The Toxic Avenger (1984) - Perfectly-crafted awfulness

There are bad films and then there are the films that seem to be 'too bad to be good' and end up being guilty pleasures.  1984's 'The Toxic Avenger' definitely fits into the latter, but in many similar cases, film-makers started off trying to make some sort of masterpiece and just left everyone laughing at them, developing a cult following (ever heard of 'The Room?').  However, I have a real feeling that the people who made 'The Toxic Avenger' knew what they were doing.

I can't believe they have sat down in pre-production and actually thought they would be 're-inventing cinema' with this one.  In short: they knew it was going to be bad and leaned into it - heavily.

It's like the directors looked at every last shot and thought, how can we make it cheesier and more crazy?  It they couldn't get the foreground actors to totally chew up the scenery every step away, pay careful attention to what the background extras are getting up to - everything from having a fight to, er, well having more fights (not to mention just looking generally out of place and odd).

Since 'Iron Man' and the dawn of the 'age of the superhero' we know the formula for films like this.  Average man gets superheroes and fights crime, possibly rescuing a damsel along the way.  For thar part 'The Toxic Avenger' doesn't mix much up, but it just does everything so insanely, you'll certainly remember it once the credits roll.  In fact, what with the Marvel Shared Universe slowly running out of steam, I'd be well up to see the Toxic Avenger head through the multiverse and take over the running of S.H.I.E.L.D from Nick Fury.

It's lewd.  It's crude.  It has excessive gore and is just mad.  If you do think you're suffering from 'superhero fatigue' then you need to watch this.  It will restore your faith in the genre.  Just don't take the kids along to see this one.  This is not a superhero's world you want your children running around in.  Watch it before it gets remade.

8/10 The Force is definitely strong with this one