Gory and ‘extreme’ horror movie The Toxic Avenger is finally coming to UK cinemas (Picture: Legendary/Signature Entertainment/Yana Blajeva)
Fans have been waiting a long time for the 2023 reboot of The Toxic Avenger – previously dubbed ‘unreleasable’ due to its extreme content – to actually hit cinema screens, and now it finally has with a gleefully bloodthirsty splat.
Unsurprisingly slapped with an 18 rating in the UK thanks to its ‘strong gory violence and injury detail’, I feel like that’s putting it rather mildly once The Toxic Avenger really revs up to revel in its identity as a gloriously camp and gory celebration of the creature feature.
Initially filmed in 2021 but waiting in limbo for distribution until now, it’s an extremely unsubtle and unserious movie, and one very much made with fans of the original and the franchise it spawned in mind.
But that doesn’t mean the more casual cinemagoer can’t have a fun time – that’s if they’re okay with pus-oozing boils, exploding brains and many severed limbs and heads, of course.
The Toxic Avenger focuses on downtrodden chemical factory worker and single step-dad Winston Gooze (Game Of Thrones star Peter Dinklage), who is struggling more than usual after receiving a diagnosis for which his poisonous company’s health insurance won’t cover any treatment.
After a direct plea to the polluting company’s evil overlord Bob Garbinger (Kevin Bacon) sees him dismissed and mocked as ‘the saddest janitor ever’, Winston’s desperate failed robbery at the plant results in him falling head first into a vat of catastrophic waste.
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A reboot of the 1984 original, it stars Peter Dinklage as a downtrodden janitor who undergoes a gruesome transformation (Picture: Legendary/Yana Blajeva)
He emerges, mutated and ‘girthened’, as the Toxic Avenger, aka ‘Toxie’, and starts out on a quest that takes him from horrifying outcast to potential saviour as he tries to protect his family and community from gangsters and corrupt corporations.
It’s nothing we haven’t seen before (and literally, thanks to the 1984 original – although the storyline has been tweaked) with a Spider-Man/Frankenstein-esque origin story for our hero to overcome.
Alongside Dinklage and Bacon, the surprisingly good cast continues with the likes of Elijah Wood, Jacob Tremblay, Julia Davis, Ted Lasso’s Sarah Niles and Taylour Paige involved too – and the movie gets quite a lot of milage out the of the fact they all know exactly what type of trash (said lovingly) this is.
The Toxic Avenger has a ‘between time periods’ feel and off-beat black comedy edge to it that make it feel like a lower rent Tim Burton fantasy world, if a lot more hardcore.
The Toxic Avenger’s arrival was delayed after being deemed ‘unreleasable’ (Picture: Legendary/Signature Entertainment)
Its starry cast also includes Kevin Bacon as an evil corporate overlord (Picture: Legendary/Signature Entertainment)
The Toxic Avenger: Key details
Director
Macon Blair
Writer
Macon Blair, based on The Toxic Avenger by Lloyd Kaufman
Cast
Peter Dinklage, Kevin Bacon, Elijah Wood, Jacob Tremblay, Taylour Paige, Julia Davis, Sarah Niles
Age rating
18
Runtime
1hr 42m
Release date
August 29, 2025
I did find myself waiting longer than expected for the orgy of body horror and violence to begin, but it kicks off in promising fashion when a shocked onlooker observes that someone’s arm was ‘torn off like wet bread’.
The frenzy continues with intestines being pulled out of someone’s rectum, exploding brains and decapitated heads being run over. And while I don’t want to spoil all the gore that lies in store for you, I winced hardest at someone’s chin skin being ripped off along with his beard.
While this might sound like it’s just a kitsch bloodbath for the sickos, you’re definitely more likely to laugh than heave at these scenes because they are in a film that is so silly: there’s a boing sounds when naked breasts are briefly shown, for goodness’ sake.
Be prepared for an extremely unsubtle and unserious film, featuring plenty of torn-off heads (Picture: Legendary/Signature Entertainment)
The Toxic Avenger won’t be for everyone but it knows exactly the type of movie it is – and embraces it (Picture: Legendary/Signature Entertainment)
But The Toxic Avenger did wear me down with its exuberant, bloody abandon and refusal to be anything other than flat-out ridiculous, from its cheap and camp humour to its cheap and camp violence.
Is this film art? Absolutely not. And it’s often too simplistic in its story and dialogue style to offer much of true movie merit.
But it’s entertainment enough for those who can stomach a splatter film in the way it was intended, all the way to the bitter and bloody end.
Verdict
The Toxic Avenger will satisfy the appetites of those looking for extreme gore, violence and goofiness – but others may be left wanting more.
The Toxic Avenger is in UK cinemas from Friday, August 29.
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Are you looking forward to The Toxic Avenger? What do you think?