10 Utter Trash Horror Movies You Loved Anyway

Though The Toxic Avenger was released way back in 1984, it's really the perfect corrective for anyone fed up with the mega-budget bombast of current superhero movies - a reminder that they can have charm and personality while being made on a miniscule budget.

Produced by legendary trash peddlers Troma Entertainment, The Toxic Avenger serves as the origin story for the grotesque titular hero, after dweeb Melvin (Mark Torgl) falls into a drum of toxic waste and is transformed into a hulking mutant.

Per Troma's typically wink-wink vibe, this is a movie entirely aware of its own low-rent production values, opting to lean into the camp with knowing humour that plays up the absurdity of the scenario at every possible opportunity.

The thrown-together quality of the effects and overall production are tremendously amusing, underlining the fact that junkiness can indeed be a cinematic virtue.

A Toxic Avenger reboot is due for release later this year starring Peter Dinklage, Elijah Wood, and Kevin Bacon, which recently received an R rating from the MPAA for "strong violence and gore, language throughout, sexual references and brief graphic nudity."

It sounds like it might live up to the original's balls-out rep, then.