CLASSICS OF CINEMA
CITIZEN TOXIE
CITIZEN TOXIE
Should one find oneself in such a situation as to be discussing
the classics of the cinema, perhaps over a light ale or a ham
lunch, a select core of titles will inevitably be raised, the
cinematic canon if you will, a group of works what are
unanimously assumed to be the best what any motherfucker ever
made.
They might mention The Godfather, about a man cuts off a horses
head. They may wish to discuss Orson And His Sled, about Orson
Welles runs a newspaper and then has some sexes with an opera
singer. Casablanca will perhaps be noted, a film about a man
and a woman have a sex and then they break up, a theme later
explored with less Nazis in Road Trip.
All these films are worthy of a gander, most certainly, but few
of them offer the intellectual stimulation or staggering
artistry of Citizen Toxie, Lloyd Kaufman’s masterpiece.
Citizen Toxie, or The Toxic Avenger Part 4, concerns itself
with the existential angst, the displacement of ones being, the
ransacking of ones psyche and personality by some outside,
malignant force.
It is in debt to some extent to the works of Bergman,
specifically Persona, a film about a woman finds another
woman's personality is being merged with her own. Toxie,
however, faces even graver concerns, with his entire physical
being getting all uprooted and replaced with his vile id, The
Noxious Offender.
Following a massacre at a school for mentally challenged
pupils, an act of violence orchestrated by criminal outfit The
Diaper Mafia, Toxie finds himself the victim of a lapse in the
time / space continuum, being transported to a parallel
universe, taken from his beloved Tromaville to the corrupt,
stinking streets of Amortville.
In his place arrives The Noxious Offender, with the good people
of Tromaville being tragically unaware of this colossal shift,
even though Noxie has a pony tail and a gold necklace on
account of the “pimping”.
But let us return to the school shooting for a moment;
One might reasonably assume that The Diaper Mafia and, indeed,
the mentally challenged, or “special” students of the
establishment, are placed within the narrative purely to
provide easy, offensive laughs.
This would be, as, I believe, 17th century playwright Thomas
Middleton once mused, “As wrong as tryin to stick a dick in a
Pigeon.”
The sequence actually serves as a vehicle for to address
various challenging, progressive social concerns. At one point,
a member of the Mafia explains why he hates the students. The
special privileges bestowed upon them, he insists, form the
crux of his disdain. “When they shit themselves”, he argues,
“They get a sexy nurse to clean it up. When I shit myself, it’s
a social faux-pas.”
Added to this intriguing debate is the character of Tito, a
young man who suffers from a mental deficiency and yet yearns
to be as his peers; a rebel, a “normal” teenager. He has tired
of preferential treatment, just as surely as The Diaper Mafia
have grown disdainful of such.
Tito, in fact, finds that he is also cast headlong into the
sinful den of Amortville, alongside Claire, a school-friend who
cannot quite grasp the enormity of the situation.
Citizen Toxie is possibly the greatest work of cinema ever
produced by Troma, a company responsible not only for all three
previous instalments in the Toxic Avenger saga, but also Class
Of Nuke Em’ High, which addressed the anxieties of many young
people concerning waste disposal, specifically nuclear waste.
A Nymphoid Barbarian In Dinosaur Hell and Surf Nazi’s Must Die!
also stemmed from Troma, and Chopper Chicks In Zombie Town not
only offered a feminist perspective on the apocalypse and so
on, but also introduced Billy Bob Thornton to the world.
Thornton would, of course, go on to star in perhaps more
esteemed films, like Santa Sexes A Woman In The Arsehole and
Bruce Willis Versus The Comet.
Let’s take a moment to thank Billy Bob Thornton for all the
great things he has done for humanity, like having a sex with
Halle Berry and also cutting hair for the Coen Brothers.
Thank you, Billy Bob Thornton, and although I never bought your
album, I hear it is highly accomplished.
Citizen Toxie also marks the first time Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D
and The Toxic Avenger have shared a narrative. Toxie enlists
the help of his alcoholic friend for to not only return to
Tromaville, but also to right the most heinous wrong what has
blighted the city.
In Toxie’s absence, Mayor Goldberg, played by Ron Jeremy, has
enlisted the help of a select group of superheroes. Dolphinman,
The Vibrator, Mad Cowboy and Master-Bator offer their services,
but even they cannot bring an end to the lunacy.
And really, how could they?
This evil stems from Toxie’s own subconscious. The Noxious
Offender is everything he knows he could be, and perhaps at
some level even desires to be, but which he chooses to
disregard, that he might use his privileged position as a
“Hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength”
for to act on behalf of the unjustly victimised people of the
world.
This battle between the “real” Toxie and his diabolical “Alter-
Ego” must, of course, be the duty of Toxie alone.
It commences in most spectacular fashion. Two unborn children,
one womb, two mops. There can be only one.
As the two foetuses beat the fuck out of other with the mops,
the fully-grown Toxie and Noxie battle it out also in a
hospital ward.
Toxie is fighting not only for his people, but for his very
soul.
It’s not a new scenario for this most troubled of heroes. Toxic
Avenger Part III saw him battle with the eternal conflict –
ethics or commerce? Finding himself employed at Apocalypse Inc,
Toxie had enjoyed the luxuries of high-salary and enviable
status. The cost, however, was his very soul. Toxie, the man
who once crushed a nasty motherfucker’s head with a weight-
lifting machine, the man who tore the intestines from the guts
of a corrupt politician, now found himself working for Satan
himself.
But an existence in Hell is, perhaps, preferable to no
existence whatsoever.
As with all great works of Cinema, from Nosferatu to Apocalypse
Now, Citizen Toxie suffered from sundry behind-the-scenes
torments. These battles are given precedence in the fantastic
Apocalypse Soon – The Making Of Citizen Toxie, wherein each and
every creative dispute is revealed.
“If Troma’s so famous”, asks a disgruntled and emotional
actress, “Then how come none of my friends have heard of it?”
The cast-member then ponders the artistic weight of scenes such
as where she beats a fella to death with her breasts.
There were similar debates on the set of Goddard’s A Bout De
Souffle, another work of genius what questioned the notion of
time, space etc, albeit via more aesthetic means.
But even Goddard could seldom imagine the insane heights of
artistic invention what are scaled by Citizen Toxie.
It is a film which acknowledges its position in the pantheon of
greats, and which nods respectfully towards several similarly
revered pictures. Newsreel footage of Tromadu is obviously
inspired by Orson And His Sled, and the line “I wanna have your
abortion” was originally intended to feature in Fight Club
(although it was eventually replaced with the marginally less-
offensive “I haven’t been fucked like that since grade
school”). Star Wars Part 4 – The Phantom Menaces is referenced
also, in the form of Noxie’s double edged mop. There are also
loving tributes to Shane, The Wizard Of Oz and Sam Fuller’s
Shock Corridor, amongst many others.
Most intellectually stimulating, however, is the manner in
which it references Troma’s own output. Stock footage of an
automobile accident is used which can also be seen in Tromeo
And Juliet and Terror Firmer. The Diaper Mafia declare;
“Alright you fucking retards, drop your Tacos or I'll blow your
brains out!”, a line which, fans will note, first appeared in
The Toxic Avenger. Even Mitch Cohen, who played Toxie in the
first film, returns for to add his thespian charms. He plays a
racist hillbilly who suffers at the hands of our hero,
following a disgusting display of discriminatory violence.
Citizen Toxie was nominated for the Best Picture award at
Sitges in 2000, disgracefully losing out to Chuck Porello’s Ed
Gein, about a fella eats some folks on account of his mom died
or some shit.
Lloyd Kaufman has directed his fair share of masterpieces,
among them the aforementioned Tromeo And Juliet and Class Of
Nuke ‘Em High, and also the likes of Troma’s War and Tales From
The Crapper. It would be a matter for pure, unexpurgated
speculamation, however, to consider whether he will ever topple
Citizen Toxie.
Kaufman is a true auteur, his films expressing a particular
ecological concern, the fear of radiation, of pollution, of
green stuff what burns a man to all fuck. One can only imagine
the delights what must have poured forth when he and Stan Lee,
creator of The Spider-Man and The Hulk-Man met up for to pen a
(sadly unproduced) screenplay.
Citizen Toxie should be seen by anyone with eyes fit for
seeing. Not only is it a bona fide Classic Of The Cinema, not
only is it the best entry in the Toxic Avenger series
(including the much-missed Toxic Crusaders animated series),
but it also has the best Toxie of all ever. David Mattey (who
also stars as The Noxious Offender and “Man Getting B.J From
Chester”) has gone on to feature in 2003’s Black Gulch and
2004's The Incredible Torture Trio, but it is doubtful that he
will ever find as rich a role as The Toxic Avenger. Although
the voice of the character is provided by Clyde Lewis, Mattey’s
body language and determined yet conflicted expressions add a
pathos and a humanity to Toxie seldom witnessed in the previous
films.
As he struggles to impregnate his wife in time for to return to
the scene of The Diaper Mafia’s crimes, he expresses the
turmoil within us all; the need to provide for our families, to
create those families, and yet the need to make the world a
better place for those very individuals we so cherish.
If ever a greater picture about two fetuses beat the bejeesus
out of other with mops has been made, I have yet to see it.
Thanks folks.
Drop The Duke A Line Via Electronical Email
the classics of the cinema, perhaps over a light ale or a ham
lunch, a select core of titles will inevitably be raised, the
cinematic canon if you will, a group of works what are
unanimously assumed to be the best what any motherfucker ever
made.
They might mention The Godfather, about a man cuts off a horses
head. They may wish to discuss Orson And His Sled, about Orson
Welles runs a newspaper and then has some sexes with an opera
singer. Casablanca will perhaps be noted, a film about a man
and a woman have a sex and then they break up, a theme later
explored with less Nazis in Road Trip.
All these films are worthy of a gander, most certainly, but few
of them offer the intellectual stimulation or staggering
artistry of Citizen Toxie, Lloyd Kaufman’s masterpiece.
Citizen Toxie, or The Toxic Avenger Part 4, concerns itself
with the existential angst, the displacement of ones being, the
ransacking of ones psyche and personality by some outside,
malignant force.
It is in debt to some extent to the works of Bergman,
specifically Persona, a film about a woman finds another
woman's personality is being merged with her own. Toxie,
however, faces even graver concerns, with his entire physical
being getting all uprooted and replaced with his vile id, The
Noxious Offender.
Following a massacre at a school for mentally challenged
pupils, an act of violence orchestrated by criminal outfit The
Diaper Mafia, Toxie finds himself the victim of a lapse in the
time / space continuum, being transported to a parallel
universe, taken from his beloved Tromaville to the corrupt,
stinking streets of Amortville.
In his place arrives The Noxious Offender, with the good people
of Tromaville being tragically unaware of this colossal shift,
even though Noxie has a pony tail and a gold necklace on
account of the “pimping”.
But let us return to the school shooting for a moment;
One might reasonably assume that The Diaper Mafia and, indeed,
the mentally challenged, or “special” students of the
establishment, are placed within the narrative purely to
provide easy, offensive laughs.
This would be, as, I believe, 17th century playwright Thomas
Middleton once mused, “As wrong as tryin to stick a dick in a
Pigeon.”
The sequence actually serves as a vehicle for to address
various challenging, progressive social concerns. At one point,
a member of the Mafia explains why he hates the students. The
special privileges bestowed upon them, he insists, form the
crux of his disdain. “When they shit themselves”, he argues,
“They get a sexy nurse to clean it up. When I shit myself, it’s
a social faux-pas.”
Added to this intriguing debate is the character of Tito, a
young man who suffers from a mental deficiency and yet yearns
to be as his peers; a rebel, a “normal” teenager. He has tired
of preferential treatment, just as surely as The Diaper Mafia
have grown disdainful of such.
Tito, in fact, finds that he is also cast headlong into the
sinful den of Amortville, alongside Claire, a school-friend who
cannot quite grasp the enormity of the situation.
Citizen Toxie is possibly the greatest work of cinema ever
produced by Troma, a company responsible not only for all three
previous instalments in the Toxic Avenger saga, but also Class
Of Nuke Em’ High, which addressed the anxieties of many young
people concerning waste disposal, specifically nuclear waste.
A Nymphoid Barbarian In Dinosaur Hell and Surf Nazi’s Must Die!
also stemmed from Troma, and Chopper Chicks In Zombie Town not
only offered a feminist perspective on the apocalypse and so
on, but also introduced Billy Bob Thornton to the world.
Thornton would, of course, go on to star in perhaps more
esteemed films, like Santa Sexes A Woman In The Arsehole and
Bruce Willis Versus The Comet.
Let’s take a moment to thank Billy Bob Thornton for all the
great things he has done for humanity, like having a sex with
Halle Berry and also cutting hair for the Coen Brothers.
Thank you, Billy Bob Thornton, and although I never bought your
album, I hear it is highly accomplished.
Citizen Toxie also marks the first time Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D
and The Toxic Avenger have shared a narrative. Toxie enlists
the help of his alcoholic friend for to not only return to
Tromaville, but also to right the most heinous wrong what has
blighted the city.
In Toxie’s absence, Mayor Goldberg, played by Ron Jeremy, has
enlisted the help of a select group of superheroes. Dolphinman,
The Vibrator, Mad Cowboy and Master-Bator offer their services,
but even they cannot bring an end to the lunacy.
And really, how could they?
This evil stems from Toxie’s own subconscious. The Noxious
Offender is everything he knows he could be, and perhaps at
some level even desires to be, but which he chooses to
disregard, that he might use his privileged position as a
“Hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength”
for to act on behalf of the unjustly victimised people of the
world.
This battle between the “real” Toxie and his diabolical “Alter-
Ego” must, of course, be the duty of Toxie alone.
It commences in most spectacular fashion. Two unborn children,
one womb, two mops. There can be only one.
As the two foetuses beat the fuck out of other with the mops,
the fully-grown Toxie and Noxie battle it out also in a
hospital ward.
Toxie is fighting not only for his people, but for his very
soul.
It’s not a new scenario for this most troubled of heroes. Toxic
Avenger Part III saw him battle with the eternal conflict –
ethics or commerce? Finding himself employed at Apocalypse Inc,
Toxie had enjoyed the luxuries of high-salary and enviable
status. The cost, however, was his very soul. Toxie, the man
who once crushed a nasty motherfucker’s head with a weight-
lifting machine, the man who tore the intestines from the guts
of a corrupt politician, now found himself working for Satan
himself.
But an existence in Hell is, perhaps, preferable to no
existence whatsoever.
As with all great works of Cinema, from Nosferatu to Apocalypse
Now, Citizen Toxie suffered from sundry behind-the-scenes
torments. These battles are given precedence in the fantastic
Apocalypse Soon – The Making Of Citizen Toxie, wherein each and
every creative dispute is revealed.
“If Troma’s so famous”, asks a disgruntled and emotional
actress, “Then how come none of my friends have heard of it?”
The cast-member then ponders the artistic weight of scenes such
as where she beats a fella to death with her breasts.
There were similar debates on the set of Goddard’s A Bout De
Souffle, another work of genius what questioned the notion of
time, space etc, albeit via more aesthetic means.
But even Goddard could seldom imagine the insane heights of
artistic invention what are scaled by Citizen Toxie.
It is a film which acknowledges its position in the pantheon of
greats, and which nods respectfully towards several similarly
revered pictures. Newsreel footage of Tromadu is obviously
inspired by Orson And His Sled, and the line “I wanna have your
abortion” was originally intended to feature in Fight Club
(although it was eventually replaced with the marginally less-
offensive “I haven’t been fucked like that since grade
school”). Star Wars Part 4 – The Phantom Menaces is referenced
also, in the form of Noxie’s double edged mop. There are also
loving tributes to Shane, The Wizard Of Oz and Sam Fuller’s
Shock Corridor, amongst many others.
Most intellectually stimulating, however, is the manner in
which it references Troma’s own output. Stock footage of an
automobile accident is used which can also be seen in Tromeo
And Juliet and Terror Firmer. The Diaper Mafia declare;
“Alright you fucking retards, drop your Tacos or I'll blow your
brains out!”, a line which, fans will note, first appeared in
The Toxic Avenger. Even Mitch Cohen, who played Toxie in the
first film, returns for to add his thespian charms. He plays a
racist hillbilly who suffers at the hands of our hero,
following a disgusting display of discriminatory violence.
Citizen Toxie was nominated for the Best Picture award at
Sitges in 2000, disgracefully losing out to Chuck Porello’s Ed
Gein, about a fella eats some folks on account of his mom died
or some shit.
Lloyd Kaufman has directed his fair share of masterpieces,
among them the aforementioned Tromeo And Juliet and Class Of
Nuke ‘Em High, and also the likes of Troma’s War and Tales From
The Crapper. It would be a matter for pure, unexpurgated
speculamation, however, to consider whether he will ever topple
Citizen Toxie.
Kaufman is a true auteur, his films expressing a particular
ecological concern, the fear of radiation, of pollution, of
green stuff what burns a man to all fuck. One can only imagine
the delights what must have poured forth when he and Stan Lee,
creator of The Spider-Man and The Hulk-Man met up for to pen a
(sadly unproduced) screenplay.
Citizen Toxie should be seen by anyone with eyes fit for
seeing. Not only is it a bona fide Classic Of The Cinema, not
only is it the best entry in the Toxic Avenger series
(including the much-missed Toxic Crusaders animated series),
but it also has the best Toxie of all ever. David Mattey (who
also stars as The Noxious Offender and “Man Getting B.J From
Chester”) has gone on to feature in 2003’s Black Gulch and
2004's The Incredible Torture Trio, but it is doubtful that he
will ever find as rich a role as The Toxic Avenger. Although
the voice of the character is provided by Clyde Lewis, Mattey’s
body language and determined yet conflicted expressions add a
pathos and a humanity to Toxie seldom witnessed in the previous
films.
As he struggles to impregnate his wife in time for to return to
the scene of The Diaper Mafia’s crimes, he expresses the
turmoil within us all; the need to provide for our families, to
create those families, and yet the need to make the world a
better place for those very individuals we so cherish.
If ever a greater picture about two fetuses beat the bejeesus
out of other with mops has been made, I have yet to see it.
Thanks folks.
Drop The Duke A Line Via Electronical Email
