5 posts tagged “troma”
By any other name would smell as sweet. And Troma by any other name would still kick some ass. Even if they did an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. Which they did. And this is it. As if you couldn't tell from the title.
Tromeo and Juliet is a very Troma-like version of the old story. Tromeo's father, Monty Cue, used to be in business with Juliet's father, who I can't seem to remember if his name is some play on Capulet or not. Then Juliet's dad ripped off Monty and the feud began. Although to be honest, that only explains why Monty's family dislikes the Capulets and not the other way around.
There's lots of the typical Troma touches like girl-on-girl action, gross-out jokes, woman eating penises, cutting off of hands, and decapitations. In fact one of the highlights is when someone gets decapitated, the head goes into a family's car. The parents freak out, but the kids think it is hilarious. As did I. There's also some totally weird stuff about Juliet's father locking her up in this plexiglass cage when he think she's been "bad." I was pleasantly surprised when at the end they go all Lone Star on that ass and explain how it is that Monty Cue is black even though Tromeo is white.
One of the bad parts is when the film veers too close to the source material. There are even a couple times when Tromeo recites soliloquies from Shakespeare. Those parts are just boring. If it weren't for those parts, I would have liked it much more.
seven thumbs up.
Shakespeare would hate it
Well its a good thing he's dead.
I'll take Tromeo.
Because of this, I have a great affection for Troma movies. Even though Toxic Avenger 2 and 3 were terrible, I also have a soft spot for the Toxic Avenger. Now that I'm older, however, some of the sexist and homophobic humor is hard to overlook. Which makes reviewing Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV pretty hard. Why? Let me tell you.
The movie starts off in a school for the mentally handicapped which gives the film lots of opportunities to make "retard" jokes. On the other hand, two of the main characters end up being students from that school, so it isn't as if they are the butt of jokes for the entire movie. I think in some ways that pretty much sums up the philosophy of Troma films -- everyone in the film is going to get made fun of, so it isn't as if anyone is getting singled out. I'm at least going to pretend that is the case.
So the storyline of the film is that for some random reason once Toxie rescues the kids at the mentally handicapped school a bomb goes off and Toxie and two of the students are transported to the evil mirror universe. Toxie and his newfound friends have to find a way back to their universe and stop an evil Toxie (aka Noxie) who has been transported to the good universe. Butt jokes, dick hoes, fart jokes, and girl-on-girl action ensue.
The only other thing is that in the beginning they say that they are ignoring Toxic Avenger 2 and 3 because they sucked, which is a good thing. In many ways this film was a return to the classic gross out Troma of the past. Which, no matter how you slice it, is a good thing.
Six thumbs up.
Evil Universe
Everyone needs a goatee
Or a nice Van Dyck
I suppose that the fact that this isn't really a zombie movie would be the best place. No, instead it is some sort of slasher movie combined with a caper film. However, to be fair, it is set on an island, and there is a massacre.
Basically, a bunch of random Americans are on vacation in the Caribbean and go to see a voodoo ceremony. There they see a dead person brought back to life. OK, so you are thinking, "ahhh, so it is a voodoo style zombie movie with the voodoo priest controlling them all." Nope. When the show is over, the tourists leave to go back to their hotel. They find that the buss driver is gone so they have to decide whether to stay at the bus or go for help. This is when the movie starts with the generic slasher film. Luckily one of the women in the group noticed a house on their bus ride due to her, "fine painter’s eye!" Who knew that painters could notice houses in jungles?
Oddly, unlike most slasher films, the stars aren't teens or twenty-somethings, but people in their 30s and 40s. Which makes it kind of odd that the film begins with one of the women naked in the shower. In looking online for other reviews, I found the review on blogcritics.org that explains that the naked woman is Rita Jenrette who apparently was the wife of some politician who got caught in a scandal. She wrote a tell-all about it, appeared in Playboy, then tried to become an actress. Zombie Island Massacre is the result. Who knew watching bad movies could be educational?
Basically, once people start dying, it gets to be just plain lame and confusing. Part of that is because it was shot outside at night so you can't really tell what is going on. Part of that is because people aren't killed in interesting ways. They just get shot or stabbed. And part of that is because there is some random flashback about how wonderful the husband of Jenrette's character was that only consists of the two of them drinking champagne.
In the end, there is some random deal involving drug smuggling, but it isn't ever exactly clear who is really responsible for the killing. I did, however, like the final scene which is one of these deals where they give the impression that another group of tourists is going to the same island and so maybe this is some racket by the locals (which doesn't explain why they killed everyone since only one person just happened to have anything of value...).
Other than that, this movie sucks. Even boobies can't save it which is saying a lot...
two thumbs down.
Island massacre
There is only one zombie
But there are two boobs.
Here we have one of my favorite films of all time: Stuff Stephanie in the Incinerator. It is, of course, released by Troma, but they only released it and didn't make it. Despite the cover and title, at no time is Stephanie stuffed into the incinerator. Not only that, the the incinerator doesn't really play any significant role in the film. At one point a dead person is going to be put into the incinerator -- by Stephanie and someone else -- but that is the only scene involving the titular incinerator.
Nor is the film a slasher film, as one might gather from the title. Rather, it is a rather interesting suspense thriller. However, when I looked the film up on IMDb, I found a comment about the film that I had left several years ago when I used more exclamation points!
If you thought The Game had twists you haven't seen anything yet! This movie will have you shaking your head in bewilderment more than once, but all is explained in the end. This is a tightly plotted story that is an excellent rental! The situations are switched around so many times you won't believe it. This is a very very cool movie!
Of course now that I'm older and wiser, and more reluctant to exclaim, I look at the film differently, right? Of course not! (oops, I guess I really don't use exclamation points less frequently!)
The film is full of twists and turns and is really quite entertaining in a low budget way. Really, the acting isn't all that great, and it was shot on video, but there's a certain charm about the film. It seems like it could be an episode of one of the later anthology shows such as Night Gallery or something, Once you get past the negatives and shortcomings, there's a lot here to like.
8 thumbs up!
There are no stars here
It is like O Henry's stuff
But there are no gifts
As promised, here is my review of Ferocious Female Freedom Fighters. As you may gather, I'm a fan of Troma films. In fact, the next few reviews are going to be all Troma all the time. In addition to the Troma Triple B-Header, I also got Chopper Chicks in Zombietown in the same package as well as Toxie's Top Ten collector's set. So you better expect a lot of Troma reviews coming up!
OK, on to Ferocious Female Freedom Fighters. Basically, this film is allegedly like What's Up, Tiger Lily? but I've never seen it, so I can't say. The only Woody Allen film I've ever seen is Zelig, so I have little idea if there are any real similarities beside the overdubbing.
So basically, it is an Asian film that involves female wrestlers and a sick kid. The entire film, however, has been overdubbed with wacky dialog. Overall, the effect is pretty funny, if on the crude side. Highlights include the female wrestlers arguing over whether or not is Cari-be-an or Ca-rib-ean, a hero who talks like Elvis, women fighting over the decor of an office, and a boy who's head might explode if he becomes sexually arroused.
After a while it gets a bit boring and you can tell they kind of ran out of funny things to make them say after a while, but it is still pretty funny. The end joke is funny enough on its own.
five thumbs up.
I'm strong. I can Kick.
They changed the words all around
So there are fart jokes.
