Macon Blair mops up with his rowdy, goop-saturated The Toxic Avenger

Toxie’s revised origin is but one instance where Blair makes space for emotional resonance that Kaufman’s nihilistic 1984 original wouldn’t have countenanced, though the films share an undercurrent of vengeful class consciousness—the same maddening awareness that the system can and will fuck with people whenever and however it wants—that elevates Blair’s film above its B-movie niche. Tramping around the goofy glass-and-syringe-strewn byways of Tromaville (here rechristened as St. Roma’s Village) might limit its broader appeal, but drenched in every form of viscous goop, juiced by a punk/metal soundtrack (with a Dinklage contribution, no less), Blair’s film makes a case for relevance through sheer chutzpah.

Naturally, Winston plunges into toxic waste and emerges as a hideously deformed creature of superhuman strength, complete with signature mop and pink tutu. Once Toxie lumbers to life, Dinklage entrusts his role to Guerreiro, who manages, under vascular, acid-burned prosthetics, to harness the same wary, cautious physicality Dinklage brings to Winston. Guerreiro does fascinating character work through movement and expression, and largely avoids looking like she’s chewing air as Dinklage’s dialogue floats over the soundtrack. And while this dual act does initially seem loosely stitched together (mostly by dodgy edits to obscure Toxie’s mouth movement), Guerreiro and Dinklage find harmony in their mutual commitment to the character.

But don’t mistake this goodwill for squeamishness on Blair’s part. He isn’t afraid to tinker with Troma’s baser instincts when a situation calls for it, populating his film with a concentration of Kaufman-styled freakazoids and maniacs who, among other grody deeds, occasionally whip out interesting parts of their anatomy just for fun. Bob’s younger brother, Fritz (Elijah Wood costumed somewhere between Gerard Way and Danny DeVito’s Penguin), manages a monster-metal band/death squad called The Killer Nuts, each member equipped with their own disturbing gimmick: a parkour psycho, a chicken-masked creep, a juggalo, and so on. The action often employs disgusting gags, with one hostage sequence that splashes and dismembers with the same anxious, repulsive energy of the original.

Blair also smuggles in some pertinent social commentary, to various comic effect: A cop screams “Show me your hands!” as he ventilates a suspect into Swiss cheese; a newscaster quibbles over Toxie’s pronouns; and, in the clearest measure of how far we are from the deviant tendencies of ’80s schlock, Toxie explicitly states that he is not a pervert, unlike original Toxie Melvin Junko. Self-awareness thrums throughout this new take on The Toxic Avenger. And while this metatext saps some of the film’s danger and unpredictability, it makes a canny argument for future installments: The quality of this reboot, its dutiful nods, and its end-credits sequel tease all clear a path for Toxie to explore stranger, grodier frontiers.

Director: Macon Blair
Writer: Macon Blair
Starring: Peter Dinklage, Jacob Tremblay, Taylour Paige, Julia Davis, Jonny Coyne, Elijah Wood, Kevin Bacon
Release Date: August 29, 2025