Given that it was low-budget horror comedy pumped out by Troma studios in 1984, it's surprising how much life there has been in The Toxic Avenger. Legendary is behind the latest version, which has Peter Dinklage starring as the title character, and it'll premiere at this year's Fantastic Fest.
The original film follows struggling everyman janitor Melvin, who is pushed into a vat of toxic waste. He's transformed into a mutant freak who must go from shunned outcast to underdog hero as he races to save his son, his friends and his community from the forces of corruption and greed. Spoofing superhero tropes, it became a flagship brand for low budget studio Troma, spawning sequels, a stage musical, a comic and a kids' cartoon series.
This new take has Macon Blair directing, with Jacob Tremblay, Taylour Paige, Elijah Wood and Kevin Bacon also in the cast. And while it'll hit some of the necessary points, don't expect this to be a carbon copy of the original.
Dinklage enthused about the movie to Empire back in 2021: "It’s not a remake. I just like guerrilla filmmaking. Those movies — they just made them, no matter what. They just did it because they love doing it. Some of them are not the best, but some are so much fun. When you make movies too clean, it can distance the audience. They want to feel the dirt under their fingernails. I think those Troma films definitely dipped the audience in toxic waste.”
Fantastic Fest 2023, meanwhile, will run between 21 and 28 September in Austin, Texas.