The Toxic Avenger isn’t brought up often enough when we discuss earlier attempts at superhero movies. Yet, sandwiched between Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie and Tim Burton’s Batman was this delightfully bizarre, low-budget, heartfelt hero’s journey from the mind of grindhouse legend Lloyd Kaufman. Now, more than 40 years later, it’s been given the red carpet treatment it deserves with a new standalone 4K Ultra HD release.
Released in 1984, The Toxic Avenger was co-directed by Troma co-founders Kaufman and Michael Herz. Kaufman has since directed dozens of movies, with Troma releasing hundreds of low-budget Offerings in the ensuing decades but, in many ways, this is the most important motion picture that the world’s longest running producer of independent cinema ever made. That being the case, it getting a proper, physical 4K release seems more than fitting, despite (perhaps even in spite of) its grindhouse roots.
