Citizen Toxie: Toxic Avenger IV (2000)

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nTitle: Citizen Toxie: Toxic Avenger IV (2000)

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nDirector: Lloyd Kaufman

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nCast: David Mattey, Heidi Sjursen, Joe Fleishaker, PaulnKyrmse

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nReview:

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nThere’s a couple of films out there that pride themselves inntrying to be as offensive as humanly possible. Films like John Water’s PinknFlamingos (1972), Trey Parker’s Team America: World Police (2004), FranknHenenlotter’s Frankenhooker (1990) or the Sacha Baron Cohen double whammy Boratn(2006) and Bruno (2009). And I get these directors, offending people makesnmoney. In ‘Kiss and Make-UP’ Gene Simmons autobiography, Simmons says that “thenformula for success is to offend as many people as possible”; which as we allnknow has worked wonders for Simmons personal bank account. So I get it, LloydnKaufman is doing just that with his Troma films; he’s been doing it for yearsnwith movies like Class of Nuke ‘Em High (1986) and Tromeo & Juliet (1996).nI’ve yet to see a Troma film that didn’t have some sort of shock element to it.nStill, I have to say that with Citizen Toxie: Toxic Avenger IV he really triednhis hardest.

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nOn this film The Toxic Avenger has to stop a group ofnterrorist freakazoids called ‘The Diaper Mafia’ basically, these are a bunch ofnguys who dress up as babies and take over a school of disabled children or asnit is called in the film ‘Tromaville School for the Very Special’. Unfortunately,nToxie isn’t very successful in saving the school from the explosion and so thenbomb blows up and creates and opens a dimensional rift! Toxie is thenntransported to Amortville, which is basically an alternate version ofnTromaville, and Toxies alternate doppelganger called ‘The Noxious Offender’ isntrapped in Tromaville. Will Toxie return to Tromaville in time to stop ThenNoxious Offender from destroying his life and reputation as New Jersey’s First Superhero?

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nI have to admit I enjoyed all previous entries in The ToxicnAvenger franchise. Parts I through III were actually pretty ‘decent’ comedies. Yeah they wanted to shock and offend, but they were pretty entertaining Z levelnfilms. And yeah, there’s a Z level in moviedom for me, it’s reserved for moviesnsuch as these; ultra low budget films that are decidedly cheap. Funniest partnis that Part IV starts with an opening sequence that says that all previousnsequels were not the real sequels: this is the real sequel! Right from the getngo, I was giggling with this one. Kaufman knows these movies are bottom rungnmaterial, but Kaufman doesn’t give a flippin’ fuck about anything, he just wantsnto shock and sell some dvd’s while doing it. And he achieves it. I mean, how hencould not shock with material such as this! The script literally feels as if itnwas ‘written’ by someone high on super crack! These films are stupid andnoffensive but you can rest assured that something funny, or morbid orncompletely gross will happen at some point, in fact, every five minutes.

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nDon’t believe me? Okay, try this one on for size: Toxientakes one of the members of the diaper mafia and literally pushes his head outnhis butthole! Then the guy exclaims “Now I got my head up my ass!” And that’s justnfor starters…at some point we meet a collection Tromaville superheroes and onenof them is called Dolphin Man, and it’s literally a man with a dolphin head! Toxie’snsidekick is an obese dude known as ‘Lard Ass’! Toxie and Noxie both impregnatenthe same woman, and you can see both babies fighting inside of their mothersnwomb! I mean, seriously folks, these are not the craziest things you will seenin this movie. Not enough for you? Then maybe you’ll enjoy catching cameos fromnEli Roth, Ron Jeremy, Cory Feldman, James Gunn and even Lemmy from Motorhead! Hell,neven GOD makes an appearance; and guess what? God is a drunken midget on thisnone! That’s how completely nuts this movie is! And he’s surrounded by whores!nStill not enough? Even Stan Lee narrates part of the film! And another thingnthat made this one more fun to watch then it had any right to be was theninclusion of ‘Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D.’ which by the way is another one of LloydnKaufman’s crazy creations. He’s an NYPD cop who dresses up in Kabuki style makenup to fight crime! It was amusing to see Toxie going up against an evilnalternate version of Sgt. Kabukiman. I immediately felt the need to watch Sgt.nKabukiman N.Y.P.D. (1990), so expect a review for that one soon.

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nMy only real problem with this film is that technically it looksnworse then previous sequels, cheaper somehow. I think it’s because the previousnfilms were shot on actual film, and that helps the film look a bit better. Strangenthat previous efforts look more polished then this one, I guess it makes sense, the budget for this one was a mere 500,000, while parts one and two shared a budget of 2.3 million. Still, even with itsnbudgetary limitations, it’s commendable that Kaufman manages to turn in a badnfilm that amuses. These films are in my opinion bad taste in its purest form,nbut damn it, it’s entertaining just for that. I cannot bring myself to say thatnthis is a good movie, because it isn’t! But I would be lying if I didn’t saynthat I wasn’t shocked or giggling or cringing or turning my face away very fivenseconds. My advice with this one is, if you are offended easily, do not watchnthis one! If on the other hand you enjoy the thrill of watching somenunbelievably raunchy, sacrilegious jokes and grossly irreverent situations thennby all means indulge on this slice of Tromaville low brow entertainment. At thenvery least you won’t be bored.

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nRating: 2 out of 5 

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