Title – The Toxic Avenger (2023)

Director – Macon Blair (I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore)

Cast – Peter Dinklage, Taylour Paige, Jacob Tremblay, Kevin Bacon, Elijah Wood

Plot – Down on his luck janitor and all-round no-hoper Winston Gooze (Dinklage) becomes a toxic and disfigured anti-hero after he is thrown into a mix of dangerous chemicals by a collection of goons who all work for his towns resident criminal boss Bob Garbinger (Bacon).  

“The hero we need now”

Review by Eddie on 24/10/2025

In all honesty, I’m not sure the world wanted or needed another Toxic Avenger film, with the cult Troma 1984 original more than enough to suffice when it comes to regular citizens turned chemically altered vigilantes but low and behold after years of false starts then a long period of shelf sitting, here we have Macon Blair’s new iteration of the underground favourite.

Filmed all the way back in 2021 and premiering on the festival circuit a few years later in 2023, it’s taken some significant time for Blair’s film to find its way into the public realm, finally getting a relatively broad and “unrated” release in the past few months around the globe.

Garnering some unexpectedly decent reviews to go alongside the fact Blair was able to secure a significantly stacked cast that includes lead Peter Dinklage, a hamming it up Kevin Bacon, a nearly unrecognisable Elijah Wood (channelling his inner Danny DeVito) alongside talented performers Taylour Paige and Jacob Tremblay, for all intents and purposes this modern Avenger has against all the odds become a final product far more enjoyable than most pundits would’ve predicted, even if Blair’s throwaway fun feature doesn’t exactly make a grand case for why it needed to exist in the first place.

Keeping mostly in-line with the original while also adding a fair chunk of its own storytelling flair and movements, Avenger keeps things simple as we follow Dinklage’s downtrodden janitor Winston Gooze from a journey as a lowly citizen to a beacon of hope in crime riddled city after an incident with some resident criminals turns him into Toxie, Avenger makes the most of its very unserious tone and over the top violence to ensure audiences willing to go along for the ride will have a baggage free fun experience.

Filled with a range of incredibly playful demises and some very non-family friendly segments that often involve body-parts and fluids, you can see why Avenger has had a focus in its marketing around being an “unratable” feature, much like the recent Terrifier films but despite its head being in the gutter there’s also a lot more brutal, violent and immature films out there, meaning that viewers heading into this film purely to be shocked and surprised may find themselves wondering what all the fuss is about.

Overall the good nature of the films intentions to harken back to prime Troma days and also have its cast throw away their inhibitions and sign up to the silliness of the whole offering ensures Avenger is far more entertaining than it had any right to be and while it’s unarguable that it was entirely unnecessary and unneeded, Blair’s take on the Toxic brand name showcases that with the right people involved even the most unadvised projects can still work against all the odds.

Final Say –

Failing to do anything of great substance but providing a decently entertaining piece of blood splattered feature film fun along its way, The Toxic Avenger won’t be a long-staying cult favourite but it’s one of the years more surprisingly decent releases regardless.

3 easily distracted guards out of 5