Saturday, August 27, 2022

Aroma of Troma: Class of Nuke 'Em High 3: The Good, the Bad, and the Subhumanoid (1994)

Class of Nuke 'Em High 3: The Good, the Bad, and the Subhumanoid (1994), dir. Eric Louzil, Troma Entertainment 


Ending this month, well, I'm hesitant to say with a bang but it's an ending. Sometimes that's enough.

Friday, August 26, 2022

Aroma of Troma: The Toxic Avenger III: The Last Temptation of Toxie (1989)

The Toxic Avenger III: The Last Temptation of Toxie (1989), dir. Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz, Troma Entertainment 


Nearing the end, and the last Toxie film for a good while. 


Since the last film, the Toxic Avenger (John Altamura and Ron Fazio) has been in a funk. Sure, he finally found his real dad, but Apocalypse Inc. is still running wild. Toxie tries to find a real job, but he strikes out, plus his girlfriend Claire (Phobe Legere) is still blind. 

There's hope for that last one though, as a doctor swears he can perform an operation that would cure her. All he needs is $347,000.

Despondent, Toxie is at the end of his rope when the Chairman (Rick Collins) offers Toxie a job as a spokesman for Apocalypse Inc. Desperate, Toxie takes the job and son becames...a yuppie!

Toxie has a dark night of soul but when he sees the kids of Tromaville kicking his poster, well, that was the fire Toxie needed! He goes and finds a group of Apocalypse thugs menacing a video store. He swiftly kills them all and sets his sights on the Chairman. 

Will Toxie stop the evil corporation in time? Will Claire be cured? What are the Five Levels of Doom?

Yeah, if part 2 didn't set your soul on fire, this one would put it out. It feels more like they took the last twenty minutes from the last film and released it, yet it feels every bit of its running time. Just loud and dumb and not in a good way. 




Thursday, August 25, 2022

Aroma of Troma: Chillers (1987)

Chillers (1987), dir. Danny Boyd, Troma Entertainment 


Honestly this one flew under my radar until pretty recently. 


A group of different folks are mulling around in a rundown bus station late at night. Their bus is running late, so to pass the time they sit around talk and some weird dreams they have been having. 

A woman tells of her hobby of swimming. She's noticed one particular swimmer who catches her eye, but what secret is he hiding?

A young boy (who really shouldn't be out by himself at night), recalls a camping trip he went on. The rest of the campers were your typical 80's stock characters, and then there's the scoutmaster (Gary Brown). He's a dorky kind of guy, but he seems to know the woods. He also seems rather fixated on the full moon, which is rising...

Another woman dreams nightly of her local anchor man. Odd that he only ever seems to work the late shift, isn't it?

A man chats about his dream next, in which he discovers he can bring the dead back to life, but only if he reads about them first. Pity he was reading about the recently executed mass murderer...

The last yarn is told by an old man. He's a teacher by trade and his dreams feature his students and why one should not read ancient texts without proper supervision. 

Earnest but lord. The characters don't even qualify as flat, as that implies that they have some dimension. Cliched in all the worst ways.



Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Aroma of Troma: Surf Nazis Must Die (1987)

Surf Nazis Must Die (1987), dir. Peter George, Troma Entertainment/the Institute 



Somewhat odd, as half the sources I've checked swear this film was only distributed by Troma, where the other half swears they made it, so I decided to include it anyway, because with a title like this it must be great, right?

Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Aroma of Troma: Hollywood Zap (1986)

Hollywood Zap (1986) dir. David Cohen, Ben/Bar Prods./Protovision Prods./Troma Entertainment 



Our first film this year not directed by Misters Kaufman or Herz. Odd, that about sums it up.


Tucker "Downer" Downs (Ivan Roth) works in a women's clothing shop. He's bored and has no direction in life. Figuring he'd head west and maybe search for his old man, he quickly hooks up with Nash (Ben Frank). Nash is a wild card with a talent for hustling folks in arcades. 

Very punk, both in the story and visuals. 




Monday, August 22, 2022

Aroma of Troma: The First Turn-On!! (1983)

The First Turn-On!! (1983), dirs. Lloyd Kaufman, Michael Herz, Troma Entertaiment/Grande Company



If you got to go, why not go out with a bang? Yeah, this would be the last of the teen sex comedies that Troma would do. Is it a grande finale?