Troma: Movies of the Future!
By Josh Allred
Quotes for this piece are pulled from All I Need to Know About Filmmaking I Learned from The Toxic Avenger written by Lloyd Kaufman and James Gunn. You can find it in fine mega- corporate stores like Amazon who will probably give little or no money to Lloyd himself and he’ll have to continue giving hand jobs in back alleys to make ends meet. Some of the previous statement is true and the rest I made up, I’ll let you decide.
Most people don’t know Troma. They’ll think you’ve made the word up and that’s true, it is a made-up word but the credit for that goes to two men: Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz. What’s more unbelievable is that Troma is a film production and distribution company that has existed for over 40 years. When Hollywood has dismantled, merged, and closed so many other studios, Troma has endured like the cockroaches of cinema and I say that with so much love in my heart. If you love movies, you should be watching Troma.
After seeing a couple of Troma’s releases (The Toxic Avenger, Troma’s War, Terror Firmer, Tromeo and Juliet, and Class of Nuke ‘Em High to name a few) one would not believe that the foundations for their beginnings were forged at Yale. Yes, the Ivy League gave birth to the creator of Toxie and Sgt. Kabukiman, NYPD. In reading All I Need to Know About Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger and based on my own love for what Kaufman has done over the years, I will show you that there is more than just blood, boobs, and fart jokes in Troma. Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of that. If you understand where Lloyd is coming from, a deeper appreciation for Troma can be had and see that they are an anomaly in modern cinema and should be treasured. Just like there is only one Roger Corman. There’s only one Lloyd Kaufman and we’ll never see another again in the film industry.
Way back in 1964, Lloyd Kaufman entered Yale University and by all accounts was enjoying the path he was set on, “a fulfilling major in Chinese Studies. I had a fondness for languages and other cultures. I thought I’d be a social worker and teach people with hooks for hands how to finger paint.” The love of cultures can be seen in Lloyd’s love of Asian culture, particularly China and Japan. He made The Toxic Avenger 2 in Japan with a predominantly Japanese crew, an example of Kaufman immersing himself in other cultures and using them in his films. Yes, Lloyd was on track to becoming a selfless helper of those in need until, “God placed me in a dormitory with two cinephiles and fucked my life” and we can all be thankful for that.
Soon he was inundated with films by the likes of Ford, Sturges, Hawks, Welles, Corman, Lang, and Fuller. In his own words, Lloyd became a “celluloid-hugging Nancy boy” that was filled with a desire to consume every film ever made. An obsession with film and film history was born and continues to this day. Reading this book really gives you a peek into how Lloyd’s mind works and it’s every evident if you’ve watched a Troma movie that, yes, he really does think like this.
The other half of Troma is Michael Herz. He and Kaufman met in 1972 and have both been in business together since. While Lloyd is the "face" of Troma, Herz prefers to work in the background and not be seen. This led many to mistake Troma regular Joe Fleishaker, who has played Herz in many of Troma’s promotional videos, as Michael Herz. Lloyd’s face is everywhere on Troma’s video introductions and social media. Although there is this separation in terms of working, their names always appear together in the opening credits of all of Troma’s films. The spirit of Troma is to never give up and to give everything to the production. The bulk of the money that funds a Troma production goes right on the screen which means that the people (including Kaufman) subsist on meager (if any) wages and is there purely for their love of Troma and love of art, or farts, it’s hard to separate the two when you’re talking Troma.
Before Toxie became the first superhero from New Jersey, Troma got their start in the late 70s with “raunchy comedies like Squeeze Play and The First Turn-On”. These films predated later Hollywood efforts like Porky’s that featured comedies about horny adolescents and their quest to get laid. Troma seems to be able to predict trends in this way, though their films have never received the attention or profits of the bigger studio pictures. What Troma has been able to do over the years is get the most out of their budget and create unique, entertaining genre films that are worth the journey off the beaten path to discover them.
In the 80s Troma made their mark with their most popular film, The Toxic Avenger. Its release thrust Troma out of the underground and into the public conscious. It created Troma’s mascot, Toxie, and started a franchise that was later developed into a Saturday morning cartoon, The Toxic Crusaders, both film and cartoon brought environmental awareness at a time that, even today, is just as important as it was then. Not too bad for a film that has such memorable lines as: “You know, Leroy, I always wanted to corn hole me a blind bitch.”
The Toxic Avenger was Troma’s answer to the burgeoning superhero craze with films like Superman that Troma could never make. Originally titled Health Club Horror, it featured a story set at a local health club in Tromaville, the town serves as a cinematic representation of America albeit in hyperbolic ways. Melvin is a scrawny young man who works as a mop boy and is the target of a prank that goes horribly wrong. He jumps from a window and falls into a barrel of toxic waste that changes him into a hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength. There are even parallels to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein with Toxie in that he is a horribly disfigured creature who struggles to fit in to the world and only finds his place with his blind girlfriend, Sara. This is intention and Kaufman has spoken about it in the book and in interviews.
Toxie isn’t just a monster, he is a monster hero and sets about dispatching the evil in Tromaville by ripping off one limb at a time. At first, the citizens of Tromaville aren’t sure how to take the monster, initially scared by his appearance and his ferocity but come to embrace him as he cleans up the scum of society and exposing the powers that be (the mayor, the police chief, and even a little old lady who turns out to be a sex trafficker) for their wicked ways and punishing them by pulling their guts out and shoving mops in their faces.
There is no shortage of violence and nudity in The Toxic Avenger and it sets Troma’s films apart from anything Hollywood would put out in a wide release. Another hallmark of a Troma production that starts in this film is Lloyd’s blending of genres to make something unique and fun to watch. There are parts superhero movie and horror film excellently balanced throughout the film and the bad guys always get their just desserts, one literally is turned into a human milkshake complete with cherry on top.
Not only does Troma make the most of what you see they also fill your ears with music and sound effects galore. Everything is fair game from objects being thrown off screen to collide with cats and trash cans to copious farts littered throughout their canon anytime someone bends over or grunts. This is probably a great moment to mention that Troma has taken their movies to Cannes and ravenously promoted their wares alongside Hollywood’s "finest" efforts. Say what you want about Troma compared to more ‘sophisticated fair’, you won’t leave a Troma film bored that’s for damn sure.
Something else Troma has done quite well over the years and it’s the same thing Roger Corman is known for: giving unknown actors, writers, and directors their first breaks in the film industry. Hollywood only goes after the ‘sure thing’ or an ‘established property’ with a ‘good track record’. Lloyd only cares that you bring enthusiasm, heart, and gas money because he spent the last forty bucks on this close up of a guy’s asshole for this singing montage and someone has to go pick up those cheese sandwiches!
I digress. Kaufman has given starts or acquired films that feature the first known (or unknown because they have to wipe away this terrible experience from their IMDB pages, the pussies) roles by Hollywood stars like Samuel L. Jackson (the motherfucker was in Def by Temptation), Kevin Costner (Sizzle Beach, U.S.A.), Marissa Tomei (The Toxic Avenger), Vincent D’onofrio (The First Turn-On), James Gunn (before he was ruffling tender feathers on Twitter and directing mega-movies like Guardians of the Galaxy, he wrote Tromeo & Juliet), and Trent Haaga (Terror Firmer, Toxic Avenger 4 which he also wrote). The proof is in the pudding as anyone reading those names knows that they are established presences in the mainstream movie world and have Troma to thank.
Which leads me to another gem that Lloyd unearthed. A couple of kids made a college project while attending school in Colorado about one of the first public cases of a man being tried for cannibalism, Alferd Packer. Lloyd saw their horror/musical and immediately slapped a Troma sticker on it and distributed it, that movie was Cannibal! The Musical by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Yes, before they took us down to South Park, these guys had Lloyd Kaufman recognizing their talents and saw that he could get them some exposure and maybe put a couple bucks in his pocket to make another 37 Troma films for the price of one hour of a James Cameron film. I will be submitting a review for this film and a bunch of other Troma flicks that I think you all should be exposed to.
With all of this, Troma continues to reinvent itself and keep its films out there. Many can be found on platforms like Amazon Prime and their own steaming, I mean streaming service, Troma Now. They have also had their own film festival, TromaDance, going for years now and do not charge an entrance fee like some other festivals of a similar label. They are purveyors of filth and absurdity to some but to sell them short on that is to miss the point of Troma films: they are made by movie lovers for movie lovers. For someone who can’t get enough and always wants to push the envelope. Even the death of celluloid can’t stop Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz from putting out Troma movies (their latest Shakespearean adaptation, Shakespeare’s Shitstorm, has been shot and will be coating your eyeballs soon) because the world needs Troma and if you can’t see that yet then Toxie help you.
After seeing a couple of Troma’s releases (The Toxic Avenger, Troma’s War, Terror Firmer, Tromeo and Juliet, and Class of Nuke ‘Em High to name a few) one would not believe that the foundations for their beginnings were forged at Yale. Yes, the Ivy League gave birth to the creator of Toxie and Sgt. Kabukiman, NYPD. In reading All I Need to Know About Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger and based on my own love for what Kaufman has done over the years, I will show you that there is more than just blood, boobs, and fart jokes in Troma. Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of that. If you understand where Lloyd is coming from, a deeper appreciation for Troma can be had and see that they are an anomaly in modern cinema and should be treasured. Just like there is only one Roger Corman. There’s only one Lloyd Kaufman and we’ll never see another again in the film industry.
Way back in 1964, Lloyd Kaufman entered Yale University and by all accounts was enjoying the path he was set on, “a fulfilling major in Chinese Studies. I had a fondness for languages and other cultures. I thought I’d be a social worker and teach people with hooks for hands how to finger paint.” The love of cultures can be seen in Lloyd’s love of Asian culture, particularly China and Japan. He made The Toxic Avenger 2 in Japan with a predominantly Japanese crew, an example of Kaufman immersing himself in other cultures and using them in his films. Yes, Lloyd was on track to becoming a selfless helper of those in need until, “God placed me in a dormitory with two cinephiles and fucked my life” and we can all be thankful for that.
Soon he was inundated with films by the likes of Ford, Sturges, Hawks, Welles, Corman, Lang, and Fuller. In his own words, Lloyd became a “celluloid-hugging Nancy boy” that was filled with a desire to consume every film ever made. An obsession with film and film history was born and continues to this day. Reading this book really gives you a peek into how Lloyd’s mind works and it’s every evident if you’ve watched a Troma movie that, yes, he really does think like this.
The other half of Troma is Michael Herz. He and Kaufman met in 1972 and have both been in business together since. While Lloyd is the "face" of Troma, Herz prefers to work in the background and not be seen. This led many to mistake Troma regular Joe Fleishaker, who has played Herz in many of Troma’s promotional videos, as Michael Herz. Lloyd’s face is everywhere on Troma’s video introductions and social media. Although there is this separation in terms of working, their names always appear together in the opening credits of all of Troma’s films. The spirit of Troma is to never give up and to give everything to the production. The bulk of the money that funds a Troma production goes right on the screen which means that the people (including Kaufman) subsist on meager (if any) wages and is there purely for their love of Troma and love of art, or farts, it’s hard to separate the two when you’re talking Troma.
Before Toxie became the first superhero from New Jersey, Troma got their start in the late 70s with “raunchy comedies like Squeeze Play and The First Turn-On”. These films predated later Hollywood efforts like Porky’s that featured comedies about horny adolescents and their quest to get laid. Troma seems to be able to predict trends in this way, though their films have never received the attention or profits of the bigger studio pictures. What Troma has been able to do over the years is get the most out of their budget and create unique, entertaining genre films that are worth the journey off the beaten path to discover them.
In the 80s Troma made their mark with their most popular film, The Toxic Avenger. Its release thrust Troma out of the underground and into the public conscious. It created Troma’s mascot, Toxie, and started a franchise that was later developed into a Saturday morning cartoon, The Toxic Crusaders, both film and cartoon brought environmental awareness at a time that, even today, is just as important as it was then. Not too bad for a film that has such memorable lines as: “You know, Leroy, I always wanted to corn hole me a blind bitch.”
The Toxic Avenger was Troma’s answer to the burgeoning superhero craze with films like Superman that Troma could never make. Originally titled Health Club Horror, it featured a story set at a local health club in Tromaville, the town serves as a cinematic representation of America albeit in hyperbolic ways. Melvin is a scrawny young man who works as a mop boy and is the target of a prank that goes horribly wrong. He jumps from a window and falls into a barrel of toxic waste that changes him into a hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength. There are even parallels to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein with Toxie in that he is a horribly disfigured creature who struggles to fit in to the world and only finds his place with his blind girlfriend, Sara. This is intention and Kaufman has spoken about it in the book and in interviews.
Toxie isn’t just a monster, he is a monster hero and sets about dispatching the evil in Tromaville by ripping off one limb at a time. At first, the citizens of Tromaville aren’t sure how to take the monster, initially scared by his appearance and his ferocity but come to embrace him as he cleans up the scum of society and exposing the powers that be (the mayor, the police chief, and even a little old lady who turns out to be a sex trafficker) for their wicked ways and punishing them by pulling their guts out and shoving mops in their faces.
There is no shortage of violence and nudity in The Toxic Avenger and it sets Troma’s films apart from anything Hollywood would put out in a wide release. Another hallmark of a Troma production that starts in this film is Lloyd’s blending of genres to make something unique and fun to watch. There are parts superhero movie and horror film excellently balanced throughout the film and the bad guys always get their just desserts, one literally is turned into a human milkshake complete with cherry on top.
Not only does Troma make the most of what you see they also fill your ears with music and sound effects galore. Everything is fair game from objects being thrown off screen to collide with cats and trash cans to copious farts littered throughout their canon anytime someone bends over or grunts. This is probably a great moment to mention that Troma has taken their movies to Cannes and ravenously promoted their wares alongside Hollywood’s "finest" efforts. Say what you want about Troma compared to more ‘sophisticated fair’, you won’t leave a Troma film bored that’s for damn sure.
Something else Troma has done quite well over the years and it’s the same thing Roger Corman is known for: giving unknown actors, writers, and directors their first breaks in the film industry. Hollywood only goes after the ‘sure thing’ or an ‘established property’ with a ‘good track record’. Lloyd only cares that you bring enthusiasm, heart, and gas money because he spent the last forty bucks on this close up of a guy’s asshole for this singing montage and someone has to go pick up those cheese sandwiches!
I digress. Kaufman has given starts or acquired films that feature the first known (or unknown because they have to wipe away this terrible experience from their IMDB pages, the pussies) roles by Hollywood stars like Samuel L. Jackson (the motherfucker was in Def by Temptation), Kevin Costner (Sizzle Beach, U.S.A.), Marissa Tomei (The Toxic Avenger), Vincent D’onofrio (The First Turn-On), James Gunn (before he was ruffling tender feathers on Twitter and directing mega-movies like Guardians of the Galaxy, he wrote Tromeo & Juliet), and Trent Haaga (Terror Firmer, Toxic Avenger 4 which he also wrote). The proof is in the pudding as anyone reading those names knows that they are established presences in the mainstream movie world and have Troma to thank.
Which leads me to another gem that Lloyd unearthed. A couple of kids made a college project while attending school in Colorado about one of the first public cases of a man being tried for cannibalism, Alferd Packer. Lloyd saw their horror/musical and immediately slapped a Troma sticker on it and distributed it, that movie was Cannibal! The Musical by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Yes, before they took us down to South Park, these guys had Lloyd Kaufman recognizing their talents and saw that he could get them some exposure and maybe put a couple bucks in his pocket to make another 37 Troma films for the price of one hour of a James Cameron film. I will be submitting a review for this film and a bunch of other Troma flicks that I think you all should be exposed to.
With all of this, Troma continues to reinvent itself and keep its films out there. Many can be found on platforms like Amazon Prime and their own steaming, I mean streaming service, Troma Now. They have also had their own film festival, TromaDance, going for years now and do not charge an entrance fee like some other festivals of a similar label. They are purveyors of filth and absurdity to some but to sell them short on that is to miss the point of Troma films: they are made by movie lovers for movie lovers. For someone who can’t get enough and always wants to push the envelope. Even the death of celluloid can’t stop Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz from putting out Troma movies (their latest Shakespearean adaptation, Shakespeare’s Shitstorm, has been shot and will be coating your eyeballs soon) because the world needs Troma and if you can’t see that yet then Toxie help you.