The Toxic Avenger (2025)

This is a really difficult movie to review. At least for me. The reason being, this film is a remake of the original The Toxic Avenger, a schlock B-movie that has since become a full-blown cult classic. I’ve never seen the 1984 version, nor have I spent much time in the world of B-movies, which are often defined by low budgets, excessive gore, and a campy, outrageous style. That puts me in a strange position. I don’t have a frame of reference. I can’t compare tone, execution, or spirit. Because of that, I genuinely can’t say with confidence whether this remake is brilliantly faithful or completely off the mark.

What I can say is that this film has a very specific feel. Watching it almost feels like I’ve taken acid. The colours are heightened, the performances are dialled up to eleven, and the violence is so exaggerated that it borders on parody. It’s chaotic, grotesque, and intentionally ridiculous. Whether that’s your idea of a good time will depend entirely on your tolerance for absurdity.

Let’s start with the positives. Even within all the chaos, Peter Dinklage brings genuine sincerity to Winston Gooze. Before the transformation, he grounds the character with real vulnerability, making Winston far more sympathetic than the film’s outrageous tone might suggest. After the accident, the physical performance of Toxie is brought to life by British actress Luisa Guerreiro in full-body prosthetics, while Dinklage provides the voice and the character’s mannerisms for her to study. The result still carries a surprising emotional core beneath all the madness. It’s a level of commitment that elevates the character far beyond what a film this absurd strictly requires.

On paper, the premise is intriguing. A bullied janitor mutates into a grotesque anti-hero and uses his newfound superhuman strength to battle slimy criminals and a corrupt CEO. It sounds like a twisted superhero origin story. In execution, though, it’s so wildly over the top and campy that any grounded expectation has to be thrown out the window. This isn’t satire with a wink. It’s satire with a sledgehammer.

One moment that perfectly captures the film’s bizarre tone is Winston’s transformation. When Gooze falls into the toxic waste, the sequence plays out like a psychedelic trip. Bright neon colours flash across the screen, sparks and fireworks erupt everywhere, and the imagery becomes completely surreal. It’s chaotic, disorientating and deliberately strange. Rather than feeling like a traditional superhero origin moment, it feels like the film has suddenly plunged headfirst into a warped, technicolour fever dream.

The humour, surprisingly, lands more often than not. I found myself chuckling at the jokes, but also laughing at the sheer absurdity of what I was watching. There’s a self-awareness to it all. Kevin Bacon and Elijah Wood fully commit to their outrageously heightened roles. No one is playing this straight. Everyone clearly knew what they were signing up for, and that level of commitment actually makes the chaos more watchable.

Now for the negatives, or at least what didn’t work for me. The design of the Toxic Avenger himself is, frankly, silly. I understand that grotesque exaggeration is part of the appeal, but I struggled to take him seriously in any capacity. The gore, too, looks completely fake. Limbs fly, heads explode, and blood sprays in fountains, yet it rarely feels visceral. It feels cartoonish. That may well be the point, but it kept me at arm’s length. More than anything, the experience just felt exhausting. The film is constantly trying to top itself with louder jokes, stranger visuals and more outrageous violence, and watching it at home I found the relentless chaos increasingly overwhelming.

And if I’m completely honest with myself, I would have much rather been watching something else. Not because it’s poorly made, but because it simply isn’t my taste. This might be a brilliant remake. It might be exactly what fans wanted. But sitting there watching it at home, I felt like I’d wandered into a party I wasn’t invited to. That doesn’t mean the party isn’t great. It just means I’m probably not the guest it was thrown for.

The Toxic Avenger is a loud, grotesque, psychedelic slice of schlock cinema that will likely delight fans of outrageous B-movies, but for me it was simply too over the top to fully enjoy.