Sgt Kabukiman NYPD 1990 / The Evil Dead 1981 / Monty Python & The Holy Grail 1975

Kabukiman is Lloyd Kaufman & Michael Herz' comeback film after the drizzling Toxic Avenger 3 and is their last directing collaboration to date (with Herz becoming the primary producer). Kabukiman tweaks the Troma formula by satirizing/exploiting a big budget film (Batman) and toning down the sex & violence. Its more of a return to the screwball comedies Troma produced pre-Toxic Avenger. The film is low on laughs and the action is amateurish, but its heavy on social commentary and low budget charm.

Troma films have this unique quality of mixing slapstick violence and realistic violence, which is very surreal and creates a meaningful conflict in style. At the same time, you can't take the drama seriously or the comedy lightly (perfectly realized in the fist two Toxic Avenger films and the original Class of Nuke 'Em High). I actually think this element works better in SK than in Toxie 3. Whereas that film had a moody aura that was actually missing humor, SKN is humor with a dash of realism. It plays as a very modern film because of this gritty slapstick and artificial realism. Let's face it: Guardians of the Galaxy movies are Troma films minus the political activism, risky jokes or modest production. Kabukiman is not one of Troma's best but its one of their most sincere and least offensive.

The Evil Dead is not a masterpiece in my eyes, but its one of the most impressive debuts of a director to date. The technical know-how, genre-savvy and inventive low-budget creativity is almost unparalleled. The plot is a more conservative, lowbrow, exploitative remix of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Exorcist, the early work of Wes Craven, an obscure film called Equinox and a few others (the nod to  Rosemary's Baby is almost groan-inducing). But the postmodern genre of "fan film" owes a lot to Evil Dead. Raimi takes what could've been absolutely absurd and kitsch and makes it absurdist and camp. The poor continuity, cheap FX and amateur performances work cohesively to create a Gonzo style. I've never found Evil Dead to be the emotionally intense or haunting commentary that truly great horror films are, but it has a claustrophobic mood and grim surrealism that perfectly bridges the 1970s to the 1980s. Its artistic entertainment, not entertaining art. Thats okay for such a small project and its still the best thing Raimi has ever done.

I grew up loving Holy Grail for its downbeat rhythm and strange, inexplicable laughs but only now do I recognize the intelligent design and commentary behind the carefully crafted surrealism. Holy Grail works as a series of deconstructionist sketches, each applying the group's shared Marxist philosophy to a different subject: monarchy, feminism, nationalism, militarism, homophobia, racism, generational transition, existentialism, nihilists etc. Cleverly the postmodernists tackle British modernism by starting at the source, the ridiculous legend of King Arthur and his insane, murderous, superstitious and literally criminal Knights of the Round Table. By today's standards, some of the humor might verge on insensitive, ex. the somewhat racist Black Knight skit is amended in Meaning of Life's Zulu skit. But overall its a witty, next-level and quite elementary guide to Western intellectualism.

Famously, Lorne Michaels and Chevy Chase met at a screening of Holy Grail and basically conceived SNL as the American "Flying Circus". Watching Holy Grail you find everything SNL lacked as a totally poser, hipster, neoliberal misreading of surrealist political satire. That show was more diverse, more populist and more upbeat, but not nearly as enlightened, dangerous or moralistic. I'm kind of tired of SNL being honored as such a groundbreaking institution of comedy when it never surpassed Python in the most important element: humor. 

The Toxic Avenger Parts 2 & 3 / 1989

One of my clearest childhood memories is discovering the VHS copy of the first 3 Toxic Avenger movies at a restaurant/gas station's mini-video store. I don't even know if such things exist anymore. The VHS tapes they stocked must have been mainly independent but the Toxic Avenger 2 was distributed by Warner Bros home video, amazingly. And so these two films capture the peak and fall of Troma in a movie business sense. Coming off of the gritty, tasteless but ambitious "Troma's War", Toxic 2 is the most professional production Troma ever made. Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz shared directing duties as usual, but they had help from 4 different units. Not so crazy when you realize they shot on location on 2 continents, had to meet semi-major studio Lorimar's post-production schedule and only had a mild breather before shooting Toxic 3.

Toxic 2 comes very close to being Troma's masterwork. Kaufman & Herz have the balls to take their biggest opportunity at mainstream exposure and make a brilliantly original and entertaining statement against Illuminati controls in an era where no one really even knew about the corporate enslavement of America. The film opens promoting a utopian paradise in "Tromaville" of multicultural citizens trading freely and dancing in the streets, until a Bilderberg meeting of yuppie satanists, gangsters and puppets plot to kill Toxie among other things (like blowing up the World Trade Center to disrupt trade). In the commentary for Pt 1, Kaufman reveals that he read some early anti-NWO book back in his 70s Yale days which ultimately informed his future radical film business. Seems like he had a real conflict in making this film and couldn't help but load it with as much commentary and anti-mainstream sentiment as possible. I think this makes it a marvel. Where the film ultimately failed is in its editing.

For some reason, the film has a very unnecessary and unmotivated narration dub that spoils many gags and visuals. Also, many Japanese actors are re-dubbed in offensive Engrish (even though Troma's TA2 trailer keeps their voices). But the fatal blow is a tacked on 20 minutes of story that is under-shot overkill after an already fun, serviceable climax. Maybe the boys at Troma were excessive or maybe they had to rush a cut out to Lorimar/WB. I am very curious to find out.

But still there's 80 minutes of gold here that is the best Troma ever produced. Toxie was a major merch and cartoon mascot at the time (can we speculate "Captain Planet" is Turner execs' Toxie ripoff?), so Toxic 2 is more kid-friendly and lighthearted. The gore, villainy and heroism is still hard-edged but cartooned to an extreme surrealism that perfectly matches the superhero/comic book style. Anyone knocking the film's broad humor, flat dimension, childish logic or gritty execution doesn't get that this is political theater for 80s fanboys and fantasy fans.

The film's most memorable sequence is an epic choreographed ballet of cartoon violence aiming Death Wish/Taxi Drive vigilantism at the film's heirarchy of symbolic bad guys. The Toxic Avenger, a kind of pan-racial, gender-crossed (the tutu is an amazing superhero costume) and transhuman knight who slays representatives of corrupted proletarians. Gays, hillbillies, Jews, sports stars, the church, punk rockers. Every subculture that has been turned against their own interest is lampooned for their own devisiveness and reduced to pawns in a Satanic scheme of corporate world domination. The brutal violence that flows in Kaufman's work reflects an intense fear and hatred of Nazi methodology and these films are catharsis.

The film itself is extremely well-shot, better staged than anything else Troma has done, with plenty of camera coverage, impressive effects and locations and even convincing effects. I think the plot is quite good too. The Toxic Avenger begins a fish-out-of-water journey to Japan to work through his paternal issues and this was meant to bridge to Toxic 3's buried subplot about Toxie's mother issues. I might be stretching, but the unique format of the film seems like a direct influence on Home Alone 2, the only other extremely violent "lost in the city" film for kids.

Now as awesome as Part 2 is, Part 3 is an utter disaster. Plotwise, its maybe better, but the execution is terrible. I assume the funds were pulled on Pt 3 after Pt 2 either offended, abused budget or failed monetarily. Because of this, Troma makes it a much darker and amateur film. Its made with a meaner spirit and higher drama. It really would've worked if it was as well-made and fun as Pt 2. Its maybe twice as ambitious but not nearly as memorable. It feels like a long string of leftover footage from Pt 2 and it even recycles whole scenes from that film for absolutely no reason. I'm confused because Troma always claims that the films were shot at the same time, but its clear some time has passed as Kaufman's infant daughter has aged at least a year, the fashion styles have changed and the quality of the camera had definitely fallen. Its very similar in production style (and script) to the Class of Nuke 'Em High sequels made at the time. Lots of clumsy crowd scenes, weak humor, under-directing and a half-baked message about ecology and yuppie-ism... with lame heavy metal pandering. Toxie 3 would be remade essentially as Sgt Kabukiman NYPD which is probably a better film, but Toxie 3 does have its key sequences (mainly gore fx courtesy of Redneck Zombies' Pericle Lewnes).

Troma would rebound quality-wise with Tromeo & Juliet but would never make films as balanced or big as Toxie 2 (or arguably Toxie 3). Its a shame. The Toxic Avenger is an amazing symbol of freedom and cinematic heroism. I hope there's some happy ending for Troma and that their greatest creation never ends up as any corporation's unspectacular, nostalgic "intellectual property". Thankfully, Troma is such a fringe company, like Full Moon, that big studios are probably afraid of buying them in fear of looking too greasy or leftist themselves. Or maybe today's execs have never seen a Troma films. Thats wishful thinking. But somehow suburban & urban fart-sniffers need to discover these films and support them to make better ones. Thats was a titanic feat in the 1980s and it hasn't gotten easier. Whatever the solution is, its out there and I hope Lloyd and Michael find it soon enough.

Edit: I would be remiss if I didn't mention the sweeping anti-Asian racism in Pt 3's depiction of the devil. Is it camp or serious? The devil is a green-skinned dragon with a "fu manchu" mustache. The Japanese funded most of Pt 2 but pulled out on Pt 3 too. It kinda feels like a nationalist F--k You and couldn't be well received by the Asian audience. That really hurts Troma. Sgt Kabukiman is sort of intentionally ignorant and racist about Japanese culture as well, but its also flattering in some ways but still definitely exploitative. Is Troma Zionist? They hate Disney. They love violence and have a pro-military streak but they never show any extremist capitalist or nationalist politics like Cannon, not beyond the average NY/NJ conservatives. Troma are somewhat conservative socially but extremely conservative with their savings, which has given them long life but hasn't inspired their workers or helped their product become professional. Its a weird situation. They have the right morals but don't practice what they preach and don't exactly live up to what they sell. Thats the Z-grade cinema world. But its better than an F.

I would say Troma are Green Party these days and were early NeoLiberals before becoming Anarchist Capitalist in the 80s and then just Conservative Democrats through Clinton until Bush made them really seek the Far Left. I would appreciate a 2018 Troma film now more than ever, specifically a Toxie 5.

Terror Firmer 2000

Shot in 1998, Troma's Terror Firmer is, if you look past the horribly dated hipster milieu & cheap technology, as relevant as the most popular satire in 2017. This film marks a turning point for the world's longest lasting independent company, for better and worse. Following Tromeo & Juliet and preceding Citizen Toxie, this is a much weaker and cheaper exercise but probably the most original conceptually and the most sincere aesthetically. TF would be the first film to really cut down on production to an almost amateur level, embrace a very infantile & anarchistic style of entertainment and preach an Anti-Hollywood message over all other plot elements. The film suffers because it does stray so far from Troma's bread and butter: romantic comedy, action, low budget spectacle, but it is a valiant effort to experiment & push boundaries, especially when it comes to censorship.

The script is a self-deprecating, modest but still (overly?) proud manifesto for Troma's work ethic & a great representation of Lloyd Kaufman. What will be Kaufman's legacy? In Terror Firmer, he casts himself as a blind director of very little taste or know-how, but some mixed up but very pure ideals about freedom. Some of it is muddled and contradictory when you realize the message is basically "Work for free for this shared vision that I profit from" (which is more troubling given Troma's history of exploiting workers & hired artists), but I guess Kaufman's message is to suffer for a greater good. He doesn't seem to think much of his workers on one hand, yet he does give them opportunities to be themselves in his well-known little factory when Hollywood wouldn't consider 9/10ths of these often talented people. The best contradiction is that the plot involves Troma literally letting cast & crew get murdered before stopping their pursuit to make movies while unironically touting how safe their shoots are. Kaufman and his partner Herz are probably more concerned with the legal ramifications than human preservation, but are they totally hucksters in the vein of Golan & Globus or The Weinsteins, who were forced by exclusion to be low budget mavens? Does it matter when they became sincere artists later?

I think Terror Firmer speaks to the sincerity (at least in Kaufman's case) of Troma's left-wing roots. The preceding "Troma's War" and "Tromeo..." showed hints of a radicalization of Troma, but "Terror..." is an explosion of insanely fresh & progressive topics. Namely sexual confusion, which almost 20 years later has become an obsession and violent debate in America. So while Troma has a history of exploitation, money-grubbing and some disturbing inconsistencies, they really started to mature in this era & maintained a very fashion-forward stance. Unfortunately it took them losing their commercial powers completely before waking up.  It would be great to see the full-blown anarchy and abuse of budget in their 80s films married with their underlying leftist politics. With the Toxic Avenger sequels and such, Troma's message got bogged down in gags, FX and cheap exploitation tricks for distributors and investors. And Terror Firmer suffers from the same ills, BUT owns up to them within the context of the plot, saving the film and making it a meta-commentary on the state of low budget art.

Why am I recommending this mostly unfunny & clumsy little movie? Because its more than that. What it lacks in script, budget, style & execution it more than makes up for in sheer charm, dedication & bravery. While overloaded with bits and characters that just don't matter, the film WORKS when it focuses on its core story: a screwball love triangle between 3 film crew members that turns into a sexual horror story. Its a great commentary on feminism, rape culture, gender politics and most ambitiously transgenderism. It feels like a lost Sleepaway Camp film written by South Park fanboys and that is what society REALLY needed then & now. SPOILER: TF uses hermaphrodites as a McGuffin (can't believe I typed that (and they wrote it)) to explore the sexual sickness in our Millennial culture. The film is full of clever sexually confused imagery and casts gays, drag queens, kings, transexuals in peripheral roles to subtly prepare for the climactic twist and you get the idea that Kaufman is very concerned about this issue and respects the plight of these people. Its just all filtered through the mind of a middle aged Jewish Yale graduate who originally made movies for a quick buck and fart jokes. So you're really seeing the arrival of an artist here (though Tromeo & Juliet is a forerunner & The Toxic Avenger is quite an aesthetic feat for its time). Directors need vision & technique and Kaufman has little of both, but he has an excessive knowledge of economics & morals. That makes him a better artist than a commercial entertainer and has relegated him to a cinematic ghetto but he is a cult hero to fringe fans & DIY filmmakers and has become an influence on a generation of big time Hollywood workers.

Check out this film. Parts of it are a chore but its an inspired and inspiring work from an important group of filmmakers. Few films shot in 1998 or released in 2000 will hold up to the morals & politics of today's youth & counterculture, but this crappy "Scream" parody does. Thats a sign of true art.

I worry about the future of Troma. They seem far removed from their roots and very segmented. It feels like Michael Herz isn't around at all and its just a small publicity team run by Lloyd until they get enough money for a Toxic Avenger 5 (which might never happen) which will definitely be a flop unless there's some miracle that SyFy or ElRey picked it up.

Troma should merge with Full Moon films as a bi-coastal library of retro exploitation. Distribute & produce new films occasionally, but mainly keep these films alive in media anywhere possible and how about giving film grants to indies for once? Not just distributing their scraped together work in some unfair deal. These 80s companies that followed Cannon and AIP always did shady business and saturated the market with crap, so now their best efforts go unnoticed.

If Troma and Full Moon go belly up I want there to be other companies to take up their mantle. And their intellectual property could totally energize the film world if utilized properly. If Michael Herz (not Lloyd Kaufman) could make a deal for a Toxic Avenger show on MTV or let Adult Swim borrow the character or something, Troma could remain independent.

In this economy every company depends on every other company. Competition is impossible with the monopolies and conglomerates in place. All of the indies should unionize because they far out number the big Two (Warner & Disney) because the "big 5" model is dead. Universal, Paramount, Sony, MGM, is New Line dead? Miramax? Everyone under WB & WD are independents imo. And there have to be 100 strong indie media companies thanks to foreign & online channels. We think so domestically in America that we give no credence of influence to anyone else. But it will take a global effort of economy & ecology to save the world, let alone stupid movies about super villains. 

Remember Troma movies?

Remember when you discovered Troma? If you find their films at the right age, you become obsessed and inspired by this grungy little independent film studio. They specialized in making the cheapest films possible as entertainingly as possible. Headed by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz, Troma was the much sleazier, shlockier version of Cannon films. They were producers and often duo directors who started with Z-grade screwball comedies in the 1970s originally aimed for NY and NJ grindhouses.


But as sex, gore and action films started trending and the video store market exploded, Troma mutated into its own brand of schizophrenic and unpretentious commercial trash film. They wore their whorish sensibilities til they gained a punk rock cache that made their theater releases quite popular too. Eventually they were ghettoized as Hollywood bought the big theater and video store chains, but they survived by inspiring DIY filmmakers to provide them with content to distribute. Since the 2000s, Troma has been seemingly dying a slow death and very little quality has come out of the company. DIY filmmakers now sidestep admittedly shoddy distributors and backers like Troma and Full Moon Pictures for YouTube and KickStarter. Its not that Troma can't enter the 21st century. The opposite is true: They were so ahead of their times that they are waiting for the rest of the world to accommodate them. But they remain a beacon to current fans of cult movies and the fact that they haven't folded is a very important one.

Being so far out of the mainstream allowed Troma to cultivate its own ideas and not fall victim to ill trends. Unlike Hollywood, women, minorities and gays always had parts in their films, possibly because of the liberal casting on such micro budgets. Troma was still casually sexist, racist and homophobic, but it always came from the Jewish sensibility of everyone being taken down a peg an laughed at equally. White men are certainly the most criticized and vilified, not because of power but abuse of it. Troma was decades ahead of 2017's cultural politics minus the obnoxious political correctness dogma. I grew up seeing trans characters and foreigners and obese people and elderly people on my TV screen, so I never felt any need to see them as freaks nor treat them as delicate infants to be patronized and romanticized. I owe that to Troma totally.

They occupy a big spot on the mantle of American indie filmmaking for their messages, their ability to survive risks and keep producing in some capacity. Along with Roger Corman and Cannon, Troma created an influential brand and churned out a lot of undervalued popcorn entertainment that is probably better viewed today than it was when released. Troma's stayed true to their slogan: "Movies of the future".

Here are the films that best represent the company and their aesthetic:

1. The Toxic Avenger: The godfather of all gore-comedy-action hybrids. Incredibly influential and supremely watchable. Famous for lowbrow slapstick and cheesy 80s flair, its full of biting satire and clever no-budget filmmaking.
2. Class of Nuke 'Em High: The spiritual sequel that ups all of the positive qualities of TA. The plot isn't as charming and its not as universally appealing, but it is still a fun time capsule and a tribute to arrested development.
3. Troma's War: The excess and pretentiousness of the 80s catches up to Troma as they try to make a Swarzeneggar-style bonanza of special effects and weirdness. A special treat for fans of the previous films and a kind of peak for the company.
4. Surf Nazis Must Die: Troma bought lots of films from struggling nobodies and this is probably the most worthy of note. Unintentionally hilarious and intentionally absurd, this is one of the biggest guilty pleasures for me. Aren't the titles of these movies amazing?
5. Sgt Kabukiman NYPD: Troma tries to make a PG-13 cash-in on 1989's Batman. Its a real mixed bag but the charm and inventiveness is there, though waning.
6. Bloodsucking Freaks: One of the earliest acquisitions, this is an uncharacteristically disturbing gore film in the vein of HG Lewis but taken to much seedier and exploitative realms. One of the first "extreme horror" films. For gorehounds only.
7. Superstarlet AD: A great gem from later Troma. Its a B&W spoof of 50s scifi and "nudie cutie" films. Haunting and alluring Late night time-wasters like this are why Troma have a devoted cult audience.
8. Redneck Zombies: Shot on VHS, this is one of the shabbiest films you will ever watch, but its has awesome special effects and fun gags supplied by a smalltown troupe of 80s friends turned DIY filmmakers. The director/star/writer would go on to contribute to a lot of Troma's best effects.
9. The Last Horror Film: Another acquisition that defies expectation. The most personal film from cult movie legend Joe Spinell is a gorgeous and dreamy horror satire that re-teams Spinell with Caroline Munro, his co-star in the legendary "Maniac".
10. Nightmare Weekend: A totally surreal slasher about puppets and mad scientists. So amateurish but still as entertaining as can be.
11. Tromeo & Juliet: Written by the future director/writer of Guardians of the Galaxy, this was Troma's exploitation of Gen X indie movies. While Troma was losing money and their gimmicks were getting more crude, this has a more personal and clever edge than the usual Troma film.
12. Terror Firmer: This is where Troma started becoming a bit too self-referential and the humor too crass, but its a celebration of the studio's uncompromising independence and ingenuity as the film is full of decent amateur performances, fx, gags and observations.
13. Citizen Toxie: I have a soft spot for this one. Its a love letter to the Troma purists and might hook unfamiliars. Its pure anarchy, juvenalia, attitude and proverbial rabbits being pulled out of hats that you wouldn't expect from such a small movie. Its a respectable stab at Hollywood-level spectacle without any of the resources.
14. The Taint: Made very recently, this is one of the funniest and most charming films Troma has put out in ages. Some fans side with the more aggressive and ambitious "Father's Day", but The Taint has a grassroots humor and appreciation for escapism that created and sustained the company.

Some cool footnotes: Troma is credited in the immortal arthouse masterpiece "My Dinner With Andre" and Lloyd Kaufman served as location manager for the famous restaurant set. Also, Troma would've produced John Waters' sequel to his game-changing "Pink Flamingos" called "Flamingos Forever". Troma also gave Trey Parker his start, releasing his indie film "Cannibal: The Musical" long before South Park hit.