The Toxic Avenger Part II

The Toxic Avenger Part II

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Lloyd Kaufman
Michael Herz
Produced by Michael Herz
Lloyd Kaufman
Jeffrey W. Sass
Written by Gay Partington Terry
Screenplay by Lloyd Kaufman
Story by Lloyd Kaufman
Based on Characters
by Joe Ritter
Starring
Music by Barrie Guard
Cinematography James London
Edited by Michael Schweitzer
Distributed by Troma Entertainment
Lorimar
Release dates
  • February 24, 1989 (1989-02-24)
Running time
 96 minutes
103 minutes (Director's cut)
Country United States
Language English
Japanese
Budget $2.3 million
Box office $792,966

The Toxic Avenger Part II is a 1989 comedy horror film released by Troma Entertainment. It was directed by Lloyd Kaufman and features The Toxic Avenger in an adventure to Japan to meet his father. The film has received cult status among a new audience almost a generation after it was first released. Go Nagai makes a cameo appearance and the film is also the debut of actor/martial artist Michael Jai White and musician/composer/performance artist Phoebe Legere.

Synopsis

Five years after the events of the original film, The Toxic Avenger (Ron Fazio) is lured to Tokyo, Japan by the evil corporation Apocalypse Inc. So while the Toxic Avenger is fighting crime in Tokyo, Apocalypse Inc. spreads evil in Tromaville and it is up to the famous hideously deformed superhero of superhuman size and strength to stop the abominable Apocalypse Inc. from attacking both Tokyo and Tromaville.

Cast

Production

When production started, John Altamura played The Toxic Avenger with Ron Fazio doing some doubling for mainly long shots of the character as he was cast already as an Apocalypse Inc. executive. However, according to an 2001 interview with Fazio, Altamura abused his authority by complaining about the make-up and had threatened some staff members, pushing Kaufman to fire Altamura.[1] Kaufman then hired Fazio to play the Toxic Avenger when production moved to Tokyo, Japan. However, Kaufman kept the scenes with Altamura in the film, hence in the film's opening fight sequence, we see both Fazio and Altamura facing against each other with Fazio playing the tiger-striped member of Apocalypse Inc who gets punched Exorcist-style by Altamura's Toxic Avenger. Fazio's voice would be used as the Toxic Avenger.

Michael Jai White made his film debut in the film and not only acted as a member of Apocalypse Inc., but assisted with the film's fight sequences in New York while Hitoshi Genma coordinated the film's action scenes in Japan.

Versions

The 'Unrated Director's cut' version released on DVD by Troma Entertainment is actually missing almost all scenes of gore. The full version with an extra 10 minutes of gore is currently only available in the 'Tox Box' DVD set which is now out of print.

The Japanese and German releases are the full uncut version.

The 2008 'Complete Toxic Avenger' 7-disc DVD set includes the uncut version and is the same disc found in the 'Tox Box'.

88 Films released the film in 98kb in November 2014 on Blu-ray,[2] the US release of Blu-ray Disc was in High Definition.[3]

Reception

The Toxic Avenger Part II currently holds a rare 0% on Rotten Tomatoes.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Toxie Tours Troma: Ron Fazio returns to the Troma building in 12 years."
  2. ↑ 88 Films Bring The Toxic Avenger III & IV to Blu-ray in the UK
  3. ↑ Troma Announces “NUKE ‘EM”, “TOXIC AVENGER” Sequel Blu-rays!
  4. ↑ The Toxic Avenger Part II at Rotten Tomatoes
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