MCBASTARD'S MAUSOLEUM: THE TOXIC AVENGER COLLECTION (1988-2000) (Troma 4K UHD/BD Review)

THE TOXIC AVENGER "TOX SET" COLLECTION (1988-2000)

4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

8-Disc Tox Set

Bad-taste makers Troma Entertainment celebrates their 50th anniversary in 2023 with this 8-disc UHD/BD The Toxic Avenger "Tox Set" Collection featuring a new 4K scan and restoration of all four films from the original camera negatives, presented in the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio in HDR with English DTS 2.0 stereo audio.

This is where the legend of Troma started, with 98-pound weakling Melvin, a dweeby janitor at the Tromaville gym, who was cruelly bullied by a group of meathead miscreants until he ended up falling into a 50 gallon drum of bubbling toxic waste – becoming the Toxic Avenger, the deformed, tutu-wearing, droopy-eyed mutant savior who keeps the residents of Tromaville safe from evildoers!

THE TOXIC AVENGER (1984)

Unrated Director's Cut

4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

Label: Troma Entertainment

Region Code: Region-Free

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 82 Minutes 10 Seconds

Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles

Video: HDR10 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (1.85:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)

Director: Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman

Cast: Mitch Cohen, Pat Ryan Jr.. Robert Prichard, Jennifer Baptist, Cindy Manion, Gary Schneider, Mark Torgl

In the first film 98-pound weakling Melvin (Mark Torgl), a dweeby janitor at the Tromaville gym, who is cruelly bullied by meatheads miscreants Bozo (Gary Schneider) and Slug (Robert Prichard),as well as their girlfriends Wanda (Jennifer Babtist) and Julie (Cindy Manion). The meatheads pull a prank on Melvin convincing him that Julie has a crush on him; which results in Melvyn donning a pink tutu, squeezing up a goat, and being chased by the meatheads, resulting in him accidentally diving head-first into a 50 gallon drum of bubbling toxic waste from a second story window, before bursting into flames. Now hideously deformed and possessing super-strength Melvin becomes the Toxic Avenger Mitch Cohen) - New Jersey's first superhero. Armed with a mop, his weapon of choice, Toxie sets about not only getting his revenge on the meatheads who bullied him into a barrel of toxic waste, but also sets out to clean-up Tromaville, battlling Tromaville's crooked Mayor Belgoody (Pat Ryan Jr), and a crime syndicate run by Cigar Face (Dan Snow) and his over-the-top cronies. He also stops an armed robbery at a Mexican eatery where he saves smoking-hot blind woman Sarah (Andree Maranda) who (lucky for him) falls in love with Toxie's inner beauty.

The Toxic Avenger is a splatter-comedy that hits all the Troma-riffic notes that create that special bouquet of irreverent and subversive humor, gross-out gore gags, absurd amounts of poor taste and a wild, punk rock sensibility that makes a Troma flick so much fun. It's a silly good time chock full of nudity and over-the-top scenarios that defy logic and good-taste at every turn, everything is cranked up to 10, but make for a fun watch. I thought it held up pretty well all these years later. It's still the best of all the TA flicks, and in my opinion the best looking version of Toxie as well. If you dig 'em gross, irreverent, and low-budget The Toxic Avenger delivers the goods.

Special Features:

Disc 1 (4K UHD):

- Prologue by Director Lloyd Kaufman (1:35) HD

- Audio commentary with cast members Robert Prichard, Gary Schneider, and Dan Snow

- Audio commentary with Director Lloyd Kaufman.
Disc 2 (Blu-ray):
- Introduction by Director Lloyd Kaufman (4:22) HD

- Audio commentary with cast members Robert Prichard, Gary Schneider, and Dan Snow

- Audio commentary with Director Lloyd Kaufman

- Interview with cast member Jennifer Baptist (18:39)

- Interview with cast member Robert Prichard (2:37)

- Interview with cast member Mitch Cohen (8:40)

- Interview with cast member Dan Snow (4:38)

- Interview with co-Director Michael Herz (15:23)

- "Mark Torgl Talks About The Toxic Avenger" featurette (6:18)

- Behind the Scenes (4:19) HD

- 40 Years of Troma (2:13)

- Photo Gallery

- Trailers (1:23)

THE TOXIC AVENGER PART II (1989)

Unrated Director's Cut

4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

Label: Troma Entertainment

Region Code: Region-Free

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 108 Minutes 39 Seconds

Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles

Video: HDR10 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (1.85:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)

Director: Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz

Cast: Ron Fazio, Phoebe Legere, Mayako Katsurag, Riyaka Yasouka, Tsotomu Sekine, Rick Collins

In the sequel The Toxic Avenger (Ron Fazio) has cleaned-up Tromaville and settled into a life of domestic life with his blind girlfriend, now named Claire (and now played by Phoebe Legere, King of New York). With no crime to fight Toxie becomes disillusioned and begins seeing a psychiatrist (Ericka Schickel), unaware that she is on the payroll of an evil-corporate polluters Apocalypse Inc. run by evildoer CEO (Rick Collins), who has plans to turn Tromaville into a toxic waste dumpsite. Realizing that he cannot realize his evil dreams with Toxie around he devise a plan to get Toxie out of the picture by having the psychiatrist plant the seed that his current disconnect is rooted in deep-seated daddy-issues, telling he must seek out his father, who is currently living in Japan, to fill the void in his soul and find happiness. Toxie sets off to Japan via a windsurf board and arrives on the beach of Tokyo, emerging from the water in proper Godzilla fashion, and dutifully sets about finding his father with help from a friendly local named Masumi (Mayako Katsuragi). There he battles Yakuza gangsters and Kabuki warriors before finding his father, the drug peddling Yakuza Big Mac Junko (Rikiya Yasuoka, and voiced by Michael Herz), but things don't go quite as planned with dear old dad nearly killing Toxie with a vile of "anti-tromatons", Toxie's Kryptonite, and during their battle dad gets hacked to bit by a fish monger. Toxie manages to recover and get back onto his feet with the help of some sumo wrestlers, and ultimately heads back to Tromaville to deal with Apocalypse Inc., who have pretty much enslaved the populace of Tromaville.

This sequel is fun but not as fun as the first, the violence is toned down a bit, and though the film starts off with quite a bang with Apocalypse Inc. sending a horde of whacky thugs to destroy Toxie's home, but then it settles into his domesticated unhappiness and journey to Japan, and while I did enjoy a scene where Toxie turns a baddie in a hot tub into a human-ramen bowl, I would have loved a bit more carnage. The trademark Troma sense of humor, gore and nudity is intact though, which makes this a still entertaining sequel.

Special Features:

Disc 1 (4K UHD):
- Prologue by Director Lloyd Kaufman (1:56)

- Audio commentary with Director Lloyd Kaufman.
Disc 2 (Blu-ray):
- Introduction by Director Lloyd Kaufman (3:05)

- Audio commentary with Director Lloyd Kaufman

- "At Home with Toxie" Mockumentary (3:51)

- Interview with cast member Lisa Gaye (2:15)

- Japanese news report on the filming of The Toxic Avenger Part II (3:07)

- "Radiation March," a short film directed by Lloyd Kaufman (0:56)

- Old DVD Intro (0:40)

- The American Cinematheque Honors 40 Years of Troma (0:56)

- Trailers (2:19)

THE TOXIC AVENGER PART III:

THE LAST TEMPTATION OF TOXIE (1989)

Unrated Director's Cut

4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

Label: Troma Entertainment
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 103 Minutes 31 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: HDR10 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (1.85:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz
Cast: Ron Fazio, Phoebe Legere, John Altamura, Rick Collins

Widely considered the worst of the Toxic Avenger sequels The Toxic Avenger III: The Last Temptation of Toxie (1989) is pretty much the story of Toxie (Ron Fazio) turning into yuppie in an effort to raise enough money to get his blind girlfriend Claire (Phoebe Legere) a sight-restoring surgery. Once Apocalypse Inc. CEO (Rick Collins) gets wind he's in need of money he offers Toxie a well-paying gig working for the environmentally unfriendly company, with Toxie trading in his do-gooder tendencies to become an enforcer for the corporation, becoming a yuppie in the process, while losing his moral center. Toxie is unaware that the CEO is actually the Devil in disguise, and when Toxie finally has his come to Jesus moments he finds he must battle the Devil for his very soul - in a video game influenced final battle with five levels.

Oof, this was is still a chore to get through, too many scenes of domesticated Toxie drag this one down hard, and while scenes of yuppie Toxie with his tennis racquet and popped-collar polo are amusing not a good Toxic Avenger flick does it make. Things pick-up considerably in the final boss-battle with the Devil. The tiny winged, green-skinned devil make-up effects are pretty cool, it sort of feels like a a Power Rangers villain with some bite, which is not a terrible thing to be honest. The worst offense is the recycling of scenes from the previous sequel, and the best stuff again is the opening sequence of Toxie battling terrorist at a video store.

Special Features:
Disc 1(4K UHD): - Prologue by Director Lloyd Kaufman (1:32)
- Audio commentary with Director Lloyd Kaufman
- Audio commentary with cast member Joe Fleishaker.
Disc 2 (Blu-ray):
- Intro by Director Lloyd Kaufman (3:33)
- Audio commentary with Director Lloyd Kaufman
- Audio commentary with cast member Joe Fleishaker
- Behind the Scenes of the "Return to Nuke 'em High Vol. 1" screening at MOMA
- The American Cinematheque Honors 40 Years of Troma
- "Make Your Own Damn Horror Film" - Behind the Scenes of Old 37 with Kane Hodder and Bill Moseley (11:26)
- "A Halloween Carol" short film (9:54)
- Infomercial for "Rabid Grannies" Blu-ray Release (1:56)
- "Radiation March," a short film directed by Lloyd Kaufman (0:56)
TroMoMa" (11:40)
- The American Cinematheque Honors 40 Years of Troma (0:56)
- Theatrical Trailer (3:00)

CITIZEN TOXIE: THE TOXIC AVENGER PART IV (2000)

Unrated Director's Cut

4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

Label: Troma Entertainment
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 108 Minutes 43 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: HDR10 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (1.85:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman
Cast: David Mattey, Clyde Lewis, Heide Sjursen, Trent Haaga, Debbie Rochon, James Gunn

In the final of flick of the original Toxic Avenger quadrilogy Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV (200) Troma set out to right the perceived wrongs of the first two sequels, stating that this a direct sequel to the first film, and to forget those other sequels. Troma was ahead of the game in 2000, prefiguring continuity erasing sequels that set-out to replace/ignore previous films, which franchises like Superman, Halloween have since done. It starts off with the Diaper Mafia, lead by Tex (Trent Haaga, Killjoy 3) lay siege to a classroom at the Tromaville School for the Very Special where teacher Ms. Weiner (Debbie Rochon, Hanger) is hosting a Mexican fiesta, holding the teacher and students hostage. As expected the Toxic Avenger (David Mattey, voiced by Clyde Lewis), shows up to save the day, alongside his sidekick Lardass (Joe Fleishaker), but an incident with a bomb blows Toxie into an alternate dimension (years before Marvel would take a stab at the concept of a multiverse), in the the town of Amortville, meanwhile his evil doppelganger Noxie, the Noxious Offender is transported to Tromaville, where he sets about creating a ton of mayhem, including planting his seed inside of Toxie's gal Sara (Heidi Sjursen), causing Tromaville's mayor (problematic former porn star Ron Jeremy) to call upon goofy cut-rate crimefighters Sgt. Kabukiman NYPD (Dan Snow), Mad Cowboy (Anthony Catanese), Dolphin Man (Olivier Tendon), Master Bator (Jarred Alterman) and The Vibrator (Lauren Heather McMahon) to handle the situation. Eventually Toxie makes his way back to Tromaville and has to face off against his doppelganger. This is a tad overlong but I appreciated the return to ultimate bad-taste Troma-style with loads of gore and blood, nudity galore, horny lesbians every which way you look, and even a pair of Toxie twins battling each other in the womb, one belonging to Toxie the other belong to Noxie, and somehow they have little mini mops! I also quite liked the look of Toxie (and Noxie) in this entry, plus there are cameos galore from the likes of Marvel icon Stan Lee (as narrator), Eli Roth, Julie Strain, Corey Feldman, and Hugh Hefner, as well as Lemmy from Motorhead. Overstuffed and a bit too long for what it is this sequel is still satisfyingly unhinged, delivering the irreverent humor, bonkers brutality and gross-out gags that I was looking for.

Special Features:

Disc 1 (4K UHD)
- Prologue by Director Lloyd Kaufman (2:10)

- Audio commentary with Director Lloyd Kaufman

- Audio commentary with editor Gabriel Griedman

- Audio commentary with cast member Trent Haaga.

Disc 2 (Blu-ray)

- Intro by Director Lloyd Kaufman (3:15)
- "Apocalypse Soon: The Making of Citizen Toxie" Behind the Scenes Documentary (2:27:56)

- Audio commentary with Director Lloyd Kaufman

- Audio commentary with editor Gabriel Friedman

- Audio commentary with cast member Trent Haaga

-Tribute to Lemmy Kilmister (8:14)

- The American Cinematheque Honors 40 Years of Troma (0:56)

Audio/Video: All four films arrive on 4K UHD and Blu-ray from Troma, advertised as "new 4K scan and restoration of each film from the original camera negatives, presented in the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio in HDR with English DTS 2.0 stereo audio". The image on all four looks far superior to past editions, the sources do show filmdamage by way of speckling, occasional tears, and other wear, but it's pretty minimal, otherwise grain looks well-managed and unmolested by digital clean-up tools. The HDR10 enhanced colors are vivid and the primaries are appropriately garish - the green toxic waste and chunk spewing special effects have truly never looked better, more suffused and deep than the even the Blu-ray counterpart in this set. Black levels are also quite pleasing, with the expected improvements in contrast, depth and clarity. Even if you own the previous Blu-rays and are not 4K enabled quite yet the new Blu-ray edition are worth the upgrade alone, let alone with the 4K UHD/HDR enhancements. Not only are these the best looking these Toxie films have ever looked, but this is far and away the best any Troma film released by Troma themselves have ever looked.

Troma included a note about the second film and some a specific issues with that film, as follows: "The original negative of The Toxic Avenger Part II, while complete, was missing several short dialogue sequences in the opening third, which had been removed for pacing reasons. Although no film materials for these sequences could be located, in order to present the most complete version possible, these short segments were inserted from the highest quality digital master". That said I barely noticed the inserts and it didn;t ruin the viewing by any means, and it blows away the previous Blu-ray of the second film which looked rather shit. Audio on all four films come via uncompressed DTS-HD MA 2.0 with optional English subtitles. This is a nice upgrade over the previous Blu-rays which were lossy Dolby Digital only. While it's even close to reference level quality it delivers dialogue, effects and score nicely and sounds authentic to the source.

Onto the extras we don't really get anything new other than what is advertised as "Never before seen Introductions by Lloyd Kaufman" for each of the films, and the extras that were present on the previous DVad and Blu-ray editions, including audio commentaries, interviews and other Troma-tastic nonsense. The only extras on the UHD are the audio commentaries and intros by Kaufman, those extras and the remaining bonus junk are available exclusively on the Blu-rays. The bonus stuff is not listed on the slipbox not the sleeves of the films, but a compete list can be found elsewhere in this review. The only other packaging extras is a "then and now" postcard featuring Kaufman and Herz, one side featuring an older image of them as younger men ("We loved you then...") and the flip featuring a current pic ("We love you now more than ever!").

The 8-disc UHD/BD set arrives with each film housed in it's own dual-hub black keepcase with a single sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original artworks. Those come housed in a sideloading cardboard slipbox that's pretty flimsy to be honest, but does feature raised lettering on four sides. The packaging design/artwork with Toxic waste green is pretty cheesy but it's Troma do that's to be expected - all things in poor taste. The way the spines align will annoy the more OCD afflicted among you, one of the 4K logos doesn't quite line-up with the others. It doesn't annoy me, but I know it will some of you out there.

I have read about people having playback issues with the third film on 4K, I had no such issues, but Troma did release the following statement in regard to this reported issue:

"It has come to our attention that "The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie" 4K Ultra HD disc in the "Toxic Avenger Collection" box set may experience playback issues in some 4K players. From the information we were able to gather and our own extensive QC tests, we have come to the conclusion that this issue may only affect select players and we do not believe this is a widespread issue. Please make sure that your 4K Ultra HD player firmware is up to date. If your firmware is up to date and you do experience any difficulty, please contact customerservice@musicvideodistributors.com and we will provide a replacement disc for you at your request. Thank you for your understanding and remember, Toxie loves you!"

Screenshots from the Troma Blu-rays:

Toxic Avenger