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The Toxic Avenger (2023)

 So this was a mystery screening that I was 99.9% sure was The Toxic Avenger because somebody decided to list the mystery screening above the option for this film which had the same certificate and the same duration. This version is a remake of the 1984 cult classic which I confess I haven't seen (yet). The set up of the film is that Peter Dinklage plays Winston who lives with his step son and works at a dodgy place run by Kevin Bacon and after attempting to steal cash he is thrown into the toxic water and then exacts revenge and that's pretty much it. 

The plot is pretty straight forward, Kevin Bacon is the comedic baddie with Elijah Wood as his brother. Wood seems to be channeling Riff Raff from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It’s nice to see Kevin Bacon is something that isn't a phone advert. Last time I saw him was in MaXXXine and he seemed to be hamming it up and he has turned that up to 11 in this. When he turns he seems to be chewing the scenery and having fun with it. I was slightly distracted by Winston’s Doctor. His Doctor is played by Sunil Patel and he is currently featuring in a series of bank adverts alongside Dominic West and I did chuckle when he first appeared and then suddenly appeared at the end.

The tone is an odd one but it works very well for this film. The black humour might put some people off but I think that most of the time it did work. It's played straight enough that it makes it feel like there is purpose to the film but at the same time acknowledging the absurdity of the situation.

The thing that became distracting is that it clearly wasn't Peter Dinklage under the Toxie make up, there were a couple of shots where it is him but for the most part it's not. It’s his voice but some of the ADR doesn't quite work and it's clear that Dinklage’s voice is being played over someone else’s mouth movement. I saw a film earlier this year (Watch the Skies) which used AI to match the english dubbed dialogue with the swedish actor’s mouth movements. It does take me out of it at times but it doesn't make the film bad. The gore is also a bit of a let down. A lot of it looks like it is CGI and so doesn't have the horrific weight that proper prosthetics can have. The costume that Luisa Guerriero wears instead of Peter Dinklage does look good at certain angels but up close it does look like a costume. If they had applied slime to it to make it look more organic then I think that would have helped. Peter Dinklage is good as Winston and does add some charm to Toxie but I just don't understand why he didn't play Toxie all the time.

The Toxic Avenger is dumb but it's entertainingly dumb and that's not a bad thing. The film clocks in at just over 90 minutes and that is the perfect running time for a horror film. Not sure if it's worth trekking all the way to the cinema to see but it's the sort of enjoyable horror film to watch around Halloween. 


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