‘The Toxic Avenger: Part 3 – The Last Temptation of Toxie’ Really is the beginning of the downfall of the franchise for me honestly, the moment that things quickly and sharply started going downhill. and the only thought that really ran through my mind through all of this is ‘Wow…this is actually pretty boring.’ Which is astounding given this series only one entry prior was turning people into ramen bowls and two entries prior was gorily running over children.

The plot? things more or less pick up shortly after the events of ‘Toxie: Part 2’ With ‘Apocalypse Inc.’ banished and Tromaville back on the straight and narrow, things are looking up! with Tromaville turning into one of the most crime free and pleasent places in New Jersey to visit…In fact, Toxie has done his job TOO well…theres no crime to fight, and what was (at best) a ‘making ends meet’ job as a superhero has all but dried up. Leading him to commit the ultimate in moral degridation…He has to work for the tax office.

However, a thread of hope arrives in the mail when Toxie’s fiance Claire gets an offer for elective advanced laser surgery that could entirely cure her blindness. However, theres a catch…the operation costs $375,000. Obviously they cant afford it, and Toxie begins to question his life choices, is he the right person for Claire?, or his he still just some dweeby mop boy deep down. Haunted by nightmares in which he’s mocked by his dweeby ‘inner’ melvin. He eventually recieves an offer of work from a mysterious company…they offer him the full 375 grand up front, and in exchange all Toxie has to do is advocate for the company and run a few business deals.

However, the company is non other than ‘Apocalypse inc.’ and part of their contract means that Toxie is legally bound to follow their orders in perpetuity and that Toxie must ‘Worship’ the companies owner…Toxie mishears ‘Worship me’ as ‘Work for me’ and signs immediately, granting Claire sight…and turning Toxie into the poster boy for a city wise chemical dumping scheme AND transforming him into the worst kind of monster of all…a YUPPIE.

What I will say is that this film does open strong with a pretty nice couple of scenes featuring some muggers trying to rob and intimidate a video store filled with ONLY troma tapes (I had to chuckle at the muggers threats to restock the video store with ‘top 20 bestsellers’ which made the store customers shriek in horror.)

Unfortuantely for me, that was probably the best of the film…and it all happens in the first 10-15 minutes or so. The rest of the film is just a pretty flat plotline about Toxie being seduced by money and power into doing bad things. They start to become really picky with what ‘Lore’ to follow in this edition, which…I know Lloyd Kaufman isnt exactly a shining beacon of ‘preserving contiunuity’. But you cant base your entire last film around ‘Tromatons’ driving Toxies moral compass and causing him to beast out when evil is afoot…then in this film have him spend MOST of the movie with bad guys, but not even get an inkling.

The film clocks in again at almost an hour and 45…and while last time I could just about manage that because things were so high energy and it still had a real tone and feeling of being snarkily self aware. But this entry is much more reliant on stock footage from the previous two films and spends a good chunk of the runtime going round in circles and things pretty much collapse into just…’showing unrelated scenes one after another’ by the time we get to the third act… This film pretty much tonally shifts us even FURTHER into comedy and away from graphic horror. To the point that we’re now pretty fully into ‘Bad Comedy’ terratory for most of the runtime.

I can handle some bad comedy, but this ones kind of triple bluffed itself into a situation where its a anarchic, snarky and acidic franchise, parodying a parable and the whole Yuppie/Clean living movement…But because it gets SO engrossed in the detail of its parody…it pretty much just ends up BECOMING the thing its trying to parody…only with more gunge and softcore thrown into the mix.

There also doesnt seem to be that much of interest going on in the film, bearing in mind the first film had high speed car chases and visceral gore, the second had extravigant locations and unique comedic kills…this film, at most; has a few interesting ‘dream sequence’ effects, a couple of interesting transformation effects, and a shot of a school bus going off a cliff in a quarry…thats about it, which is quite the step down from the last couple of films.

Add to that, that the characters arnt particularly engaging here. Toxie doesnt really get any particularly great lines, the Apocalypse Inc. folks are all pretty muted throughout…

In fact, I think thats this films biggest problem, its not chaotic enough, theres no bite here, no hunger to really truely do ANYTHING with these characters…the vibe I get from this film is that it was made almost out of obligation, because the last film went down well and they thought they should strike while the irons hot. Unfortunately; this wasnt the kind of story I imagine most folks had in mind.

That being said, outside of the script, the direction and cine are easily on par with the last film, the quality is there given the budget…though obviously; given that the majority of the film is set in Tromaville, it means we’re not QUITE as well off as the last film which shot extensively in Japan…I appreciate that they maintained visual continuity between the two films though, this one may not have much interesting to say, but it still looks really nice and isnt TOO big of a departure visually from the last film (Believe me, we go into freefall on that front with ‘Toxie 4’…)

The performances arnt particularly great in this entry…everyone seems massively toned down from last time. all that aggression and mania has basically been replaced with comedy and screwball characters playing on stereotypes…everyones still kind of goofy and doing what they can to make their roles interesting. But this is not Tromas finest hour (and thats SAYING something)

All in all, I dont think ‘Toxie 3’ is inherently a bad idea…But I do think it was poorly executed. a lukewarm script and an unenthusiastic cast and scope basically hobble any chance this thing had of really properly trying to land a good impression. While this film absolutely has good moments, its too slow paced, overlong and the tone is now trying WAY too hard to be funny…to actually be funny or engaging.

Not one I can recommend. I think if you’ve watched Toxie 1 and 2, doing 3 probably wouldnt hurt. But I cant honestly envision myself actively watching 3 on its own…

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-toxic-avenger-part-iii-the-last-temptation-of-toxie/

5 Years after the original ‘Toxic Avenger’ tore through cinema screens with its distinctive snark, excessive gore and manic titlation, Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Hertz returned to screens with a second heaped helping of ‘Traumatic Toxie Terror’ in ‘The Toxic Avenger Part 2’ A film that, in my opinion was *PAINFULLY* close to surpassing the original. But just falls short of the mark.

The plot opens a few years after the original film and establishes that, since Toxie has been on the scene, crime in Tromaville pretty much no longer exists. Instead all the criminals have either been killed or forced out of the city to do there business elsewhere. But all thats about to change, as we follow a company called ‘Apocalypse inc.’ as they attempt one of the most fiendish plans that Tromaville has experienced up to this point. They wish to buy up all the vacant lots within Troma and turn them purely into chemical and radioactive dumping sites. Witht ultimate goal being to own enough of Tromaville, that they can basically just invade the bits that ARNT theres and reduce the entire town to radioactive rubble.

Of Course, Toxie is dead against this and fights off an initial take over of a ‘home for the blind’. When Apocalypse Inc. boardmembers get wind that Tromaville is protected, they plan to take Toxie out of the picture by getting his freaudian psychiatrist to convince him he needs to go and find his father (Big Mac). After asking around, its revealed that ‘Big Mac’ is currently living in Japan, and so; Toxie takes up a windsail and travels abroad trying to rekindle his relationship with his dad.

And on landing; as you can imagine, the chaos pretty much continues, as its pretty quickly revealed that Toxie is now living with a lifelong ailment caused by ‘Tromatons’ an element that surrounds evil-doers which, when Toxie is exposed to, causes him to blindly turn into an active killing machine until the evil is defeated (as you can imagine. Japanese street gangs are on the menu).

While on the other side of the pond, Apocalypse inc. waste no time in sending there agents into Tromaville to seize assets and wreck up the place. With the aim being to dissassemble Tromaville as quickly as possible.

And, realistically; pretty much every aspect of the production here has had a HUGE upgrade over the original film.

The script eases off the aggressive streak that was a heavy influence in the original, and instead leans way more into conventional comedy. Don’t get me wrong, the nastiness and excessive gore is still there. But its played more comedically and cartoony than in the previous film where it could actually get really quite dark in places. In some ways I really like the tonal change as it makes the film much easier to digest. But at the same time, that lean into comedy does come with some issues, chiefly that some of the comedy is just plain rubbish for lack of a better descriptor.

The pacing is incredibly nippy, wasting no time in getting us back into the action after a prolonged absence, that high force energy is still raring away under the hood and its nice to see the utterly boundless mania that this film is STILL able to produce given just how hard the first film pushed in getting ‘everything and the kitchen sink’ into the final production.

However, I will also say that towards the back end, basically from the 2nd half of the 2nd act. Things do start losing momentum a little bit, mercifully; it winds up before things get problematic on that front. but it feels a bit like they didnt quite know how to end this one, or that the ending they had planned didnt translate quite as effectively as they’d hoped to screen…So they just quickly threw something together and stapled it onto the end of the script. Its not a terrible ending, but it does feel rushed.

It also doesnt help that this is the longest ‘Toxie’ film clocking in at just shy of an hour and 45 minutes long. Which this film absolutely didnt need. it could easily shed 15 minutes and would have felt a lot more solid as a result.

I also feel that the script seems a bit unsure of what to do with Tromaville in this instance, with Toxie away, a lot of the characters we were introduced to in the first film, who’ve come back for the sequel, seemingly are only there to be terrorized on screen on and off for collectively about 10-15 minutes. Which is a bit of a shame as, at that point Tromaville was still really only just beginning to be properly documented and it would have been interesting to get a bit more of a sense of the towns history.

Outside of these points however the scripts still as razor as ever with quick witted hyjinx, low brow humour, guts, gore and nudity all present and accounted for. But now the production actually has a bit of a bigger budget, its enabled bigger set pieces, grander ideas and more over the top fight scenes than the last entry. I think this one (in my opinion) is more fun than the first one, but I do think it kind of lacks the total and utter conviction and rawness that the original had.

The direction here has also had a big boost across the board. Japans a fairly iconic location for a monster movie, and Kaufman and the Troma team capitalize on that ten fold, really brining the spirit of Japan to this film in a big way. Again much like the first film theres endless opportunities for creative and experimental visualizations, and Kaufman and Hertz really grab every opportunity they’re given here and go for it.

But beyond that, the enhanced budget has also enabled a larger crew, meaning scenes are now better lit, have better quality sound, and much MUCH higher quality film stock. It results in some of the best moments in the ‘Toxic Avenger’ franchise and some of the cleanest nicest looking visuals Troma have ever produced. ts clear everyone involved in this knew EXACTLY what they were getting into and they really deliver on the brief.

Same goes for direction of the cast too, with a format established in the original, this film uses that film as a template to demonstrate the madness in action and the crew have clearly worked VERY hard with the cast to try and capture that sense of aggressive mania that the first film had. Which I think they largely successfully manage. As mentioned they do tone back the aggression a bit (the first film felt like the cast members were about to anurism at any minute) but this scaling back I think actually makes the film a bit more accessable, as its aiming more for laughs than shock.

The cine is crisp, clean and the bigger budget means we have MUCH more scope for creative scene building. that rough and ready pop punk edge of the first film has been really cleaned up. and the end results are a film that still feels pretty anarchic, but better structured, better presented and better managed. the edits a bit more typical of a studio picture, which I think is another aspect that effects the pacing unfortunately, but its clear to see that, at this point in time Troma considered ‘Toxie’ to be their flagship product, and they really wanted to put a lot of time and care into shoring up and solidifying his 2nd ever appearence.

As for the performances? my thoughts are about the same as the original. we have a really unique over the top hyper campy energy present throughout. its a little more reserved than the first film. But that kind of makes it a bit funnier in my opinion. Though, a knock on effect of that really is non fo the villains truely feel *properly* demented in the same way the villains in the first one did…That and we’re dealing with a much MUCH larger active cast in this than the first film too. So its really kind of a miracle the end product was as solid, crazy and enjoyable as it is.

All of this is tied up with a ROCK solid score that leans more into Pop, Rock and J-pop style synth work, It sounds a lot more unique to this franchise than the original films score (which I felt was a little generic) and I think its used very effectively throughout. not being overused, and punctuating key moments perfectly. The sound quality of the on set audio also seems to have had a big boost thanks to the increased budget. so, its nice to have crystal clear clairty on people screeching and screaming their heads off truthfully.

‘The Toxic Avenger: Part 2’ is a personal favourite of mine, a big daft silly epic that takes the off the wall acidic framework of the original, and dials up the silly. and I really find it quite endearing for that. Its hard to be truely shocked by a work, when its so self depricating and creative in what its trying to do, I think its a quite wonderful comfort watch.

Unfortunatley, by a VERY thin margin, I feel it just misses out on topping the original. if it had been just a tiny bit shorter, a tiny bit more gory and the 2nd act a tiny bit tighter. This would be my overall favourite. As it stands, its a ruddy good sequel. and one that I can definitely recommend.

(Additional: checking out the 4k vs the original Bluray release on this one was astounding. much like the first film, it feels like several layers of murk have been lifted off this edition. The bluray release was overly dark and desaturated. They seem to have corrected this issue for the 4k release and its now vivid, the film stock is crisp with a good mid-level grain, its easily the best this film has looked outside of cinemas and its jam packed with both ported and new features. it was MORE than worth the price I paid for it.)

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-toxic-avenger-part-ii/

I ‘d been holding off revisiting ‘The Toxic Avenger’ films for a while now; ever since it was announced that Troma and Vinegar Syndrome were working together to remaster all 4 movies in 4k. I previously owned the movies on the old 88 films bluray releases, and thought the picture quality was fine enough. But the opportunity to see these films re-graded to restore them back to the original visions Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Hertz had for them when they were all respectively released, alongside seeing them all get a pretty decent resolution upgrade, was just too big of a pull for me not to try and nab the set. And; after a chance run in with a pretty decent price drop (I managed to grab the set for £57) I can say that this is an upgrade definitely worth grabbing.

The film follows the titular ‘Toxic Avenger’ formally a painfully awkward, weedy janitor by the name of Melvin. Melvin cleans the ‘Tromaville Gym’ Tromaville itself is known as the world biggest provider of land to dump nuclear waste, and the radioactive materials appears to have taken its toll on the towns population, with insane punks, lawless perverts and octuple XL size mayors running the town into the sewer.

When a group of punks try to pull a cruel prank on Melvin, things go too far and Melvin ends up plunged into a barrel of toxic waste which transforms him into mucle bound, mop mauling hero we all know and love. At first, his mission is vengence on the bullies who pranked him, but eventually, he finds love, settles down and decides to take on the corrupt injustices of the world.

And This films frankly just SUCH a wonderfully silly slab of counterculture work. I find it really quite hard to dislike it. It has enough of a budget that they can do fun and cool things like set multiple people on fire, collapse old buildings and rent army vehicals and hold high speed car chases. but at the same time the budgets so low that most of the cast are family and friends of troma, and a lot of the film has to take place outdoors because…sets are expensive y’know?

The scripts ultra light, acidic and brimming with a pop punk sensibility. Later era Troma movies would trade purely on ‘Anti PC’ monikers and an attitude that basically amounted to ‘doing gross or graphic stuff = eyes on the film. So do that at all costs.’ This film does have some questionable moments (racial slurs, homophobia and some anti trans rhetoric) but the things SO intensly unserious, and SO utterly goofy. it kind of lands itself in the same pot as ‘The Evil Dead’ where, realistically Its too daft to ever really be taken as an intent of malice or controversy. Its the equivilent of a rambling mad man, it doesnt MEAN anything its saying, the film doesnt really MEAN anything broadly speaking…it simply presents us with a LOT of very disturbing, hypersexual, hypermanic characters and lets the plot figure the rest out.

The pacing is largely breakneck throughout the whole thing, though it does start to slow down a little bit in the 3rd act…Mercifully, just as it starts slowing down, the film itself starts wrapping up…So its not like we’re stuck with the movie for any prolonged period of time. The act structuring is clean, clear and fairly effortless. Tonally; this things insane. running on a constant hypermanic energy and just…CONSTANTLY throwing the audience curveballs via eccentric characters, ultra gory and unexpected scenarios or if all else fails, it’ll just randomly start blowing things up.

The dialogue is DRIPPING with dark humour, aggrivation and spite. its a very quotable film that’s a bit of a ‘lightning in a bottle’ type situation, as I dont feel they quite managed to be as ‘switched on’ in ANY of there other films, as they were here.

Again; this film neither takes itself seriously, nor does it expect the audience to take it seriously. I firmly believe that Lloyd and Michael obviously WANTED people to come and see this film, but their attitude is very much a tone of ‘We made what we wanted to make, if you like it, good. If you dont?…no refunds.’

I admire the grit that it must have taken to push this film onto the market given just how anti studio friendly this thing really is. Had they aimed to try and give this thing a more serious ‘real life’ edge, I think it would have been horrific. But because of its ‘Merry Melodies’ sensibilities. Its jawdroppingly absurd for the most part, and VERY likeable as a result.

The directions quite rough and ready, Theres absolutely a strong creative vision behind this production, and the careful planning (for budgets sake) of the practical effects elements of this production really drives home that, when he wants to, Lloyd Kaufman can really deliver a genuinely enthralling watch.

while this is absolutely a wobbly production, with ropey lighting in places, shakey handheld shots, audio quality that varies throughout and cast direction that feels like Lloyd basically just purposfully riled everyone up to get them as aggressive and manic as possible, then shouted ‘Action!’ This is offset, once again, by the fact that the film really doesnt care to be ‘studio fodder’. it revels in the rawness of its own creation and takes a lot of inspiration from the new wave movement and the midnight movie circuit. Lloyds ability to really sell the practical effects here is probably the only time a genuine attention to detail was had during this films production. Because those are the moments folks will remember. Otherwise its rough, but lovable.

The cine, as mentioned is quite rough around the edges, compositions are largely ‘of standard’ and I feel like ‘radioactive green’ as a colour choice runs RIFE through this thing. But realistically, outside of the effects shots…its an amateur affair thats ultimately saved by its edit.

Here? the edit follows the lead of the script, rather than the footage. cutting excessively, jarringly and speedily. and it works. it totally helps to cement the sense of freneticism that the script offers up, it ampliphies and emphisises the sense of chaos that the characters and scenarios hold, and I think the edit on this is probably its saving grace. in lesser hands, this film could have been utter junk. but the keen eye on cuts and not holding on shots for too long really does take it to the next level.

And I swear, you will seldom find ANY other film that has performances like this. EVERY. SINGLE. CAST MEMBER. is hopped up, positively vibrating and appears to be ready to implode at a moments notice. its incredibly intense and one that I think you really have to be in the right headspace to truely appreciate. But I love whats shown here. whether its Melvins bullies who are all absolute psychopaths. or; just random villains like ‘Cigar face’ . They’re all just utterly mezmorising to watch and frankly delightful.

I do however have mixed feelings on the score, its an all synth pop punk piece. Some of it, I thinks brilliant, but in places I feel like they went for slower compositions when they should have kept the energy up. Its not a bad score at all. I just feel they warmed down when they really could have stood to rev up.

I honestly have a real soft spot for the big daft energy ‘The Toxic Avenger’ holds. Its probably my favourite Troma movie, and with good reason! an underdog production that, with every passing year, gains the respect it probably deserves. at a time when society was pushing back on ‘excessive cinema’, Troma said ‘FUCK YOU.’ They may not have been right every time on that one…but they were absolutely spot on here. And it’s definitely worth your time.

(Additional: I also need to say the 4k remastering on this is astoundingly good. it felt like a layer of vaseline had been removed from the print. its crisp, clean, the new colour correction really brings the thing to life. Its a 2 disc set thats packed with extras… in fact other than some minor scratches. I think this is about as good as the films ever going to look. and if ‘Part 2’ is of the same standard, the set will have paid for itself)

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-toxic-avenger/

Im not a huge fan of the ‘parody’ horror genre. I find it a little bit predictable as a format because these things generally always run the same ‘take a much beloved IP thats been held by some copyright ghoul for the better part of half a century and release it to the general public’ and whats the first thing people do? they make twisted, demented cheap and lazy horror or pornographic parodies of it.

Its almost like withholding something from peoples use for prolongued periods of time causes people to narrow their views on the potential said IP COULD have once it IS publically accessable.

Things like ‘Winnie the Pooh’ could find a new life with a whole new generation of children, if the right soul took the much beloved character and applied it successfully utilizing more modern sensibilities…but no, instead we get ‘Blood and Honey’ and a clambouring to make gory Pooh content and porn parodies…This is why we cant have nice things…

So when ‘The Mean One’ landed on my desk this week, I was a bit hesitant to hit play, knowing that essentially I was letting myself in for a predictable 90 minute dance of ‘heres a loved character, now he’s goring people and swearing’…But y’know what? out of all the ‘Parody’ horror films i’ve seen. This ones probably one of the best. Its by no means perfect! but I thought it handled itself pretty well right up until the 3rd act.

The plot? the films set in the town of ‘Newville’ (gettit! cuz ‘Whoville’ lol…ugh…) and we open 20 years in the past to a young girl named Cindy catching a mysterious green figure (who…they may or may not legally be unable to call ‘The Grinch’) wandering around her living room and possibly stealing presents. Cindys mum wakes up and sees the great beast and tries to attack it, ‘The Mean One’ as he’s dubbed here retaliates and accidentally kills cindys mum. traumatizing her thoroughly before dissapearing into the night.

Now 20 years later (in the present day) Cindy is returning to the family home for the first time since the incident, after years of being ridiculed and labelled as crazy. Her dads picked her up, and the pair of them are going to spend christmas together. But no sooner do the pair deck the halls and get the christmas cheer swinging. then ‘The Mean One’ comes back causing carnage. Cindy is clearly re-traumatized by the Mean Ones return. and so she begins to plan to gather evidence and to do whatever she can to ensure the Mean One doesnt ruin another christmas ever again.

And…for the vast majority of this movie. I was actually pretty alright with it. The script starts off strong with some likeable, but not particularly unique characters in a solid, but not particularly ‘original’ storyline. it opens with a bit of a clip behind it and it seems to have its tone about right.

Unfortunately, around halfway through the second act, the film begins to lose a little momentum. things slow down as the towns sheriff starts pushing back on Cindys requests to perform a manhunt in the mountains for the beast, and the introduction of a fairly charming, but also fairly generic ‘crazy ralph’ type mountain man who’s hunting ‘The Mean One’ for his own personal vengences does nothing to really help pep things up.

Things get slower and slower as the 2nd act progresses until, by the third act we kind of hit a fork in the road when the inevitable ‘final confrontations’ occur, where the film could choose to either rev up and take things to a new and unique place, or play it safe and rev down…Unfortunatley, in my opinion, the film chooses to rev down…meaning we get a kind of generic ‘home invasion’ piece for the last 10 minutes that devolves into 2-4 people just hitting each other in a not particularly interesting way.

While the final FINAL plot twists in the film are kind of interesting and fun takes on the original books. By the time those twists had come around, the film had warmed down and slowed down so much I was already starting to clock watch a bit. it’d lost me. Which is a shame, because there IS a genuinely pretty solid picture beneath the surface on this one, and I feel they utilize the ‘Mean One’ quite well here.

One of the bigger stumbling blocks with the script for this is that it doesnt really seem to know what kind of tone it wants to go for, and as such it kind of dances around multiple styles, never quite committing to any one piece. and as a result it leaves a trail of unfinished concepts lying in its wake.

For example, in moments of this film they play around with the ‘Psychological horror’ angle, questioning if this is all in Cindys mind or not. But they never really develop it beyond some of the locals calling her crazy, and a few scenes where they really play up the horror, only to reveal it was all just a dream.

I think it would have been interesting to really lean into the psycho horror aspect of this, maybe make a real attempt at blurring the lines between what Cindy *thinks* she sees and whats REALLY going on. you could have really played with the idea that Cindy MAY in fact be more involved in things that she really realizes. But no….the film sticks on a pretty rigid ‘generic horror/ghost train’ 3 act pathway…

They play around with comedy in places here (I assume to live up to the ‘Parody’ monikre) but that feels really out of place and innapropriate when its lined up against people experiencing PTSD and battling alcoholism.

they dont even really seem to fully know HOW HARD they want the horror to go, as some of this film is pretty tame even by YA standards, and then there are a few moments where it goes full ‘Terrifier’ or ‘Ash Vs The Evil Dead’

I feel like this film lacks a sense of consistency in its scripting which is a bit of a problem throughout…

that being said the characters are pretty solid, they’re given just enough character that you get a feel for them, but not enough that they get *TOO* pigeon hole’d into the horror architypes, which was good because it did add an extra layer of tension, as you cant quite tell who’s on what side of this thing.

Unfortunately; an element that does hold the characters back a bit is that the dialogues a bit spotty. at best theres a couple of fun lines here and there. on average its a bit middling, pithy and ‘worn’…at worst, there are a few lines here where they tried to make the characters feel a bit more. ‘ethereal’ and ‘wise’…and I shot soda out my nose gaffawing. it was SO bad. the kind of writing an angsty 13 year old puts into a poem to impress a girl…On the whole, its PASSABLE, but those bad moments…eesh.

Outside of the script however the rest of the films jsut kind of ‘on the level’ not good enough to be notably praised, not bad enough to be derided…’Better than fine’ is how i’ve phrased it when talking about this film to friends.

The direction is WELL above the standards of this subgenre, delivering a clear and creative vision with some pretty decent visual plans and its clear that communication was critical to this thing, as everyones in lock step.

theres some decent colour usage, the lighting throughout is pretty rock solid, direction of the cast is good. with some clear set space usage and utilization and it seems like the cast were given some flexibility on their movements and line delivery…with mixed results…but mostly good ones!

the cine too is WELL above the standard for these kind of films, really well composed they make the best of the lighting and set space to really drive the cold christmassyness of the mountain town and the cozy warmth of a christmas laiden home. I really quite enjoyed this thing for the most part. But there were a couple of things I took umbridge with.

The first being the overealiance on CGI effects in the 3rd act. theres a LOT of CGI blood and fire used in the finale, and its obvious, and its ugly…and while I appreciate practical effects can be expensive and at time impractical. shoving some fire overlays onto a shot without blending them properly and then calling it a day gave me real ‘rush job’ vibes and really pulled me out of the story.

the other issue is the overeliance on stock video and imagery. again, this seems to mainly be in the ending. But a good 2-3 minutes of the finale is just purchased stock footage or stock images. it didnt match the rest of the film footage, they’d ‘enhanced’ it with more CGI overlays…It again just kind of pulled me out of the movie and made me think ‘oh…I guess the money ran out’ rather than ‘Oh wow! look at all that stock footage!’

The edit too, while largely fine on a scene by scene basis, I feel could have done with another pass through, particularly in the second half of the second act, and the third act. I think they nailed the first. but the back half of this film felt like a good 10-15 minutes could have been chopped and would have resulted in a much stronger end product.

Ultimately, this is probably the best ‘IP Parody horror’ film i’ve seen make it through the full production process. did I love it? no. would I rewatch it? maybe…I think in the right circumstancer I could see myself revisiting this one…but it probably wont be for a while. its a solid enough work, but just those odd niggles here and there stopped it from ultimately being the absolute best it could have been. Which is a real shame as, for the most part. I really quite enjoyed this one.

Maybe recommended if your doing a movie marathon with some hits and misses intentionally thrown into the mix. I think your milage may vary on how forgiving you are towards IP parody horror honestly.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-mean-one/

After ‘Camp Blood: First Slaughter’ I didnt think it was possible for the ‘Camp Blood’ franchise to really sink much lower. I mean…’First Slaughter’ was and is widely considered to be one of Mark Polonia’s worst movies…and when your the WORST MOVIE that MARK POLONIA ever made…well there isnt really anywhere else for you to go but up honestly.

And yet! Dustin Ferguson has legitimately pulled a ‘Hold my Beer’ here with ‘Camp Blood 4’ a film that quite literally is BARELY a film.

Heres the full breakdown of the whole movie, I cant really spoil anything, because there IS nothing to spoil:

*Its established in the first 5 minutes that the film takes place 3 years after ‘Camp Blood First slaughter’ and we open with a couple going into the woods, having sex and get murdered.

*from minutes 7 to 31 we then follow ‘Raven’ a young woman, as she wakes up, cleans herself up, gets dressed, watches the news and hears about the grizzly murders that took place the night before, feeds her cat, pops a shirt on and walks to a local record store/thrift store/bar. she goes through the merch, walks home and takes a phone call from her boyfriend kyle who asks if shes ready for the ‘concert tonight’. while two other girls in a different house put makeup on, walk to Ravens house, head inside and make a pot of coffee.

We then see a man put a clown mask on and pace around a shed before going for an extended walk in the woods. our gang get into a car and drive to a local gas station and its here…THIRTY ONE MINUTES into this 71 minute feature that the ACTUAL plot of the movie is mentioned. This gang of 30 somethings playing teens are going to a rock concert a couple of towns over, and they plan to stay overnight at ‘Camp Blood’ to save them having to drive all day on the day of the concert. The other customers at the gas station try to warn them about ‘Camp Blood’ but the gang dismiss them as weirdos, pay for their stuff and get back on the road.

Minutes 32 to 45 feature a montage of the clown killer wandering around in a concrete shed, and footage of the gang in the car, on the road talking about the legend of ‘camp blood’ while stock footage from ‘Camp Blood 3-2’ plays in the background, before they arrive at the camp at the 45 minute mark, walk in the woods for 3-5 minutes and FIFTY FOUR MINUTES into this 71 minute feature, our group have a tent set up in the woods.

we then have 10 minutes in which they gather around a campfire and learn about the ‘Camp Blood Clown Killer’s origin (which is now COMPLETELY different from the last 2 origin stories made for him) the gang smoke some weed, a couple go off to make out and have sex. and then at the hour mark, it suddenly jump cuts and two of the women have been pulled away to the concrete shed, ones dead, and one gets called a ‘slut’ by the clown killer, who then murders her to.

Bearing in mind, there is now only 5 or so minutes left of the movie because this film has 6-7 minutes worth of end credits. Our clown killer does another walking montage, kills one of the gang when he goes to take a leak, kills another when he goes out looking for the guy who went to take a leak, kills the GIRLFRIEND of the guy who went to take a leak leaving 2 girls running in the woods for 2 minutes before they reveal who the killer is, and its someone who ‘Raven’ knows, but who wasnt even really in the movie. the film then ends on a ‘To Be Continued’ slide.

the AUDACITY of this film to do that. given that AT LEAST 50 minutes of this 71 minute film is extended walking shots or stock footage. is frankly brain addling…I dont really know how to explain it much better than that. when the ‘To Be Continued’ slide popped up, I genuinely thought they were joking. But they’re not.

The scripts absolutely atrocious. they say that, on average 1 page of a script should equal roughly 1 minute of screentime. if this was the case ‘Camp Blood 4’ had a 71 page script with at LEAST 60 of those pages being blank. I cannot stress enough how LITTLE happens in this movie. its astonishing to me to even consider that they charged money for this release given how little ACTUALLY happens.

the characters are all super non descript, they dont have any kind of unique personality traits or identifiers, I only know Raven because they write her name in big letters on a note to her in the opening of the film. The dialogue is awful, the pacing is quite possibly the worst i’ve ever seen in a movie, the tone is seemingly set to ‘air conditioner’.

I cant comment on the directional style of this film, because despite watching this on a crisp 1080p bluray copy, the decision has seemingly been made to ‘black crush’ the entire movie, and blow out all the highlights…as a stylistic choice. What this basically means is that any scene set during the day, the natural light is basically just pure white…it looks like someones dropped a nuke on screen its blinding white light with only items in the immediate forefront visible and anything with a darker tone being crushed to the point it just looks pitch black.

When they shoot at night, because they’ve ‘black crushed’ the whole movie. your literally just watching a black screen with an occasional flicker of movement whenever someone wearing white runs past the screen, because any colour darker than white is basically black because of the stylistic choices.

the handful of scenes that are viewable, are basic. very VERY basic. rudamentary scenes, lots of shakey cam footage, levelled off flat profile mid and wide shots. whenever they cut to the stock footage from ‘Camp Blood: First Slaughter’ they’ve put a SUPER ugly ‘film effect’ style filter over the footage, presumably to differentiate it from this movie…but it makes no difference because…being honest, if your more than 3 films into the ‘Camp Blood’ franchise, your pretty well acquainted with them.

the cine is awful, its either locked off tripod shots that do NOT push the boundaries in any way shape or form (my kingdom for a high or low angle shot) OR! its hand held shakey has hell footage that, when combined with the black crushing, is basically unwatchable. Composition of shots is dire, they didnt bother getting much in the way of B-roll, its long, cross faded shots of people walking for about 55 minutes. And its awfully edited footage of people walking at that.

The performances are almost non existent. Because the microphone quality on the shoot was so dire, most of the film is dubbed over with royalty free stock music that is just…THE most generic sounding music i’ve ever heard in my life. When the cast DO have lines if they arnt talking directly into the camera, its muffled and obscured making it VERY hard to figure out what they’re actually saying.

The physical performances are stiff, pretty lifeless, they dont have much in the way of animation or life behind the eyes. and I damn near bust a gut laughing when Raven finds out who the killer is, and her reaction to this killer (who she knows) butchering half a dozen of her best and closest friends…is the same reaction I give when my local pizza place stiffs me on the free soda promotion…its not a measured response is what im getting at.

‘Camp Blood 4’ Makes Ray Dennis Stecklers Porn era look like Martin Scorsese in his prime. a DIABOLICAL work, the fact Sterling Entertainment looked at this and gave it the nod through to sell for fulll retail price is the only real fright you’ll find in this thing.

TRUELY a poor experience on every single level. this isnt even entertainingly bad, its cheap, low effort, low/no gain cinema. and Im still kind of stunned it ever left Sterling Entertainments hard drives.

AVOID.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/camp-blood-4/

The cinematic equivilent to a loud and aggressive shirt at a funeral. ‘How The Grinch Stole Christmas’ has one thing and one thing alone going for it. and that’s Jim Carrey in arguably some of the best practical effects makeup that the 00’s ever produced. Everything else about this incarnation of the classic Dr. Seuss story made me feel physically and mentally unwell. There are a few reasons for that, and we’ll start with the basics.

‘How the Grinch stole christmas!’ was published in 1957 and clocks in at 67 pages long. Its a picture book aimed at teaching children about the importance of humanism and socialist practices. Its basically an alagory for the much needed life lesson that, as a society, humanity depends on the kindness, warmth and love within the hearts of every man, woman, NB and child to ensure we thrive as a species and that noone will ever feel alone, isolated or ‘without’.

In the book, the grinch is an isolated individual who believes that the ‘Whos’ are all talk, that REALLY they SAY that they’re all about ‘the spirit of christmas’ and helping each other and mans humanity to man. But if they DIDNT have their instruments, or their feasts or their decorations, they’d revert to Grouchy, angry gremlins who were no better than The Grinch. Hence why he formulates the plan to steal All the christmas fodder from Whoville to prove a point, and hence why…when the Who’s DONT react the way the Grinch expects, and that…without even hesitating, they all leave their houses to sing and dance together as a community on christmas morning. The Grinch realises that all we have is love, warmth and a sense of community and he changes and joins them.

Its a simple, but very effective message that was pretty perfectly realised in the 1966 adaptaiton of the book. it wasnt perfect. But it was pretty close.

The 2000 adaptation though? seemingly almost ENTIRELY misses the point of the book, and on pretty much every level either disturbed, disgusted or violently tried to put me off.

so…GONE is basically all of the ‘mans humanity to man’ stuff…The Who’s in this adaptation are consumerist pigdogs who are ONLY interested in buying and sending presents and trying to ‘get one up on the neighbours.’ Originally good, decent folk who had gifts simply because they could afford it. THESE Who’s are narcessistic, egotistical aggressive, shouty, they bully people. and are dismissive of the stuff they own…but not in a ‘it doesnt matter, we have each other’ kind of way…In a ‘EH, I can afford 20 christmas trees, i’ll just grab another one’ kind of way.

Its basically a fundamental problem, that this version of the story has a thick meaty slab of capitalism running right through the middle of it…in a story that inherently rails AGAINST capitalism as a means of humanity.

for some reason, they decided to rework the original story, centering the film around the relationship between the Who’s and the Grinch and more specifically a newly written relationship between Cindy Lou-Who and the Grinch where, after a chance encounter at the post office, Cindy Lou becomes OBSESSED with trying to bring the Grinch into HER version of christmas…Which I do rather feel misses the point, because the point of ‘The Grinch’ isnt to assimilate him into christmas, its to make HIM understand that Christmas is people, and people have unending resevoirs of love and compassion.

They decide equally to give the Grinch a full backstory, explaining how he was adopted by christmas fuelled ‘biddys’ as a baby, and how he had a love called Martha who was ‘snatched away’ by a bully who abused the grinch until he left Whoville. Which…I dont really think we needed that honestly…

They add a strange subplot about a love triangle with the Grinch, Martha and the bully (who’s now the mayor of Whoville)…They have subplot where Cindy Lou invites the Grinch down to whoville for a christmas party, only for it to turn out to be organized just to bully the Grinch some more.

Not to mince my words here, but the Who’s in this film…are arseholes. They prove the Grinch right on pretty much every turn in this film, and they get an undeserved ending when the Grinch brings all the gifts back.

The Grinch himself here isnt exactly a great representation of the character either. in the books, he’s a wicked but animated character who’s cunning first and foremost, and willing to have amuse himself with a bad joke if the mood takes him, but he’s predominantly on a mission to prove his point. The Grinch here…is basically Jim Carreys interpretation of the Grinch…which here means we’re subjected to prolongued periods of flouncing, gurning, pop culture references, random noises and improv. Which is great…if your just wanting to see Jim Carrey do his thing…but not so great if you want a reasonable live action adaptation of a much loved childrens book/animation.

Throughout the whole film, I kind of realised that, what probably would have worked better, would have been to put Carrey in the makeup and jsut have him do a standup set in the full grinch makeup for a couple hours, film it, and then sell it as a live show, because. I really liked his performance, he didnt get the character particularly well…But I liked Jim Carrey, and I’d have paid good money to see him just do an hour and a halfs set while he pretends to be the Grinch, without the narrative of the film dragging him down.

Its fundamental issues that plague this film. the tones all over the place, the pacings wonkey and unappealing, the ending isnt satisfactory because (as mentioned) I dont feel it was earned. Non of the characters are particularly likeable, and in some cases are just downright grating. the act structuring is off the dialogues awkward and weird, with only Carreys stuff and the improv lines being anything above ‘tolerable.

The directions just about technically sound, but this has got to be the UGLIEST creative vision i’ve seen put to screen, its like those horrifying meme images that float around online where they take a cartoon character like Homer Simpson and show what he’d look like ‘if he was a real person’ all the houses, the street sets, EVERYTHING looks garish, ugly and warped in the worst way possible, the Who designs, sometimes work, and sometimes look like nightmare fuel. The Grinch is probably the only solid costume in the whole thing and…with over 2 hours of makeup application behind it. its not surprising it looks amazing.

Visually, this thing kept reminding me of ‘Batman Forever’ which is NOT where you want the audiences mind to go to when your looking for creative inspiration. Howards direction of the cast is reasonable, but the scripts so unlikeable its kind of hard to really make ANYONE feel like someone I could warm to.

The cine is garish, hazy and awkward. compositions are messy, for some reason they made the sets and characters with a clear idea of using strong and harsh vivid colours, complimented with strong block coloured lighting…but then when it came to grade it in post, they muted it all. Which is horrifying because theres CLEARLY so much that could have been done with the grade to make it more interesting…But no..they just slapped a grey/brown filter over the top of the colours and cranked it up. Not helped either they seem to have either applied some kind of ‘hazy’ filter in post or done the old vasaline trick on the lens because everything has this slight smeared ‘woozy’ look to it, I described it to my viewing buddy as it feeling like you’ve just woken up from a deep ambien fuelled dream to find yourself on the floor of a casino in vegas on a bachalor party full of people you dont like…thats also on fire.

The edits a mess as well, its inconsistent, they cut WAY too much to seemingly pointless shots, the B-roll is WAY too overused. Its just…ugly. For lack of a better word.

throw in some of the worst songs i’ve heard in a christmas movie (and thats saying something) and you have one of the most garish, unappealing loud, screechy vomits from hollywood this side of the century.

Oh! yeh! thats another problem with this film, its unrelenting. This film made me think about ‘what makes a good christmas film?’ and I think I’ve cracked it. The best christmas films utilise a simple (relatable) idea, maybe have a few kind of crazy moments throughout to help keep things interesting, but focus on a small, but likable cast with a strong message relevent to the season. things like ‘Elf’, ‘National Lampoons Christmas vacation’ and ‘Home Alone’ all have big crazy moments dotted throughout, but they never stray from a core message, likeable characters and simple scenarios.

The reason they do that, is because christmas (for many) is a nightmare of stress, having to remember a million things and trying to balance a budget. You dont want something aggressively in your face, you dont want something complex or overly involved because the film needs to be as relevent to the mom/dad whos got christmas presents to wrap, a turkey to baste and a christmas play to get to…as it is to the ‘nogged up’ uncle or aunty who’s full of fruit cake and can barely remember their own name. its got to be simple, because people at that time of year can only just about handle ‘simple’…you can HIDE deeper meanings and easter eggs in there. but its my belief that you cant overtly make a complex, widely loved chrsitmas movie .

This films the exact opposite of the above. a multi threaded colourful vomit of a picture that screams, bangs and screeches its way through nearly TWO HOURS of runtime. goes nowhere really, says…NOTHING…really. its not good in my opinion…its not ‘fun’ in my opinion. and I likely wont be watching this one again.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sh4kz_zhyo

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/how-the-grinch-stole-christmas-2000/

As the late great Terrance Dicks once said ‘You can have an original idea, but it needn’t be *your* original idea.’ 2022’s ‘Hundreds of Beavers’ manages something of a rare feat, taking the old silent slapstick comedies of the 1910s and 20s marrying them up to the ‘Merry Melodies’ sensibility and producing an offspring that has vibes of ‘Forbidden Zone’ but with less of the snark and a much more charming and simplistic edge.

The plot? a story of an applejack maker who accidentally burns his orchard in a drunken outing and winds up buried in the perma frost awakens and has to start a new life as a furtrapper to make ends meet. Initially striving just to find a meal, he seems to be all but done for, when he finds a local merchant (and by extension…a local merchants daughter with whome he falls madly in love) and in an attempt to ‘woo’ the young lady, he sets about becoming a professional furtrapper, eventually becoming an apprentice to a professional, before striking out on his own when unforutnate circumstances arise.

And this thing has Buster Keatons DNA running right through it. Its a largely silent film that has a reliance on monosyllabic utterances and sound effects to guide the narrative. But when I say that this film has a creative TIDALWAVE sitting just below its surface I very sincerely mean that. This thing is NUTS. absolutely 100% doolally tap, its positively exploding with ideas, whether its slapstick gags, visual pieces, small jokes in the background its just…TEEMING with ideas and full of life (ironic of course given 99% of the cast in this movie are dressed in full mascot costumes).

The act structuring is strong, it manages to tell a simple story very effectively, the comedy is razor, if you have ANY appreciation for physical comedy you’ll probably love this, the tone is wonderful coming across as wonderfully charming, but just the very VERY feintest slither of darkness running under the current to act as a welcome contrast.

The characters say very little, but the film goes to great lengths to make them feel fleshed out, to give them personality VIA their physicality. even the animals in this through the power of editing and simply the way they stand seem to emit IMMEDIATE personalities.

with a solid act structuring, decent pacing and a wonderfully robust tone. I had very little to dislike about the script side of this movie, If I was splitting hairs, I think it could have stood to have been 10 minutes shorter, but honestly? when a film is THAT alive behind the eyes and has a seemingly ENDLESS well of creative input to pull from, even if it did stay a little longer than expected…I didnt much mind because the creativity shone through.

Direction is pretty rock solid too, largely sticking to the kind of shot types that would have existed in 20s and 30s cinema, the film drenches itself in that style and era of film making, which I think is an inspired choice given its not particularly a period of time that gets much love from mainstream audiences these days. Here? it comes acorss as authentic and important to the narrative to present the film in this way. the aesthetic choice to present the film in black and white, and even the film posters choice to frame itself in a similar way to 1963’s ‘Its a mad mad mad mad world’ automatically puts you in the mindset that your going into something grand and hilarious. and on that front it doesnt dissapoint.

Which is especially impressive given this film was predominantly shot on greenscreens and during several winters. how they’ve managed to bring so much to life in a medium that I frequently decry as being so dead is honestly a marvel for me.

same goes for the cine, where every shot seems to be some kind of great multi layer world build using stock photographs and manipulated images overlayed. the black and white, rough and ready feel of this presentation really helps hide a lot of the rougher layering work, but its that kind of creative choice that makes the end product look and feel so good!

and it absolutely CANNOT be overstated enough how amazing the editor on this project is. With a film like this, timing is integral, one bad cut, and the jokes ruined. here? it doesnt let up for a second…and while, as mentioned, I feel like maybe a couple of scenes could have been culled to just make this thing a tighter package over all. there is not a SINGLE scene that has a missed beat. EVERY joke lands with impeccable timing. its a miracle work quite honestly, and whoever cut this is clearly very knowledgable about this era of film making and clearly in a fair society they’d be heading to hollywood sooner rather than later.

throw in some wonderful performances that really cement this thing in place as being a highly animate and enaging picture and a soundtrack that mixes public domain tunes with classics from the DeWolf library. and ‘Hundreds of Beavers’ is a classic in the making, make no mistake. If you have any appreciation for ‘old style’ comedy, im sure this will more than impress. Definitely not one to miss, check it out.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/hundreds-of-beavers/

Simply put, one of my favourite movies of all time, the tale of two out of work actors slowly killing themselves on meths and drugs, who decide to get a break from their grim reality by heading to the countryside is as captivating the first time as it is the 10th.

The scripts an absolute delight, witty, carefully crafted, wonderfully structured. its infinitely quotable, has complex and interesting characters, Its paced perfectly and wonderfully plays melancholy against bittersweet drama and comedy. all set within the crumbling backdrop of late 60s london. A time when it was all change, and the perfect framing device for our characters. I beg you to watch this film and not well up towards the end.

Bruce Robinson was early in his career here as a director, but quite literally shot his magnum opus here. an ASTOUNDING work for an experienced director, letalone one new to the craft. Its got a clean, clear and stark vision realised in all its nicotine stained glory by a highly skilled crew. and the sets (designed my Doctor who’s own Michael Pickwoad) are frankly gorgeously hideous in every sense of the word.

the cine is rich, lushious and astounding, expert composition, wonderfully realised with vibrant colours that really bring the rainy drear of little england to life. All wrapped in an astounding edit that cuts EXACTLY when it needs to and isnt afraid to experiment.

As for the performances? this is (in my opinion) the career highlight of Richard Griffiths, Paul McGann and Richard E. Grant. all TOTALLY and UTTERLY watchable, all giving there absolute all to the performances. Simply put, they are the characters here, noone else would even touch the sides.

and all this gorgeous grottiness is wrapped up in a frankly delightful and unique score thats perfectly placed and more than punctuates the film effortlessly.

In short; I sincerely believe this is one of my all time favourite movies. At the minimum its in the top 10, quintessentially british. I always try to introduce people to this film, as I think its as potent today, as it was 37 years ago. Go watch ‘Withnail & i’ if you havent already. Its Incredible.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/withnail-i/

Watched on Saturday May 11, 2024.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/jack-frost-2-the-revenge-of-the-mutant-killer-snowman/1/

A good solid finale to the ‘Hey Folks!’ Series, and not much more to say than that. Is it the best of the hunch? No. Does it repeat ads from previous volumes? Yes. Did *I* have a problem with that? No…not really.

It’s a good mix of seasonal and regional intermission segments. It’s a pretty solid mix, and probably wouldn’t be a bad starting volume ironically.

The only fault I had with it was the strange way it ends…with some kind of glam flamboyant fashion show running in slow motion with classical music playing over it…a bit out of place…but that’s ‘Something Weird’ for yer.

I’d say this one was worth checking out.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/hey-folks-its-intermission-time-vol-6/