Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome back to the Capes and Tights podcast right here on Capesandtights.com I'm your host, Justin Soderbergh. This episode we once again brought to you by our friends at Galactic Comics and Collectibles at galactic comics and collectibles.com and speaking of Galactic Comics, we welcome comic store owner Paul Eaton to the program to discuss the 1984 Toxic Avenger film from Troma Entertainment. With a new one coming out on the horizon, we thought we'd go back and take a look at this one. Toxic avenger, released in 1984 in one cinema from for an entire year before it was expanded to 45 cinemas. It's become a cult classic over the years, but we discussed it right here on the Capesent Tights podcast. Before you listen, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Blue sky threads, all those places. You can rate reviews, subscribe over on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. You can also find us over on YouTube. And as always, you can visit Capesandtights.com for so much more reviews, content, and so much more. But this is Paul Eaton of Galactic Comics and collectibles discussing the 1984 Toxic Avenger. Enjoy, everyone.
Welcome back to the podcast. Paul Eaton, how are you today?
[00:01:12] Speaker B: Good. What's going on, Justin?
[00:01:13] Speaker A: I'm. I'm just sitting here. It's nice. It's. It's not bad temperature in here now, but I know it's gonna get hot. I know it's gonna get hot.
[00:01:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
Supposed to get really hot today.
[00:01:21] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it's.
And then I think it drops down a little bit later on in the week, which is. Which is okay with me. I'm okay with that.
[00:01:28] Speaker B: Yesterday was like the perfect day.
[00:01:29] Speaker A: Oh, great.
[00:01:30] Speaker B: I feel like if you wanted to go swimming, you could. It might have been a little bit, but if you want to go swimming, you could just sit out like the back. Like, I sat in the backyard and read and it was just awesome.
[00:01:38] Speaker A: The nice breeze. Yeah, the breeze is what helps. It was. If it was. No, if you were in an area where there's no breeze, it was a little muggy. But other than that, it was like. Because if you look at the temperature in the car, it was like 79 degrees. I'm like, it feels a little hotter than that. And I think it's because of the mugginess. The humidity was a little up there, but the breeze was nice. If you got the breeze in there, you're good. Yeah, it was great.
Didn't tell it didn't smell like toxic fumes. How about that?
[00:01:58] Speaker B: Yes. It did not smell like we lived in New Jersey.
You can smell this movie, Paul.
[00:02:05] Speaker A: So. So, okay, let's start off with. On a scale of things.
Of movies. So we watched movies that were made to be good. Like, they were designed to be produced well and turned out like crap.
[00:02:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:17] Speaker A: We watched designed really good movies that are good. Like, so we've seen movies that were like, you know, pretty good movies.
[00:02:23] Speaker B: Yeah. Dick Tracy, Ninja Turtles. Yeah.
[00:02:25] Speaker A: This isn't a different category. It's a different level. It's a different style of movie that we watch because it was not made to be.
[00:02:34] Speaker B: No.
[00:02:34] Speaker A: Awesome. It was made to be.
[00:02:36] Speaker B: It was what it was. It was made to be kind of bad. Yeah, kind of bad.
[00:02:41] Speaker A: It was like what I explained to Taylor when, you know, because I watch this on my own, but I explained it to Taylor. I was like, the toxic Avenger from 1984 is like the. Previously. It's like the first rendition of those slapstick parody style movies. It's like the first rendition of scary movies. Parody of Scream, but. But not a parody of anything. It's a parody of itself, really.
[00:03:05] Speaker B: Right. It's a weird, cheesy horror.
It says horror comedy.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: It is a horror comedy.
[00:03:11] Speaker B: I want to do it expecting to be more like adventure.
[00:03:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:15] Speaker B: But, you know, I'd never seen this movie and I know it has this huge cult following and I'd never seen this before, so I don't have any, like, nostalgia vibes or anything. This was a weird movie.
[00:03:27] Speaker A: It was a weird movie. It really is. So. So the funny thing is it start. It starts off worse to me than it finishes, if that makes any sense.
[00:03:35] Speaker B: I almost shut it off.
[00:03:36] Speaker A: Yeah, it's. It's one of those things. If it wasn't a cult classic movie, you'd be like, this is awesome. Awful. I can't.
[00:03:41] Speaker B: Yeah. If I wasn't watching this for the podcast, I would have sh. I would have been like, I'm done.
[00:03:45] Speaker A: Because they take the comedy and they take the. The. The. The main character, the Toxic Avenger, and they. And they go like. And they pick on him. But, like, it's a weird picking on. It's not like they're just bullying him. It's like this extremely.
[00:03:58] Speaker B: It takes a while to get anywhere. Like, it takes a while to get anywhere. Yeah. And it's definitely like this extreme bullying and they're like, in this, like, gym of all these, like, super fit people that are also, like, randomly over sexual.
[00:04:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:12] Speaker B: And also like half of them are all on drugs while being super athletic. And it is, like, seems to be making fun of all kinds of things.
[00:04:20] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:04:21] Speaker B: But it also, like, is just.
I don't know. It's weird. The acting is so bad in it.
I can't tell if that's intentional or not.
[00:04:30] Speaker A: I think it's close.
[00:04:32] Speaker B: I think it's a little bit of the movie. You can't. I can't place him. Like, is this supposed to be this bad?
[00:04:36] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it's a little bit of both. I think it's a sarcastic kind of acting, but also, like, the actors in these movies at the time. So we talked a little bit in the shop on Friday. You know, Russ and I chat a little bit while you're running out back. And so, like, Vincent d' Onofrio was supposed to be bozo in this movie.
The main dude who drives the car who wants to run over people, that was supposed to be Vincent d'. Onofrio. Vincent d'. Onofrio, his first ever acting role in a feature film is in Something Turn On. It's something. Yeah. I think I had it wrote down. It's a movie called First Turn on in 1983 by Troman Entertainment by Lloyd Kaufman, the creator of this movie. He was supposed to be bozo in this movie, but he asked for a slight raise and they fired him. And so.
But think about it.
[00:05:23] Speaker B: So there are actors we're here to invest in, folks.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: There are actors that. There's a list of them, actually, if you go online. There's actors that were in these movies.
I think Naomi. Naomi Watts or someone was in this movie as a. Getting out of a car or something like that. They weren't actually.
But they're good actors in this movie at their early stages. But these movies are not like they're hiring people who just want to be actors. This is our buddy Shane, who does some films.
This is him in his backyard trying to make these features, these films, like.
[00:05:53] Speaker B: Hollering out for friends and relatives and whatever to be like, hey, you guys want to be in the movie? I got an opportunity for you.
[00:05:59] Speaker A: So that's. That's why it is. But I also think it's designed to be that way, though. I think it's. It was written to be that way. I think it's like, hey, we're not looking to win awards. If anything, we're working to win these, like, B movie style where it's not a feature film.
[00:06:11] Speaker B: Would they spend a half million on this? Is that what I saw?
[00:06:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:14] Speaker B: And I feel like the. The end scene with, like, the National Guard must have cost some serious money with like, all these tanks and all this stuff. And they. They blew up a bunch of cars.
But other than that, like, this mostly look like it was filmed.
[00:06:28] Speaker A: It's a low budget film. It's a low budget.
[00:06:30] Speaker B: We went to the.
The local, like, Halloween costume place at the time and just got random crap and as much fake. Fake blood and fake guts as we could get.
[00:06:41] Speaker A: And this is the early stages. Like, I feel like if Lloyd Kaufman came into his own, the.
[00:06:45] Speaker B: The.
[00:06:45] Speaker A: The creator of Troma Entertainment, if he came into his own now, he'd be hanging out with Damien Leone of Terrifier and they'd be making those kind of, like, he'd be doing those kind of things. But back in 1984, they weren't making movies that were that extreme violence. But I will say, for a movie with me, for half a million dollars, yes, acting was horrendous. Again, I don't think it was designed to have good acting. I think it was supposed. I think the whole.
[00:07:09] Speaker B: I think it was still over the top for bad.
[00:07:11] Speaker A: But the transformation of the Toxic Avenger was actually pretty, like, for practical effects. It was like.
Like the boils coming up and his.
[00:07:22] Speaker B: His growth in the tub there.
[00:07:24] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:07:25] Speaker B: Pulling, like, hair out and.
[00:07:27] Speaker A: Yeah, that to me was like bulging.
[00:07:29] Speaker B: Like you think then he's like, super muscled and whatever.
[00:07:33] Speaker A: So that wasn't bad. But other than that, like, it was like one of those things that you have to go into this knowing this is a style of movie. This movie is made to be this specific way. It wasn't made to be the best movie ever. Man Thing. We watched Man Thing.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: Yeah.
Seriously. Which was bad.
[00:07:48] Speaker A: Yes. This was like, hey, you know what they did? Things like the spinning newspapers in this movie were done on, like, lazy Susans. Like, they were done. They taped the paper to it and spun the lazy Susan. That's how they got their effect. That's how they did these movies. However, it does not mean it was good.
[00:08:02] Speaker B: No.
[00:08:04] Speaker A: People are gonna vilify us probably for this.
[00:08:08] Speaker B: Other people who love this movie, I mean, they're making sequels.
[00:08:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:10] Speaker B: I don't. So I don't understand watching this thing. I don't know how the hell it got to have a cult following. I don't know who thought it was a good idea to make a cartoon.
[00:08:21] Speaker A: That's the funny. It was a kids cartoon, too.
[00:08:24] Speaker B: Yeah. It was a children's cartoon and action figures in comics that were geared to kids and Stuff. I mean the 80s were weird. There's no doubt. I mean my, my favorite Robocop and they had action figures and.
[00:08:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:34] Speaker B: So a hyper violent movie. But that took itself super seriously. Where this is just.
[00:08:40] Speaker A: But this really was knowing.
[00:08:43] Speaker B: Knowing what I knew of it, that they made action figures and they made cartoon stuff. I expected this to be more slapstick, like adventure.
[00:08:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:52] Speaker B: Like I, I guess I was going. Expecting the Goonies and I was like what the hell am I watching right now?
This is not that.
[00:09:00] Speaker A: Like Animal House for example. Like so. So you're National Lampoon style comedy films. Right. From. From that the era and put the comedy to the extreme.
Right. And then make it a horror film with a low budget. That's what kind of like reminds. Like it's okay. They're trying to be the 80s, like a big horror and it was horror. But like was it horror because there's.
[00:09:25] Speaker B: Monsters and things like that gore really was really. It like it was horror for the gore because the monster is the hero.
[00:09:36] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:09:37] Speaker B: So you don't have the same like, like Jason, Freddy Krueger and stuff and the innocent teenagers or whatever.
These people all have it coming.
So it was more horror for the gore of it because you, I guess you want to see him and, and you had the, you had the horror side of the bad guys running around town doing all these horrible things.
[00:09:59] Speaker A: Yeah, that, that, that to me was like, it's funny. I was like watching it in 2025 and after playing years and years and years of Grand Theft Auto and making the joy jokes that if you hit the person it's extra points and all this.
Wait a second, 84. They did this in a movie that these people were really doing this. And there was not very much like it felt weird. It felt like some sort of serial killer group who was killing people with their car. But they really wasn't discussing that much about it. It was like we heard it from them and then.
[00:10:25] Speaker B: And nobody was looking for these guys. You couldn't find these people. Like yeah, 15,000 people live in this. This in New Jersey. Nobody like packed up and moved out.
[00:10:38] Speaker A: Well, that's. And that's the thing. I think they. Here's, here's what I got as I was watching the movie. It was like almost like because you have a low budget because you're. There's no real expectations to do your movie. This is a. I'm guessing this was a zero.
This is a Kevin Smith style like Tusk movie where there's like there's nobody going. You're going to win a war. You do what you want. Like, we're having fun with this movie. I'm not going to care. What comes out is that I felt like there was also rewritten stuff throughout the entire movie. Like, there was like, oh, I'll do. This is kind of funny. This would be kind of cool to do. And then they just. And then at the end of the movie, they had a complete movie.
[00:11:10] Speaker B: Yeah, it was like a lot of sporadic scenes because I think the, the.
[00:11:14] Speaker A: The comedy at the beginning was like, over the top bullying of the Toxic Avenger before he came to talk to Avenger. Like, he, he, he. Over the top. Like they're bullying him but being weirdly inept. Yes. Oh, yeah.
[00:11:29] Speaker B: Like, I don't. Good.
[00:11:31] Speaker A: So all that was weird, but the fun, the funniest part, him mopping and.
[00:11:34] Speaker B: Not knowing what he's doing and like.
[00:11:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:36] Speaker B: In the hot tub and stuff.
[00:11:37] Speaker A: It was just having one. One.
[00:11:40] Speaker B: And he was like this innocent kid.
[00:11:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:43] Speaker B: You know, we're picking on him and he's just like. I don't even get it.
[00:11:48] Speaker A: He's almost like. He's not. He's like his special needs and you're picking on him.
That's even more like, worse.
[00:11:53] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:11:54] Speaker A: But he had, like, one pant leg rolled up and, like, it was just weird. Like, so there was extremes to that. But the, the best part, where I thought I like the humor, hit the most of the.
This is a slapsticky kind of movie, is when the Toxic Avenger, which is never actually called the Toxic Avenger in the movie. He's the monster, the hero monster, until the very end. Yes. And then he goes to the blind woman's house because he brings her home.
[00:12:18] Speaker B: Right.
[00:12:19] Speaker A: And he. She says, be careful all the step. Don't trip on it. And then she falls.
[00:12:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:24] Speaker A: You know, those. That guys, those. That whole segment, that whole scene of them in that house was pretty funny, in my opinion, because it was like all these different slapsticky, kind of jokey things. But then we got into the point.
[00:12:36] Speaker B: Where dumping the eggshells.
[00:12:38] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And then him eating the individual eggs, it was just. It was kind of like. That kind of comedy was like, okay, I understand this.
However, it also struck. That. Struck that trope of the Fantastic Four, which we just reviewed with the Thing and the Blind Woman. I'm like, okay, so the only person that's ever going to like this person is if they can't see him, you know, in that kind of thing. Like, okay, that's kind of weird.
[00:13:01] Speaker B: He randomly got like.
It seems like he actually got smarter as a Toxic Avenger. He's not a genius, though, but he got smarter as a Toxic Avenger than he was in his original human form.
[00:13:12] Speaker A: Which is kind of the opposite of like Bruce Banner, where when he turns into Hulk, he's dumber and then he's, you know. Yeah, but see, besides all the weird.
[00:13:20] Speaker B: Growling all the time, then we got the. The talks and he speaks.
He speaks more like. I don't know, like fluid and clear and thought out as the monster than he did previously.
[00:13:33] Speaker A: That was also the thing when he spoke and you'd hear him speak and he had to over track the track. Overdub. Voiceover was like so well recorded. But not. Did not sound like it was on set. Was obviously overdubbed. And so it was so obvious that it wasn't actually. Oh, I'm gonna go to the door. It's like.
[00:13:50] Speaker B: Yeah, it was like this clear when you had almost like the background humming noise or whatever going on in the movie. And then when he talked. That wasn't there. No, it was so. Yeah. And more often not. It's like he only talked from the back side. Like you didn't see. Yeah.
[00:14:04] Speaker A: And we also got the. The Howard the Duck esque bestiality. Like, did they have to have him screw the woman? Like, sick.
[00:14:12] Speaker B: Right. Yeah. Do we need to see that? Yeah.
[00:14:15] Speaker A: I mean, like, to me, I'm like, that's just like, I understand. Whatever. He probably. I mean, if his body looks like that, I don't want to know what that thing looks like. I don't want to know. I mean, if he grew and got bigger, hopefully that didn't like, go reverse. Like, hopefully it wasn't, you know.
[00:14:28] Speaker B: Right.
[00:14:29] Speaker A: This south park interpretation of Donald Trump's penis that we've seen recently. Hope it's not getting tiny. But it. It was. It was so weird to see that. But that was. He found love.
[00:14:39] Speaker B: Like, all of it was odd.
[00:14:42] Speaker A: It was a love story too. Like, it's. It's a. It's a love.
[00:14:46] Speaker B: She's at his. His place that he's built in the toxic. Yeah.
Or whatever.
[00:14:51] Speaker A: And all that stuff. All the whole town having the whole.
[00:14:54] Speaker B: Plane to her being blinding all the time though, was.
[00:14:56] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I also think that story.
[00:15:00] Speaker B: I'm sorry, but her not being a very good actress on the whole thing.
[00:15:05] Speaker A: She looked familiar. I tried to look her up, like, I think, but I think she looks like an actress that was like, you know, what was that? What movie was it was. She was. She.
She pulls the gum out of her mouth and twists it a lot and she's all bubbly.
[00:15:18] Speaker B: Oh, shoot. I can picture that movie she's in, but she's.
[00:15:22] Speaker A: It was. It was an actress that looks like that now. So obviously it's not her because it was 84. So it should be a lot older now.
[00:15:28] Speaker B: But.
[00:15:29] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm thinking myself, like, oh, oh, done Seinfeld. It's. It's. It's Kramer's girlfriend who had the long nails. He worked at the dinner.
Yeah. That. She looked a lot like her. And I was like, well, maybe that's her. But it's obviously not because it would have been 10 years, 15 years difference between the two movies. But. But it. It was. They played a lot into it. I wish they would have, like, wrote up her story of being like. The reason why she's blind is the same reason is. Is this living in this area.
[00:15:56] Speaker B: This area with the toxic. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's like. They could have gone in. The fact that there's so many people that are kind of like evil because of all the toxins.
Yeah. And then you got the guys driving the semi and the toxic wastes. The barrels don't even have lids on them. They're sliding around. These guys are storming coke. They have, like, all over their face.
[00:16:15] Speaker A: That's the.
Don't hate me for this because this is not an actual comparison, but it's the spaceball steamer of it all. It's that. It's that year that. That era of let's go a joke instead of just someone going away.
[00:16:28] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:28] Speaker A: They were sticking their whole face into.
[00:16:30] Speaker B: Cocaine, all the way with it. And that was 80s style stuff that comedy was.
[00:16:36] Speaker A: What worked, in my opinion, is these. We're gonna set up this. So obvious, Paul. Like, this is gonna be like. But the boss said, don't stop. We gotta keep going. And they stopped. And then they parked it right in front of the gym. And they don't have lids on it. It's all bubbling. And he falls out of the window directly into one of the. You know, he probably would have missed halfway and snapped his neck. Nobody fell into the barrel and no one was questioning it. They pull him out of the barrel and they're laughing at him on the street.
[00:17:00] Speaker B: Right.
[00:17:01] Speaker A: All of that worked for me because that was like, you can't take it seriously. But then there were moments you're supposed to take seriously and moments that are horror and they shoot a dog.
[00:17:12] Speaker B: That's what I thought. They Kill a kid.
Like, the guys run down a kid, they shoot a dog. These are all things that you don't. I don't know, they don't do in movies. Like those are like, yeah, yeah. And then the kid, they back up.
[00:17:29] Speaker A: So they didn't get a ton of complaints about the movie when it was in the theaters, but the one they did get complaints for was the do that. That they shot a seeing eye dog in the movie. And I don't think that people don't do well with animals being killed in movies or things like that. And so it's not a very good thing. But I think they just didn't care. I think they're like, we're going to do something to the extreme.
[00:17:49] Speaker B: Let's go. Yeah, let's go all the way.
I was surprised that because I. I always know that's like the movie rule things, you know, do. And then to show it like, well, this looks like a stuffed dog that stood across the floor and it's got.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: Like a half hole on the side of it. I'm like, jesus. Again, them probably being like, let's show our chops as like our special effects, practical effects part of it, because there was that the crushing of the head, you know, like, the craft effects were good.
[00:18:17] Speaker B: Paper mache thing.
[00:18:18] Speaker A: Yeah, well, but. But in the time, it's like, that's what these movies were known for. I think. I think it's the same thing I mentioned with the whole, like, it's different but terrifier one. It was like, the practical effects that Damian Leone can do in this movie is so amazing for the time for what he's doing, that that is what shines. And so, like, what we learned from some of these overly CGI movies is you can do things with practical effects. Like, obviously, I think they're going to probably mix a little bit of both. In the Toxic Avenger remake that's coming out here with Peter Dinklage, I think they're going to use some practical effects on him and then obviously touch him up, which we talked about with Fantastic Four, the Thing. Use some practical effects, but then cgi, overhand so that he has a little bit of texture. Yeah. Clean him up a little bit. Like, have the smoke coming off.
[00:19:01] Speaker B: I think that's better. I think that's what you need more for. And I think. I hope they're starting to realize that. That it's not. Let's not make the whole movie this way.
[00:19:09] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:19:09] Speaker B: Let's use this to clean up the practical effects.
[00:19:11] Speaker A: Because I feel like they always talk about budgets and it's cheaper due to CGI now.
[00:19:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:16] Speaker A: And I guess they just talked about. Netflix. Just talked. They did a. Did an entire CGI sequence of a car crash in one of their shows that was helped by AI and IT. It took, like, 50% of the budget and, like, 50% of the time to do because of this. And then they cleaned it up from there and.
[00:19:34] Speaker B: And so I don't know so much CGI stuff just looks like stuff.
[00:19:38] Speaker A: And so if you do a mixture, like, if you take it and, like, give it a background to it, it's the whole Iron man wearing or covering his whole suit, but he doesn't have the mask. The mask is all cgi. So they can make the face open and do things cool and have the, you know, the looking around with his, you know, inside with Friday and stuff like that. That stuff, I think is great.
It's the same. Well, Bruce Banner or Hulk has always been cgi.
[00:20:05] Speaker B: Oh, my God. Was it. Is it Daddy's Home with Will Ferrell?
[00:20:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:08] Speaker B: And, like, there's a scene where he has, like. He's on the motorcycle, and the motorcycle goes up through the house and crashes through everything. And they, like, must have, like, cgi, the motorcycle going up into the house and then coming out the window and smashing through the car. And it just. All of that just looked bad.
[00:20:25] Speaker A: Yes, exactly.
[00:20:26] Speaker B: Look like we CGI'd all of it. Like.
[00:20:29] Speaker A: Well, use it. Like I said, use a mixture of both. I think it's worth it, I think. And then you then balance the budget out a little bit. You have the CGI costs and the practical effect costs and stuff like that. They were saying something. Who was it that. Recently, I just read a thing about how long it took him to get into the costume was so long that they just had to film him, like, probably 24 hours straight because it just. It ended up being. And they had to drink through a straw.
[00:20:51] Speaker B: That's gotta be brutal.
That's gotta be brutal working in that.
[00:20:55] Speaker A: So, yeah, this movie came out in 1984. It's called the 1984 event Toxic Avenger, but it only was in one theater.
It was in the Bleecker Street Cinema in North New York City for. For a year.
[00:21:08] Speaker B: Please tell me. So it's played in New Jersey for and.
[00:21:12] Speaker A: For a year. So it was one of those things. They probably signed on with this one theater. You'll be the place for people to go and so on and so forth.
[00:21:17] Speaker B: One year of the Toxic Avenger.
I wonder what the difference Was between people seeing it and like showing the first showing versus the last showing. Probably about the same.
[00:21:27] Speaker A: Yeah, well, I go see a Broadway play, gotta go see this like B movie in a. Cool. I bet it was, I bet it was a cool experience at that time, honestly. But basically a year later it ended up on 45 different screens across the country which for this style of movie and so on and so forth made for half a million dollars. Lloyd Kaufman later on said in an article for Variety that that movie has made him $15 million. So whether or not that it was like obviously on those 45 screens over the years made 15 the action figures.
[00:21:56] Speaker B: The, the comics, the cartoons, all that stuff. Which is still I find so baffling that this became a children's thing.
I can see the children thing. I mean with Ninja Turtles were big and we had the Avenger and he was out, you know, trying to do stuff. But actually I gotta put that cartoon on later today. I'll put that on that.
[00:22:14] Speaker A: But that to me is. Oh is what we fight. People are fighting with nowadays is, is, is the Deadpool of it all. Like right. Parents going like oh, he's a comic book character. I've seen comic books.
[00:22:26] Speaker B: Yeah, you don't want your kid watching Deadpool.
[00:22:27] Speaker A: So I felt like this was. Would work the opposite way nowadays. It's the whole. If they made a R rated Wolverine cartoon for Netflix or Disney plus, I should say now that parents would be like well he's. I've seen this stuff like the opposite effect. Whereas if it was now if they said hey, I'm gonna make this already thing nowadays Terrifier. If they were make Art the Clown cartoon for kids, most people wouldn't watch it and wouldn't let their kids watch it because they wouldn't do it. So like I wonder how, I wonder if that's why it obviously wasn't super successful in, in running 15 seasons. But.
[00:23:02] Speaker B: And in the like in my era of growing up there, that was always the, the thing was like turn out a toy line.
[00:23:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:09] Speaker B: To make money off the toy line. Put up the cartoon to promote the toy line. And if we, even if we only get one season, as long as we sell enough action figures, we don't care like whatever if we get too great.
So I mean there was. There's so much of that stuff.
[00:23:22] Speaker A: But doesn't it always seem anti what they were like? I feel like trauma entertainment at the time and even to this day are all. We're going to make movies that we want to make for a low Budget, we're fine. We're going to do stupid things in it. We're going to shoot dogs, we're going to run over kids, we're going to, we're going to crush skulls. We're going to, we're going to show boobs. We're going to do whatever we want. I would have sex with monsters and humans.
And then you make an animated TV show that's supposed to be for the masses and try to sell action figures. I feel like that's just two different sides of the coin. Like, it's not.
It doesn't go together in my opinion. I think they didn't do it for most. Like a lot of their films don't have this shit. Like it's obviously just this one thing, but it's just funny how it got 6.2 out of 5 out of 10 on IMDb and it has 70% critic and 64% fan scores on. On Rotten Tomatoes for this movie. So like it's, it's one of those weird ones that again, you have to put this in a category that's rated on this category, but it's still higher than. Yeah, yeah, it definitely is. Oh, that character, 18 year old Marisa Tomei was an extra.
[00:24:29] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:24:30] Speaker A: She was coming out of the shower.
[00:24:32] Speaker B: Gotcha. In bath when he's chasing the girl around the gym there.
[00:24:36] Speaker A: Yeah. So Marissa Tomei is in this movie.
[00:24:38] Speaker B: There we go.
[00:24:40] Speaker A: But yeah, I think. Did you ever see the episode of A Comic Book man where they had Lloyd Kaufman on?
[00:24:45] Speaker B: I don't think so.
[00:24:46] Speaker A: Probably. You probably saw. I probably didn't affect. But yeah, there was an episode of Comic Book man that Lloyd Kaufman comes into the. The secret stash and talks to them and they do like, they do your best Scream or Scare or something like that. And they do makeup and they do, they do a Toxic Avenger kind of like thing. Oh, by the way, number of times I've wrote Toxic Avengers.
[00:25:06] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, well, I do that. Type you up the full list.
Like we've had Toxic Avenger out for a little while now, right?
[00:25:13] Speaker A: Yeah, there was a, there was a mini series and now they're doing an ongoing which is the Toxic Avenger Comics is what it's actually called. And then there's the, the one shots that are like Toxic Avenger versus Jesus.
[00:25:23] Speaker B: I think I'm so used to writing Avengers that I just write.
[00:25:26] Speaker A: Me too.
I want it now. I want the crossover.
Where's the crossover? I want the Ahoy Comics. Ahoy Comics, Marvel Comics crossover between the two of them. Where it's the Toxic Avengers, and he joins the Avenger Avengers, and they're like, I don't know. In New Jersey. It's an alternate universe. What if.
[00:25:42] Speaker B: I mean, they're. They seem to give those cards out left and right. Like, here, you're an Avenger. Come join.
[00:25:47] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:25:47] Speaker B: Why not? Why not? Like, all right.
[00:25:50] Speaker A: It's. It's. Yeah. I mean, he would be good. I tell you. He's a. He's a monster, but he's for good. So I don't like.
[00:25:55] Speaker B: Right. Yeah. He has it. He hasn't. Like you found out in the movie there, when he ends up killing the little old lady.
[00:26:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:02] Speaker B: There's something like he senses evil.
[00:26:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:06] Speaker B: Or whatever. And like, he can't. He goes nuts for it.
[00:26:10] Speaker A: Well, picking on this movie some more. Here you go. The idea that people are like, he's a monster who is toxic. He's a Toxic Avenger, obviously. But he's. You're like, immediately like, no, save him. He's a good guy. Like, you don't know the number of times we've seen the opposite in movie where it's like, there actually is a good guy who's a monster and everybody wants to burn him at the stake.
[00:26:33] Speaker B: Right.
I love the monster T shirts and stuff.
[00:26:37] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:26:38] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:39] Speaker A: It's like, immediately like, no, no, we like this guy. And I'm like, I guess it would be a mascot for that town. Tromaville is. They know they have toxic.
[00:26:45] Speaker B: It's pretty messed up.
[00:26:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:46] Speaker B: Yeah. It's right on the sign. The most polluted city in the world or whatever.
[00:26:50] Speaker A: I want to go there.
[00:26:53] Speaker B: And he's like, I don't know. I mean, of. Of all the stuff there, they're going on about how bad everything is. I mean, he's the only one seems to be doing anything.
[00:27:02] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:27:03] Speaker B: Cop works for the mayor. So, yeah, mayor's evil, so. Which all sounds semi accurate. So.
[00:27:10] Speaker A: So, yeah, it's a.
[00:27:12] Speaker B: He's the only one doing anything about any of this. Like, you've had these nut cases running around killing people with their car for seems like quite a while, and no one's even looked for them, evidently.
Bozo. God, his acting.
[00:27:25] Speaker A: Oh, it was so bad. I would have. Now, I really wanted to see Vincent d' Onofrio as. As Bozo. As Bozo. I think that would have been amazing.
[00:27:34] Speaker B: I.
Yeah. If I hadn't had to watch this movie for the podcast, I would have shut this off long before Dr. Avengers on screen.
[00:27:42] Speaker A: I feel like it's like one of those Things that, like, you have now, you now sell comics for. So. So you don't like Star Wars. You don't like Star wars as much as other people starts. Right. But you've seen Star wars, so you can actually use that. And you've read some of the comics and you've done some of that stuff. So you can actually use that knowledge as a proprietor of a comic book store to help sell the. Someone comes in, says, I'm looking for this. Like, you know about Vader Down. You know, like, you know that stuff now. It's like when someone comes in. Yeah, you have the Toxic Avengers series now at least you have something to base it on.
It's almost like business research. Like, you should almost like count those hours that you watch this film as research for the shop. Not just for here, because there is this now. And guess what? You're. Now you have something to go into watch. You're going to watch the new one. Like, you're not going to watch the new one now, I would assume. I mean, I don't know.
[00:28:24] Speaker B: I almost think after watching this, I might not watch a new one.
[00:28:26] Speaker A: No, listen, the new one maybe not.
[00:28:28] Speaker B: Want to watch it.
[00:28:30] Speaker A: The big reason why I say the new one's worth it is because it's got like a Peter Dinklage, obviously. Yeah. And then it has. Is it Kevin Bacon who was in a.
I'm trying to find out what the remake is.
I'm trying to look this up right now.
2023.
It has Kevin Bacon. Yep. Julia. Elijah Wood. That's what it was. Elijah Wood and Kevin Bacon appeared in Climate. To me, like, that's like, worth watching. I also feel like it's gonna. They're mainstreaming it. So they're not going to do this. They're not running kids down the cars and they're not going to shoot any dogs. So there's that too.
[00:29:05] Speaker B: Right.
[00:29:06] Speaker A: I don't know what it's actually rated. I'm guessing it's rated R or not rated.
It's in 23 film. It doesn't actually say on. It doesn't say on the poster. But also I love the fact that it's actually like a smaller person with a big strength. Like, it's not Peter Dinklage, obviously, is. Is short in stature.
[00:29:23] Speaker B: And this where the little scrawny guy ends up like becoming Hulking.
[00:29:28] Speaker A: Yeah. They're like, oh, it's a. He's seven foot. Like, you actually say it was pretty funny. Like his actual feet.
Who went over there and measured him? They just get out of the doctor. Doctor. He's seven foot and he's 312 pounds. We know that because he just got his physical, like perfect health.
[00:29:44] Speaker B: Even though he's pissing green on the side of a building.
[00:29:46] Speaker A: Exactly, yeah. So.
[00:29:47] Speaker B: And so it's smoking. Like randomly.
Like randomly smoking.
Not all the time, just every now.
[00:29:56] Speaker A: And again when the.
When the woman is masturbating at the.
At by the pool and he's walking.
[00:30:05] Speaker B: With the pictures of. Right.
[00:30:07] Speaker A: And there's. The pool is smoking.
[00:30:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
Where's the fog come from? It's an in. It's an indoor pool.
[00:30:17] Speaker A: It was like. It's not steam because it's just. It's staying on top of the water. It's obviously what's called ice dry. Ice dry ice in it. Probably like.
[00:30:30] Speaker B: This is like a scene of him coming.
[00:30:33] Speaker A: Like, also in what world is some woman just at like 7, 8 o' clock at night, sitting by the pool, the gym, masturbating.
[00:30:40] Speaker B: Right.
It's just so bizarre.
[00:30:45] Speaker A: But it's an experience and I think it's one of those things, these two.
[00:30:48] Speaker B: Women that are pushing for these guys to kill these people.
Like, they're just loving it. Like, it's just so. The writing of this is so weird, even for a slapstick, weird horror movie. This was weird.
[00:31:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:31:05] Speaker B: But like, I watched all those Full Moon production movies with my buddy Steve and those are not quality.
But.
[00:31:14] Speaker A: But this is a bad.
[00:31:15] Speaker B: And weird as those are, it makes more sense than this did.
[00:31:17] Speaker A: Here's the deal ball. It's now there's a Wikipedia page for the Toxic Avenger franchise. Like it's a franchise now. Like, this is a whole.
[00:31:24] Speaker B: This had sequels, though.
[00:31:25] Speaker A: There is Toxic Avenger in 84, Toxic Avenger Part 2 in 1989, which also says there was a Toxic Avenger Part 3, the Last Temptation of Toxic in 1989. So this was even the same year. And then Citizen Toxy, the toxic Avenger number four, which came out in 2000.
[00:31:48] Speaker B: And then there's a movie of this in 2000.
[00:31:51] Speaker A: I guess so. Oh, by the way, part two, what do you think the budget of part two was?
[00:32:00] Speaker B: Say, three quarters of a mil.
[00:32:02] Speaker A: 2.5 million.
[00:32:04] Speaker B: Oh, dear God.
[00:32:06] Speaker A: We went all out and it made 800,000.
Oh, but that's the thing is these movies, other ways they make money on this. They sell tv, touring on stuff. Like these are the kind of things that Kevin Smith has always said. Like, he doesn't. His movies don't need to make money.
[00:32:20] Speaker B: He.
[00:32:20] Speaker A: He makes enough money to Pay for the film, and that's what he does. It's all about the art of making the film, and that's what these people do. That's why he's made, like, 72 films or something like that. It's because it's all about the. The creation. And here's the deal. Guarantee you right now, Paul, they all.
[00:32:33] Speaker B: Had a blast making this film, I would imagine.
[00:32:35] Speaker A: Yeah. I think it was probably a bunch of people hanging out.
[00:32:41] Speaker B: Let's do some stupid stuff together here.
[00:32:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:43] Speaker B: Film this. Yeah.
[00:32:45] Speaker A: Yep. Early 2000, so 2000 it was.
[00:32:47] Speaker B: It was with the cop when he's trying to first grab Melvin after he's fallen into his hands. Catch on fire.
[00:32:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:54] Speaker B: Like, I mean, talk about your crazy stuff to film and to do.
[00:32:57] Speaker A: I just. I. You know, I bet it'd be amazing. In 1991, there was a Toxic Crusaders. There's also a video game.
[00:33:05] Speaker B: When. When he finally gets Bozo and the car, like, explodes, and there's all this giant fireball, and he gets out of it, which I guess the Toxic event is supposed to be sort of, like, impervious to everything.
[00:33:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:15] Speaker B: So he's getting out of it, but Bozo's laying half out of the car. Looks perfectly fine. He's, like, got some, like, stuff on him. Like, we covered him in some charcoal dust or whatever. But, like, dude, with that fireball, he's cooked. Like, I'm surprised I didn't have, like, a. Just, like, a Hollywood, like, like, Halloween store skeleton that they just laid out there. Like, it actually would have fit this whole thing kind of better if they had and just not bothered with the actor, like. No, no, because, like, you exploded, dude. So we're gonna just throw this out here.
[00:33:52] Speaker A: You want to add to this craziness of the Toxic avenger, Paul?
In 2008, there was a rock musical based on the 1984 film by the same name.
[00:34:03] Speaker B: How does this have this much of a following? I am so ready.
[00:34:07] Speaker A: 2008 through 2017 was in New Brunswick, Toronto, Los Angeles.
[00:34:13] Speaker B: Played in major places for nine years.
[00:34:16] Speaker A: Yes.
Oh, they did one in Hawaii. They did.
That's all right.
[00:34:23] Speaker B: So here's a question. Would you have gone to see Toxic Avenger, the musical?
[00:34:26] Speaker A: I probably would see the musical before I'd see Part two.
I would probably see the music before I see it.
[00:34:31] Speaker B: Obviously, I'd see the musical, because, again, you're making.
[00:34:34] Speaker A: It's making fun of itself in that sense, I feel like. But there was a Legally Blonde musical, so, like, I, like. You have to think That I think.
[00:34:40] Speaker B: There'S getting to be a point that I've seen together musicals of everything now.
[00:34:44] Speaker A: Yeah. So, like, to me, I'm like, it's not like, it's not like, again. And I don't think they're looking for awards. It was probably one of those fun things that they were, oh, we could do that. This is a musical. I mean, they. Shrek the Musical. I mean, there's these. These things that, like. And it's so weird seeing, because you're not like, how is this in life? How would you see this guy? Was this guy just painted and had a couple things in it, or did he wear a suit? I got pictures of this. Like, this is a. It's a Toxic Avenger is one of those things.
[00:35:07] Speaker B: Put a mask on a guy, I guess, and just kind of paint him green.
[00:35:10] Speaker A: But I guess what we'll see in. In. In this when this comes out in a couple weeks. When this comes out, the movie will be out in a couple weeks is what we'll see when it's actually got a budget, when it's actually written. Well, when it's actually made for a feature film.
[00:35:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:35:25] Speaker A: Wider audience, expand it and make it into an actual thing. Is it going to be the movie that everybody wants to be? Like, are people actually going to flock to see it or are people flocking to see it because it's.
It's this classic cult classic movie?
[00:35:44] Speaker B: I mean, I think. I don't. I just don't understand how the hell this got as big and popular as it did now that I finally seen it. Well, like, I've never seen it. I knew all about Toxic Avenger. Like, we've had action figures go through the store. All these things, like, obviously sell the new comics. How the hell this got as big as it did based on this movie? How this, like, movie didn't just, like, just go into, like, the world of obscurity that people be like, did you ever hear this thing some guys made?
I don't. I don't know. It's. It's insane.
[00:36:18] Speaker A: I. I don't have any.
[00:36:19] Speaker B: I don't. I don't. I really don't. I. I don't. I don't know how the hell I got anywhere from where this.
[00:36:24] Speaker A: Again, it's.
[00:36:25] Speaker B: It's.
[00:36:25] Speaker A: It's the.
[00:36:27] Speaker B: I mean, I'm literally watching, going, what the hell am I watching right now?
[00:36:30] Speaker A: Well, the movie, the Room with. With Wasa. Whatever sales they made the movie.
Crap. What the hell was it called With. With looking it up right now. The room it was with Tommy Saw, who made this movie that was absolutely horrendous. And he really wanted to make it, so he made it himself. He wrote director Bruce and starred in it.
But they made a movie of the Disaster Artist with James Franco.
The film the Disaster Artist, it was a. James Franco directed it. He also acted in it.
[00:37:06] Speaker B: I know James Franco, I've never heard.
[00:37:07] Speaker A: With his brother Dave Franc.
But this movie sucks so bad. But it was one of those things that was like, people.
It's like now sold so many copies because people gotta see this film.
And then you're not gonna believe how.
[00:37:19] Speaker B: Bad this movie is. Watch it.
[00:37:20] Speaker A: Well, like the 1994 Fantastic Four movie that's never been released. People, like, flock to watch that movie.
[00:37:25] Speaker B: What was that other one that came out?
Was it the new.
The newest Scooby Doo movie? Right. Got like, horrible reviews. Wasn't it like the Velma movie or whatever it was? Yeah, like, horrible views. They're like, don't watch this movie. And so many people were like this. I've got to see why this is so bad.
[00:37:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:44] Speaker B: There's so many people watching. They got enough money to make a sequel to it. And they're like, oh, God. That was not the intent.
[00:37:49] Speaker A: Well, and that's the thing is, I think it's so much funny. They have a product they can do it with and they can. You can. You can make something with it. And now, because it's had five or four films. Five films. And now this new movie's coming out. I think. I think it's. This would be what would make it bigger, I think, in my opinion. Is this Peter Dinklage playing. Playing the character and so on and so forth. But.
[00:38:08] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I mean, he's a very well known.
[00:38:10] Speaker A: How it got this far, I mean, I don't know. I think there's other films and I have to look it up. Other films that Lloyd Kaufman and Tormentor Tamer have done multiple sequels too. So it's not like this is the only one. But if you take. Boil it down. Boil it down in some. Some. Some toxic waste.
The actual idea behind the whole thing is pretty good. Like, if I were to create this comic or a movie and so on and so forth. This, this. I wouldn't go extreme to having this dock. Toxic waste town, but someone falling into toxic waste and becoming a nerd who. Who gets picked on a lot, avenges the whole town by. By being this monster.
[00:38:43] Speaker B: Becomes the hero.
[00:38:45] Speaker A: Does make it so that in all.
[00:38:47] Speaker B: This insane, like, violent ways, he's doing it.
[00:38:50] Speaker A: Yeah, but so they.
The guy wrote the new movie, has been a huge fan, seen all the movies, all that stuff. So there is that to it. His name is Macon Blair, who. Who's writing this movie. He's done.
He did Monkey's Paw.
He's done Small Crimes. Hold the dark. 57 seconds with. That was actually really bad.
Oh, he did. He did Brothers with Peter Dinklage and Josh Brolin.
That comes out or came out this year. Comes out last year.
[00:39:25] Speaker B: I don't remember this movie.
[00:39:27] Speaker A: Oh, he produced. Executive produced that Rebel Ridge movie.
Movie that was on Netflix, which was really well received.
Okay.
He's actually an actor, too.
Interesting.
[00:39:42] Speaker B: Look at all the.
[00:39:43] Speaker A: He was in swamp thing in 1990. 2019. It was three episodes. He played the Phantom Stranger.
[00:39:48] Speaker B: I would still like to watch. Oh, the Phantom Stranger. Yeah. That's a major D.C. character.
[00:39:52] Speaker A: He's the director of this movie, but he acted in that, which is pretty cool. We still gotta watch that. I gotta watch that. 2019.
[00:39:58] Speaker B: Yeah, I gotta watch that. It's supposed to be really good. People were really upset that it got canceled during the whole, like, weird. Everybody and their brother tried to make a platform to stream stuff on. And, like, how many streaming services can a person actually have?
[00:40:12] Speaker A: Yep. And that's a huge thing. Yeah.
[00:40:14] Speaker B: Like, I personally feel like we. We have too many streaming services at our house. Like, Yep.
Holy crap.
[00:40:21] Speaker A: Taylor's like, do we watch Disney plus enough? I'm like, wait a second. Hold on a second. Time out.
[00:40:26] Speaker B: I want to watch Marvel. I don't want.
[00:40:28] Speaker A: Don't screw with my Marvel stuff, man. Come on.
Yeah, I know what I mean.
[00:40:32] Speaker B: That's the way I'm starting to get. I'm like, Liz might be like, oh, we probably don't need Max, Dewey. And I'm like, but all the DC stuff's on Max. Are you watching any of it? No, but I might want to.
[00:40:41] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly.
[00:40:42] Speaker B: Wanted to watch the DC stuff. I just haven't.
I don't have Max, and I can't.
[00:40:48] Speaker A: It's back to hbo, Max.
[00:40:50] Speaker B: Oh, is it back to hbo, Max?
[00:40:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:40:52] Speaker B: Oh, wow. Look at that. Good. Because it was.
[00:40:55] Speaker A: Because it was stupid.
Has such a name to it. And you're like, let's do this thing. It's like, let's make people who don't know. It's, you know. You know, people who are obviously don't know, weirdly enough, that this is the same thing. But hbo, like, hbo, it's like Disney was like, we're just gonna call it plus, right. No, Disney has cloud to it. You have Disney. Like, people are gonna want to know what the hell it is.
I, I don't understand. Everybody else created their own software or streaming Platinum platform with their name in it. Why are you just taking your name out of it?
[00:41:28] Speaker B: Yeah, I just saw one last. Was it Jason? Momoa's got a new one coming on Apple Plus.
Like the Chief of War or something like that. Yeah, yeah. And I looked, I was like, I'd watch that. I'm like, crap, I don't have Apple.
[00:41:43] Speaker A: Then I was like, funny thing is, if I had to choose nowadays on a scale of things like the, the I would actually choose. Like, there's certain times where I choose Apple TV plus over Netflix.
[00:41:55] Speaker B: Yeah. There are a couple things on Netflix last night.
[00:41:59] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:41:59] Speaker B: Which by the way, I am really enjoying so far.
[00:42:02] Speaker A: Yeah. A lot of people said it's really good.
[00:42:03] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm really enjoying it so far. But it's the first thing I've watched on Netflix probably in a year.
[00:42:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:42:07] Speaker B: Like I said, we could just get rid of Netflix. I wouldn't care.
[00:42:10] Speaker A: That's one of the things I think.
[00:42:11] Speaker B: Liz watches it now.
[00:42:12] Speaker A: You're like, oh, but it's good to have just when you need it and so on and so forth. So much struggle to sign up and cancel and all that stuff. And I'm like, but then you go eight months.
[00:42:20] Speaker B: The fact you just get used to it.
[00:42:21] Speaker A: So you don't pay eight months without watching it. You're like, that was 160 bucks. I could have paid something else.
Yeah, yeah. But hey, you know what? They got us nowadays and eventually we'll figure it out. But I think right now it's, it's a, it's a weird world we live in, the streaming. And guess what? We're getting a Toxic Avenger reboot. That's so much weird.
[00:42:37] Speaker B: Thank God we're not getting a Toxic Avenger streaming service.
That idea.
[00:42:42] Speaker A: It's coming.
[00:42:42] Speaker B: It's coming.
[00:42:44] Speaker A: I don't know. I said there's. There's comics that go on it. So if anybody was interested in this. So here's the deal. I gave it two stars.
Okay.
And I gave it two stars only because the movie sucks. Like in that sense, like as an overall, if you compare it to modern movie, if compared to the new one, it's probably not the same. However, when you put it in a box of.
The movie wasn't trying to be a five star movie.
[00:43:10] Speaker B: Right. This was not the intention of it. So if I compare it to A star just for trying to be what it's trying to be.
[00:43:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:43:18] Speaker B: It is what it was trying to accomplish.
[00:43:20] Speaker A: It seems we just watched Fantastic Four from 2005. Comparing it to that. It's a 0.5.
[00:43:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:43:27] Speaker A: Do you mean because that movie was trying to be Right. But comparing it to other movies in the same genre, it probably is higher than that. I just can't give it higher than two. I just can't. I can't do it higher too. You're probably.
[00:43:38] Speaker B: You're still better than I am.
[00:43:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:43:40] Speaker B: So. And then I'd break this up pre monster.
I would have gone like, I can't go zero. So I would have gone like 0.25.
[00:43:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:43:49] Speaker B: Like I would have shut this movie off.
[00:43:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:43:51] Speaker B: I would have said, I don't know what the hell's going on in this and I. I don't care. And I'm gone post monster with all of it.
It's still, it's. Boy, it's not good. But I guess I'd go one star for the whole thing.
Like, I feel like the beginning of it's so bad that I can't go above a single star.
[00:44:07] Speaker A: And I understand that. I think there's a lot of people out. There are five stars. I don't understand that one. But like, I mean there are people.
[00:44:14] Speaker B: That must have grown up watching this that have that nostalgia vibe for it and just love it and I don't know, it's just so weird.
[00:44:21] Speaker A: And letter letterbox is the. Like I think right now I'm amazed.
[00:44:25] Speaker B: It has as high ratings as it does on like Rotten Tomatoes. And that. That's shocking. Really.
[00:44:31] Speaker A: So we watch movies.
[00:44:32] Speaker B: We watch movies that I've liked better that had lower ratings on.
[00:44:35] Speaker A: Yes, exactly.
But let's see. So. So for fan ratings nowadays, letterbox is one of those places that people go to to. To review and log in things like that. So now a lot of times I go to there to see. See what the actual people say.
[00:44:50] Speaker B: Right? What if. So what are fans in. In the world of movies saying?
[00:44:54] Speaker A: So the majority of the ratings is three stars.
Okay.
But there's three and a half and four star people, right? There's more. Way more three, three, three and a half and four star ratings than there are two. Two and a half, two. Like way more.
[00:45:12] Speaker B: Wow. I guess I'm not the target audience.
[00:45:15] Speaker A: Maybe again, you don't know.
[00:45:16] Speaker B: I'm an 80s kid.
[00:45:18] Speaker A: But do you go on a review website for a restaurant if you really liked it that off you get to really like something or really hate something. And so to me it's like if you're in the middle, maybe you're just not reading it, maybe you're not putting it right.
[00:45:28] Speaker B: Yeah, I would. It's true. I mean I give restaurants five star reviews and if not, I usually just don't leave a review at all.
[00:45:34] Speaker A: And so a lot of these are.
[00:45:35] Speaker B: Web only ever left.
It has to be really bad. I left a one star review once for a restaurant because more often than not I'm like, they could have a bad night. I don't want. I own a business. I know what it's like. Yeah, like they were. It was that bad that I left a one star review.
Bother reviewing it.
[00:45:55] Speaker A: But the goal is for other people to see your review. Right.
Whether it's a good review, a bad review, whatever it is. If you wave a one star review, you want other people to see this, you know, Chinese food restaurant have a one star review because you don't want them to go to the Chinese restaurant.
[00:46:06] Speaker B: Right.
[00:46:07] Speaker A: Or you want to give them a five star review because you want everybody to go see it. It's all about other people. It's not about the restaurant. The restaurant. We, I work for a restaurant. We.
We see them all the time. People complain about everything. It's not an interesting people. Oh, you didn't have enough Superman comic books. Oh, I'm sorry. I don't tell you. Yeah, you know, it's one of those things. But so that's what people go to like letterbox and they do it just so people could see their reviews. So they want. People wanted to see three and a half, four stars because they wanted.
[00:46:30] Speaker B: And there are those people that are going to put out their reviews to everything because that's. It's like their hobby. Yeah, they like doing that.
[00:46:38] Speaker A: So a good one and a half between the average, between the two of us, I think is worth it because I think it's. But it's that one thing where it's like we've reviewed movies that are one, one and a half point five things like that. But all of those movies were trying to be good.
[00:46:51] Speaker B: Yeah. I would say that how it even gets a one star for me too is that it didn't. It understood what it was like. There was no attempt to make an amazing movie. This wasn't like man Thing was Marvel legitimately thought they were gonna put out a good movie until they watched it themselves and were like, oh, this is crap. Yes, it was crap. That sucked.
[00:47:11] Speaker A: And so there's that. I think There's a difference between. I think that's. And that's why I think it's Got a Call, Follow Waitress. Because, like, okay, they weren't trying to. They were just having fun.
[00:47:20] Speaker B: I don't even know the weird self, like, destructive. Just weirdness. Like, this is probably right up your alley.
Like.
Yeah, I don't. I don't know. This was.
I mean, it was weird. This whole thing. I'm baffled by. I'm baffled that there's a sequel to this movie in the first place and that we're bringing it back now and it was as big as it was for. It's like I said, I knew what it was in the first place. I knew before the comics came out, I would have known what Toxic Avenger was. And. Yeah, I've never saw this movie.
How that managed to make its way into my head is baffling, because what the hell did I just watch?
[00:47:58] Speaker A: I felt the same way. I watched it, but here's why I was entertained. And again, that's what I think goes down to. I was entertained because it wasn't what I was watching, Paul. I mean, I've watched movies you watch. There's two superhero movies right now in the theaters right now. Right. There's Superman and Fantastic.
They're not. They're different, but people are going to compare them. People are going to compare them because.
[00:48:18] Speaker B: Yeah. No matter what. Yeah. Because they. That's probably a.
To their detriment, a bad release schedule is that people are going to ultimately be like, well, I had more fun at this movie.
[00:48:28] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:48:28] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:48:29] Speaker A: This, to me, was like a superhero film, but, like, different. And so that's why I was like, I'm entertained, you know, and here. It's for a male audience, I'll tell you that right now, because there's enough boobs in this movie to. To, you know, to wag a stick.
[00:48:43] Speaker B: Out this ridiculous, like, writing and over sexualization and, like, it was just bizarre.
[00:48:52] Speaker A: It was bizarre. Toxic Avenger is bizarre. It's toxic. No, but. And I also feel like you probably don't need to see this movie to see the new one. It's probably okay.
I feel like it is a cult classic. If you're into pop culture, if you're into movies, if you're into this. This. This genre, which I would think you would be, if you're listening to it this long on this episode, rant about this for this long, it's probably worth watching just to be like, okay, I've seen it. I'm never gonna watch it again. This is it. I've watched the movie. I'm done.
[00:49:16] Speaker B: It's a horror. Like, it's a horror. That's what it is. It's straight up. But it's the perspective that the monster's the good guy, which I guess is unique.
[00:49:25] Speaker A: It's not like I said that to me is why it's entertaining and so on and so forth. But so it's worth watching if you want to be like, I've seen this movie. There's definitely movies in the history of movies that I've seen. Some movies that people absolutely love that I've watched. Once I said, I did it, check the box off. I don't need to do it again. I have enough other stuff to watch. This is one of those ones that's like, a lot of people don't like and a lot of people like, I've seen it. It's part of my. The pantheon of movies.
[00:49:49] Speaker B: Now we can get into the. Yeah, yeah.
[00:49:52] Speaker A: I will see the new one. I like Peter Dinklage a lot. A lot. So I think Peter Dinklage is going to make it say, I want to see what they do with it. That's the reason I'm gonna see it. I'm not gonna go watch Part two, Part three, part four of the old one. I just not. It's not worth it to me. I don't have the time. I'd rather watch other movies that are cult classics that I have seen yet.
[00:50:09] Speaker B: I am personally excited because Master the Universe is coming. There's been a lot of talk of that through SCCC this weekend.
And that also means that we have to watch the Dolph Lundgren movie, which I. I love.
[00:50:22] Speaker A: Maybe we should watch that soon. Yeah.
[00:50:23] Speaker B: Oh, bad. And I love it so much.
[00:50:26] Speaker A: I talked to you about watching Spawn.
[00:50:28] Speaker B: Have you watched that? You've seen that movie?
[00:50:30] Speaker A: I've seen that.
[00:50:30] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:50:30] Speaker A: It's great. Okay. I love that movie. I love that movie.
[00:50:33] Speaker B: So. It's so bad.
[00:50:33] Speaker A: I watched it in your. I actually watched it in your shop when I was covering the shop one day.
[00:50:36] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:50:36] Speaker A: Put it on again.
We're going to watch. So one of the things I wanted to watch this fall because of horror and comic book related things like that, was talking about Spawn. Spawn is actually in October getting a 4K release.
So I thought that'd be kind of cool to do in like the beginning, end of September, beginning of October to do Spawn just because of the release of that film. It's going to be. People are gonna want to watch It. We're not going to watch it in 4K, because we're gonna watch it before it comes out on 4K.
[00:51:04] Speaker B: But I'm not watching it. 4K.
[00:51:07] Speaker A: But we could do He Man Masters Universe, too. Oh, sorry. Master Universe. Is it called.
Is it called He Man?
[00:51:13] Speaker B: I. I think the Dolph Wonder movie is called He Man. Master of the Universe, is it? Or Master of the Universe. Yeah, it should technically be called Master the Universe, but it's always called He Man.
[00:51:22] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it's. There's one coming out. Yes.
But that was because it was the old one.
Who the heck is in this movie? Oh, Idris Elba's in the movie.
Did you know that?
[00:51:35] Speaker B: No, I don't know who that is.
[00:51:37] Speaker A: Idris Elba.
[00:51:38] Speaker B: Yeah. No, I got no idea.
[00:51:39] Speaker A: He's the guy that. What's his name? That has the sword in Thor movies.
The black guy.
[00:51:45] Speaker B: Oh. Oh, Hammondale.
[00:51:46] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:51:47] Speaker B: He's very good at Simondale. Yeah.
[00:51:49] Speaker A: Yes. Yeah.
[00:51:49] Speaker B: So character I really like in the comics.
[00:51:51] Speaker A: Yes.
What the heck is going on here? I can't. It's so hard sometimes to find, like, things on the Internet, even though it's, like, really? Actually, it should be easy.
[00:52:04] Speaker B: Yeah, no, I definitely.
[00:52:06] Speaker A: But yeah, so he man, we'll do that one. He man masters movie.
What year did it come out? 1987.
[00:52:15] Speaker B: Okay. Yep.
[00:52:17] Speaker A: It's called. It's just called Masters of the Universe.
[00:52:19] Speaker B: Okay. So that's called Masters Universe, which is the, I guess, appropriate title.
[00:52:23] Speaker A: Yep. It's got Dolph Lundgren. Courtney Cox is in it.
[00:52:26] Speaker B: Courtney Cox's first movie. Yeah.
[00:52:29] Speaker A: Is it really? Wow.
[00:52:29] Speaker B: I'm pretty sure.
[00:52:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:52:30] Speaker B: I'm pretty sure that's her first movie.
[00:52:32] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:52:33] Speaker B: Yeah. She was much better actress in this than any of the people were in the Toxic convention when we just watched. She's not great in this movie, mind you. In Master of the Universe, she's not great. So much better than any of the actors in Toxic Avengers.
[00:52:47] Speaker A: I always like looking this stuff up. The guy who wrote this movie, which actually makes sense. The guy who wrote this movie, he man or masters universe from 1987, which we'll get to at some point, is Dave O', Dell, and Dave Odell actually wrote the Muppet Movie.
[00:53:00] Speaker B: That's random.
[00:53:02] Speaker A: But here you go. Ready for this? He also wrote the Dark Crystal, which obviously makes sense.
[00:53:07] Speaker B: Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. Well, and I can see Dark Crystal and Master Universe go together fairly.
[00:53:12] Speaker A: Oh, He Tales. From the Dark side TV show to the horror anthology TV show by George A. Romero.
[00:53:17] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:53:17] Speaker A: Wrote that, too. Wrote on that, too. Which is pretty cool. But, yeah, we'll get to that. We'll get some movies to do.
[00:53:22] Speaker B: I gotta.
[00:53:23] Speaker A: I've gotta start writing these things down. I'm writing down right now. So I remember because there are sometimes where I'm like, oh, we've talked about a movie. I really want to do it. I just didn't get a chance to do it.
[00:53:30] Speaker B: Holy crap. Talk about the movies that take themselves seriously. Here we go.
[00:53:34] Speaker A: I think the guy who played Spawn, actually, I think he acted in a trauma movie. What's his name?
[00:53:42] Speaker B: God, I should know that.
[00:53:43] Speaker A: What's his name?
[00:53:44] Speaker B: Yes, I know his last name is White.
[00:53:47] Speaker A: Is it Jaleel or something like that? Michael J. White.
Michael J. White. As in J. A, I. Michael J. White.
[00:53:55] Speaker B: I. I really.
[00:53:56] Speaker A: Oh, here you go.
[00:53:58] Speaker B: I really like him as an actor.
[00:53:59] Speaker A: It's connected. Fall. It all connects.
[00:54:02] Speaker B: Kevin Bacon Rule.
[00:54:03] Speaker A: He was in.
He was Apocalypse Incorporated executive in the Toxic Avenger Part two and Part three.
It's all connected, buddy.
[00:54:16] Speaker B: I'm pretty sure this is not something I would want on my resume.
[00:54:18] Speaker A: It was. His first movie was Toxic Avenger Part two, and then he went on to do. To play Spawn.
[00:54:24] Speaker B: All right.
[00:54:25] Speaker A: That is amazing. He was also a man in the audience in Secret of the Use.
[00:54:30] Speaker B: Really?
[00:54:30] Speaker A: Yeah, I guess that's a pretty cool.
[00:54:32] Speaker B: Oh, there we go.
[00:54:33] Speaker A: Pretty cool connection there. But yeah, eight years later, like the dance club, right?
Yeah, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, probably.
[00:54:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:54:42] Speaker A: But yeah, he, he. Toxic Avenger Part 2 in 1989 was his first role that he was in Part 3. And then he did Teenage the Secret of who's Being in the Audience. And then eight years later, he did Spawn. Well, he did all the stuff in.
[00:54:53] Speaker B: Between, but, yeah, he was in a Man. Was it. What was. Was it Steven Seagal? He was in another, like, action movie.
[00:55:01] Speaker A: Oh, really?
[00:55:02] Speaker B: I want to say it was Seagal. And he played. He played the villain that, like, you didn't know he was the bad guy. I think it was him. And was it the one with him and dmx?
[00:55:12] Speaker A: He was in one with John Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren called Universal Soldier.
[00:55:17] Speaker B: Well, Universal Soldier is a really good movie.
[00:55:19] Speaker A: He's in it.
He's a soldier.
[00:55:21] Speaker B: Yeah, he's one of the soldiers in there.
Soldiers. Actually, like, a really good movie.
[00:55:25] Speaker A: Exit. He was an Exit.
[00:55:27] Speaker B: Okay. It was a really good movie, in my opinion, as a kid.
[00:55:28] Speaker A: Yeah. Exit Wounds. You're talking about Exit Wounds.
[00:55:30] Speaker B: There you go. Yeah.
[00:55:31] Speaker A: With Dmx That's a good movie.
[00:55:32] Speaker B: Yeah, dmx. And it's got Anthony Anderson in it.
[00:55:36] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:55:36] Speaker B: That's a. That's just a really fun movie.
[00:55:38] Speaker A: Oh, Anthony Anderson's awesome. I love it.
[00:55:40] Speaker B: Guys, the. The guys are trying to break into Steven Seagal's truck as he walks out and he's like, oh, let me help you with these kids. And he.
Yeah, that's easier.
Then he has a. Of course they're annihilating all of them in a fist fight.
[00:55:53] Speaker A: Steven Seagal.
So, Paul, Toxic Avenger, 1984. 1985.
Yeah, that's a. It's a movie.
[00:56:01] Speaker B: It's about all you can say.
[00:56:02] Speaker A: Yeah, it's part of history. We've watched it. You've seen it here now.
[00:56:06] Speaker B: And part of comic history and comic lore.
[00:56:08] Speaker A: We're moving on now, but thank God. Until the next time, we'll do this again. Paul Eaton's from Galactic Comics and Collectibles. You were at 547 Hammond street in Bangor, Maine. So check them out on Instagram, Facebook, all that stuff, too.
He says new and approved website coming at some point.
[00:56:24] Speaker B: We're working on it. It's under development.
It is slowly under development. Holy crap. This is not as easy.
[00:56:33] Speaker A: Yeah, it is what it is. But for now, go watch Toxic Avenger. No, no, go see the new one.
[00:56:41] Speaker B: The Animated series is probably better than.
[00:56:42] Speaker A: What we should have done. We should have been, like, through the original stuff. We're gonna watch. We're gonna watch the anime.
[00:56:45] Speaker B: I'm gonna put the cartoon on today and see. See if it's better.
[00:56:49] Speaker A: His name's Toxic in the. In there. He's cute. Toxy. It's a Toxie. How many people think you recall? The kids talk. There's probably people out there with the name Toxic because of this movie.
[00:56:59] Speaker B: I hope not.
I hope not.
[00:57:03] Speaker A: Until next time, Paul. I appreciate it. You know, stay toxic, buddy.
[00:57:07] Speaker B: There you go, Sam.
