the car fucking movie.
About time. About damn time, Nathan.
Oh man, well join us for that special review.

(01:18:41):
But until then, back to the padded room with you.
I'm stressing. I'm stressing.