Vague Visages’ The Toxic Avenger review contains minor spoilers. Macon Blair’s 2023 movie (released theatrically in 2025) features Peter Dinklage, Jacob Tremblay and Taylour Paige. Check out the VV home page for more film criticism, movie reviews and film essays.

Reboots are big business in horror right now, but it’s tough to imagine Macon Blair’s take on The Toxic Avenger inspiring the kind of fan outrage that plagued 2018’s Halloween or 2022’s Scream. Although easily the strongest of Troma Entertainment’s output — which is hardly a compliment — the original 1984 gore-fest is beloved among fans of cult cinema, chiefly because it’s so terrible. What a wonderful surprise, then, that the 2025 take, aside from being far from deferential to its forebear, is a better movie in virtually every way. Blair’s The Toxic Avenger does what a great reboot should do — the film carves its own path, in every sense of the word, while paying homage to what came before and taking some big swings along the way. 

Kicking off with Peter Dinklage’s deadpan “heroic voiceover” as Winston/Toxie aka The Hero, Blair immediately and proudly establishes a sense of defiantly goofy territory. This is such a left-field choice for the soulful actor-turned-director, best known predominantly for his moody collaborations with director Jeremy Saulnier, but he makes it clear that he’s not messing around. Something about this material truly spoke to him, and as a sophomore feature (following the underrated 2017 Netflix film I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore), The Toxic Avenger makes an intriguing case for Blair as a filmmaker with a truly unique vision, and some real visual panache too. A cute, animated credits sequence doesn’t overstay its welcome before the director throws viewers right into the madness with deliberately silly location titles denoting that the action is taking place in, for instance, a “Corporate Fartplex” or the “Depressing Outskirts” of St. Roma’s Village, as opposed to Tromaville — get it?

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Dinklage’s Winston isn’t as useless or borderline mentally handicapped as Mitch Cohen’s Melvin Ferd from the original 1984 film (the characterization doesn’t sit great nowadays). True, he can’t even make toast, but the protagonist of Blair’s 2025 film is a dedicated stepfather to Wade (Jacob Tremblay), a sweet-natured tween who’s clearly a bit different and still smarting from the loss of his mother. He’s also a hard worker for Body Talks Healthstyle, which is run by the nefarious Bob Garbinger (Kevin Bacon, having a blast in a badly highlighted blonde wig). It’s hinted that Bob is Bozo, the lead bully from the original movie, all grown up — but, as with all the other clever throwbacks, Blair doesn’t belabor the point, trusting that fans will pick up on it. Bob’s brother, Fritz (Elijah Wood, all gussied up like the Child Catcher), does his dirty work alongside a local band called Killer Nutz, which is essentially a bad version of the Beastie Boys, or a slightly better version of Insane Clown Posse.

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Bob’s righthand woman, Kissy (Julia Davis), closely resembles Ivanka Trump in looks and defers to Bacon’s character on all matters. She’s also totally besotted with him, but that’s beside the point. Winston catches the ire of this colorful group of villains after quietly demanding better health insurance from his boss upon learning, in a very funny scene involving noisy construction workers, that he’s dying. There’s also a vigilante named J.J. (Taylour Paige) who joins forces with Winston once he becomes Toxie, recognizing that they have a common enemy. Luckily, in another update from the original movie, she’s a friend rather than a love interest (there is a shoutout to the blind woman from the 1984 version, though). It’s a lot, and The Toxic Avenger takes a little while to settle into a groove because so much time is required to set up all the different chess pieces. It sometimes feels like Blair has bitten off more than he can chew, but throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks is a crucial part of the Troma charm. 

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There’s a strong anarchic vibe to Blair’s The Toxic Avenger. It’s proudly messy, much like Toxie himself, who isn’t quite sure how to use his new powers for good without freaking everybody out. The makeup and facial prosthetics on stunt performer Luisa Guerreiro are astonishing, especially the moving eyebrows, and the director provides plenty of opportunities to appreciate both by shooting several key sequences outdoors during the day. The greens glow really beautifully, especially in sunlight, and they are nicely complemented by purple accents as well (Toxie’s dark-blue blood). Even the protagonist’s mop looks cool thanks to its eerie green glow. As expected with a Troma movie, albeit a modern one, there’s a ton of visceral, shocking violence and jaw-dropping (literally, at one point) practical gore. It’s so unbelievably OTT that it’s easy to forgive the disappointing amount of unconvincing CGI employed during a handful of Toxie’s most vicious kills. While deliberately dodgy-looking cityscapes are charming in their obvious  ineptitude, à la The Room (2003), viewers can expect watermelon head smashes from The Toxic Avenger, rather than noticeably bad head shots, along with pixelated and melty brains. 

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It’s a shame because the attention to detail is otherwise impeccable. Blair and company do a much better job lip-syncing Toxie’s voice (which wouldn’t be hard, to be fair), yet there are simply too many sight gags to catch them all — a church called “Additional Holy Redeemer” stands out, in particular. The jokes come hard and fast, whether it’s a character’s arm getting ripped clean off, a growing mob of citizens talking about killing vampires or somebody offscreen complaining in disgust upon witnessing the monster hero readjusting his eyeball (again, Blair’s team receives an A+ for the practical gore). The director takes aim at MRAs with a hilarious sequence riffing on a famous scene from the original film, set at a recently rebranded burger joint called Miss Meat. Thus, The Toxic Avenger is sharper, shrewder and more incisive than its 1984 predecessor (including a commentary about the disgraceful American healthcare industry) than it has any right to be. 

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Likewise, The Toxic Avenger’s messaging about appreciating life on Earth with loved ones is surprisingly poignant. Blair focuses on a strained father-son relationship — which is centered around their shared grief, rather than shoehorning in an unlikely romance for Toxie — and it’s one of the smartest revisions the director makes. Even though there may be too much going on at times, Blair bounces around St. Roma’s Village with such delightful alacrity that it’s easier to get swept up rather than fighting against it. It helps enormously that every actor — from Bacon to Wood and, of course, the always lovable Dinklage — is committed to the insanity and treats it with the requisite seriousness, rather than smugly signaling to the audience that they’re in on the joke. The saturated cinematography by Dana Gonzales (who’s also responsible for making FX on Hulu’s Alien: Earth look so gorgeous) perfectly complements the heightened tone, making Blair’s The Toxic Avenger look as close to a prestige picture as Troma project is ever likely to look.  

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In fact, the only real false note in The Toxic Avenger is the lack of Sandy Farina’s “Body Talk” on the soundtrack, despite the fact that Bob’s evil company is named after it. At least “Night on Bald Mountain” features prominently, alongside actors credited solely by their single line from the movie. As such, Blair’s The Toxic Avenger is thoroughly modern, with a big, green heart that justifies the film’s existence without being too much of a departure from what came before. If anybody was actually up in arms about their childhood being ruined over this reboot, the director will calm their nerves in the first five minutes alone.

Joey Keogh (@JoeyLDG) is a writer from Dublin, Ireland with an unhealthy appetite for horror movies and Judge Judy. In stark contrast with every other Irish person ever, she’s straight edge. Hello to Jason Isaacs. Thank you for reading film criticism, movie reviews and film reviews at Vague Visages.

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