When directors Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman set out to make a sequel for The Toxic Avenger, they wound up with over four hours of footage. Knowing that even the most die-hard Toxie fan might not survive the barrage of B-movie insanity, they decided to split the film in twain. Ordinarily, severing a work of art would only result in dire consequences but, surprisingly, though Part II was an agreed upon failure by critics in comparison to its forerunner, the filmmakers exhibited some control in the editing room, the final result of which is The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie, a fairly pleasant rebound for Troma, though by no means a match for the original.
Having rid Tromaville of evil twice over, the Toxic Avenger (John Altamura) is depressed once again in that he is forced to live off of his girlfriend’s (Phoebe Legere) welfare check because there are no suitable positions for a mutant. However, when Claire discovers that there exists a surgical procedure which could cure of her of blindness, the Chairman of Apocalypse Inc. (Rick Collins) seizes the opportunity to exploit the couple’s financial constraints and offers Toxie a job. Unbeknownst to Toxie, though the corporation runs under banners and slogans for community improvement and prosperity, Apocalypse Inc.’s ulterior motive is to make slaves of its citizens while turning a high quarterly quota. Once Toxie realizes he has been led astray, he attempts to thwart the efforts of the malicious company but must first confront the ultimate evil, Satan (Rick Collins).
The Troma group busies themselves with their Faustian plot as they issue us dualistic foreshadowing and allusions at most every turn, beginning with a wink-and-a-nod to Robert DeNiro’s role as Louis Cypher in Alan Parker’s Angel Heart before Apocalypse’s Chair reveals himself to be the Dark Prince himself (arguably the best visual depiction of Satan since Ridley Scott’s Legend), but not before Kaufman aligns God with corrupt Big Business first! Thus, God = corrupt business = Satan or, obliging with the laws of equivalency, God = Satan. Fun, fun. Yet we aren’t permitted to get out of The Last Temptation of Toxie without the directors shifting gears slightly and parodying television this go around as Kaufman places his finger alongside his nose with mock-ups of Johnny Carson and The Price is Right. But, as is almost tradition, we revert back, almost guiltily, with satirical takes on Elsa Lancaster’s scream in James Whale’s Bride of Frankenstein, the swirling heads of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, the opening of Oz in Victor Fleming’s Wizard of Oz, another round of 3 Stooges slapstick, all before closing with a nice historical reference to the insane Caesar Caligula via a brief interlude involving a buried head and a lawnmower.
Again, we are greeted with several wry, postmodern, knowing mentions to the previous and prospective chapters of the Toxie saga, but this is second only to the candidate for best quote from the series as our radioactive hero sorrowfully admits, “I don’t have a life. I have a half-life!” Yet, we do have a running gag with Claire’s crotch throughout as the cause of the character’s blindness is finally availed to us: a mouthwash incident. Interestingly, Legere extends the acting abilities she never had (she finally acts blind only after she is cured) when she does a Courtney Love rendition of “Amazing Grace.”
For the goremeisers out there, Part III–though not as readily or as frequently–reverts back to the visceral nature of the original as an evildoer’s hand is placed inside a VCR as we are treated to a live feed of what results as a consequence before a very impressive decomposition sequence appears on the titular character’s behalf.
Yet, as much as a refreshing return to form Part III might be, I do have some quibbles with the film in that that Toxie a) suffers from sever amnesia because he defeated Apocalypse Inc. in Pt. II but seems naïve to their agenda in Pt. III as he signs a contract with the company or b) this is indeed a serious chronological oversight on the filmmakers’ behalves. Though pushing hypothetical boundaries with the film, I nonetheless found that Toxie’s Tromatons–the chemical agents within his body which cause him to instinctively react in the presence of evil–remain dormant as he accepts a position at Apocalypse Inc., which (inadvertently, I’m sure) poses the question of ethics being relative in that this seeming lapse in cardinal traits can be justified if one claims that our hero was brainwashed during this otherwise erroneous plot hole. Lastly, and irrefutably, the climax to Part III is over, overlong, so much so that I can only offer that the directors did this in hopes of compensating for the wet firecracker of a finale in Part I.
By no means a serious contender with The Toxic Avenger, Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman’s third installment in the series, The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie, is a somewhat diluted, but much appreciated, return to form as we are given another satisfying dose of mayhem from the Crown Princes of Anti-Art, Troma Studios. Having successfully pulled themselves out of the sophomore slump, the directors give us another signature Toxie film which–as the characters affirm during Toxie’s Temptation–makes us giddy at the thought and promise of the next installment.
-Egregious Gurnow
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
