The Toxic Avenger remake promo images reveal why the film is being released unrated

Fans have been waiting a long time to see writer/director Macon Blair’s remake of the Troma cult classic The Toxic Avenger (watch it HERE), which wrapped filming way back in 2021 and unveiled a teaser trailer near the end of 2023, around the time it had its world premiere screening – but we won’t have to wait much longer. At the start of the year, it was announced that Cineverse had acquired the distribution rights with the intention of giving the film a wide release, and we’ve since learned that they’re aiming for an August 29th theatrical release. Three years ago, the Motion Picture Association ratings boards gave the film an R rating for “strong violence and gore, language throughout, sexual references and brief graphic nudity”… but never mind all that. The Toxic Avenger remake is being released unrated (so, presumably, anything that was cut for the R rating has been put back in), and new promo images reveal exactly why it’s going out unrated. You can take a look at them below.

These promo images reveal that the movie delivers “splatter laughter, monstercore, punk rock bandits, mops and toxic sludge exposure” as well as “ultra violent/toxic content, piss play, mutant nudity, hilarious harm and gnarly theater fun.” All this, plus there’s a moment that has been referred to as “the butt guts scene.“

Blair’s version of The Toxic Avenger centers on Winston Gooze, a stereotypical weakling who works as a janitor at Garb-X health club and is diagnosed with a terminal illness that can only be cured by an expensive treatment that his greedy, power hungry employer refuses to pay for. After deciding to take matters into his own hands and rob his company, Winston falls into a pit of toxic waste and is transformed into a deformed monster that sets out to do good and get back at all the people who have wronged him.

Peter Dinklage plays Winston Gooze and is joined in the cast by Kevin Bacon as villainous corporate overlord Bob Garbinger; Elijah Wood as Bob’s brother Fritz Garbinger, who is described as “sort of Riff Raff from The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the Danny DeVito Penguin mixed together”; a group of lunatics / musicians called the Killer Nutz, who are “a rock and roll group where their presentation is theatrical evil, like KISS or Alice Cooper, but their moonlight gig is professional assassins”; Taylour Paige as investigative reporter / vigilante detective JJ Doherty; Jacob Tremblay as Winston’s stepson Wade; Jonny Coyne as a “shadowy criminal figure”; Sarah Niles as a “corrupt city official”; Julia Davis as an unspecified character; and Blair as a guy named Dennis.

Dinklage doesn’t physically play Toxie. Instead, Luisa Guerreiro, an actor and movement artist, provides the physical performance of Toxie underneath the makeup and costume. Dinklage does still provide the character’s voice after Winston becomes Toxie. 

The Toxic Avenger remake was filmed in Bulgaria. Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz produced with Legendary Entertainment. Are you looking forward to the movie, and are you glad it’s getting an unrated release? Let us know by leaving a comment.

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