Macon Blair’s Troma remix has plenty of squelchy gore and grotesquery, as well as good work from Peter Dinklage, but it never strikes quite the right tonal balance as the original. A terminally ill janitor (Dinklage) runs afoul of corporate goons and falls into toxic waste, transforming him into the Toxic Avenger, who takes the fight to evil-doers in his polluted, run-down town. Lloyd Kaufman’s original TOXIC AVENGER and its ever-madder sequels were an acquired taste, and this is no different. It’s perhaps a little more heartfelt, but the relatively higher budget somehow makes the splatter feel less nasty and subversive. But you can’t deny this is the right time to release an OTT anti-capitalist satire, plus the combination of Dinklage playing it straight and the likes of Kevin Bacon, Elijah Wood and Julia Davis bouncing off the walls as living cartoon characters makes for an entertaining package. SSP