Citizen Toxie:
The Toxic Avenger IV
Theatrical release poster by Joe Paradise
Directed byLloyd Kaufman
Written byLloyd Kaufman
Michael Herz
Patrick Cassidy
Trent Haaga
Gabriel Friedman
Produced byLloyd Kaufman
Michael Herz
StarringDavid Mattey
Clyde Lewis
Heidi Sjursen
Paul Kyrmse
Joe Fleishaker
Debbie Rochon
Ron Jeremy
Narrated byStan Lee
CinematographyBrendan Flynt
Edited byGabriel Friedman
Music byWes Nagy
Production
company
Distributed byTroma Entertainment
Release dates
  • October 8, 2000 (2000-10-08) (Sitges)
  • May 15, 2001 (2001-05-15) (Cannes)
  • November 2, 2001 (2001-11-02) (New York)
Running time
109 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$500,000

Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV is a 2000 American superhero splatter comedy film directed by Lloyd Kaufman and written by Trent Haaga. It is the fourth installment of The Toxic Avenger franchise. Despite being the third sequel to The Toxic Avenger, Stan Lee's opening narration claims that Citizen Toxie is, in fact, the official sequel to the first film, disacknowledging the events of the first two sequels.

Plot

At the Tromaville School for the Very Special, a criminal gang named the Diaper Mafia (who are literally thugs dressed as infants) attack and kill off most of the students until The Toxic Avenger ("Toxie" for short) shows up alongside his morbidly obese sidekick Lardass. They manage to murder the criminals in very gruesome fashions until the leader, Tex, reveals an explosive device that will blow the school up. Toxie randomly runs home quickly to impregnate his wife, Sarah, whilst Lardass eats the bomb and tries to drain it in his stomach by farting. But due to a Diaper Mafia member and a student lighting a cigarette, the school explodes, killing Lardass as Toxie returns and rescues the pregnant teacher and two students, Tito and Sweetie Honey.

The explosion ends up transporting Toxie and the students to Amortville, a mirror version of Tromaville in an alternate universe where the police shoot at Toxie who is picked up by Evil Kabukiman (an evil version of Sgt. Kabukiman) who helps him escape the police. Back in Tromaville, Amortville’s version of Toxie, The Noxious Offender (Noxie), appears from the explosion and immediately starts to kill off the citizens. Both supers are immensely confused by the surroundings. Toxie finds Tito and Sweetie Honey and ask them to stay where his home now isn’t. Noxie finds the Nazi Sergeant Kazinski to be an ally whilst Mayor Goldberg introduces new superheroes to Tromaville which includes Sgt. Kabukiman (who is now a pathetic has-been). Searching for answers, Toxie comes across a man named Pompey who, after being dragged along the back of a truck by rednecks, becomes a still-living head. He also finds the Amortville’s version of Lardass (named Chester) who is a scientist broke on the streets. Chester’s former wife, Claire, is Noxie’s lover whom Toxie offers to bring back to Chester but gets into a fight with Evil Kabukiman in the process. Noxie becomes Mayor of Tromaville after killing off Mayor Goldberg and starts to turn the place into Amortville again and also impregnates Sarah. Toxie wanders into the factory of an evil version of a superhero named Mad Cowboy where he finds Tito, Pompey and Sweetie Honey held captive. After a fight, Toxie throws the villain into a meat grinder and escapes with the three.

The Tromaville Superheroes attempt to take down Noxie and Kazinski but are all killed except for Sgt. Kabukiman who ends up drunkenly wandering into Toxie’s home and accidentally impregnates a sleeping Sarah. Claire, who wandered off as Toxie was fighting Evil Kabukiman, finds Chester and the two become a couple again. Sarah sees her gynaecologist who tells her that she is pregnant with two babies from two entirely different fathers and fails to get an abortion. Toxie and Chester manage to find the solution to getting back to Tromaville: clicking red shoes together and saying “There’s no place like Tromaville” (an obvious reference to The Wizard of Oz). Tito, however, stays behind and dedicates himself to making Amortville safe with Pompey as his sidekick. Toxie and Sweetie Honey arrive in Tromaville to discover that Sarah is in labour. At the hospital, Toxie kills off the Nazi soldiers and Kazinski himself whilst getting to Sarah. He finds Sarah’s room with Noxie inside and the two fight as does their babies in Sarah’s uterus. After a long fight, Toxie kills Noxie (as does Toxie’s baby kills Noxie’s) by ripping his organs out. After dying, Melvin (the Amortville version of Melvin Ferd, Toxie’s true identity) emerges from Noxie’s stomach and attacks Toxie who throws him out the window into a barrel of toxic waste and vows to come back “if there’s a sequel” as he runs away in flames laughing (using footage from the first movie).

Sarah gives birth to her and Toxie’s child and also Sgt. Kabukiman’s after he accidentally impregnated her earlier causing Toxie to angrily chase after Sgt. Kabukiman as everyone else laughs. The movie ends with the narrator (Stan Lee) making a speech involving awareness to being randomly stuck in an evil alternate universe and saying the Toxic Avenger will be there while also asking the audience to “please recycle your bottles and cans”.

Cast

  • David Mattey as The Toxic Avenger / Melvin Ferd, a janitor that got mutated into a deformed superhero.
    • David Mattey also performs The Noxious Offender, an evil version of The Toxic Avenger from an alternate reality.
    • David Mattey also portrays a customer of Chester's.
    • Clyde Lewis as The Voice of The Toxic Avenger and The Noxious Offender
      • Mark Torgl as Melvin "Evil Melvin" and Melvin Ferd III
  • Heidi Sjursen as Sarah / Claire, the blind girlfriend of The Toxic Avenger.
  • Joe Fleishaker as Chester / Lardass, the obese sidekick of The Toxic Avenger.
  • Paul Kyrmse as Sgt. Kabukiman, a superhero who has become a pathetic has-been.
    • Paul Kyrmse also portrays Evil Kabukiman, a more-threatening version of Sgt. Kabukiman from an alternate reality.
  • Ron Jeremy as Mayor Goldberg, the Mayor of Tromaville.
  • Dan Snow as Sergeant Kazinski
  • Michael Budinger as Tito
  • Lisa Terezakis as "Sweetie Honey"
  • Barry Brisco as Pompey
  • Trent Haaga as Tex Diaper, a member of the Diaper Mafia.
  • Caleb Emerson as Rex Diaper, a member of the Diaper Mafia.
  • Yaniv Sharon as Lex Diaper, a member of the Diaper Mafia.
  • Stan Lee as The Narrator
  • James Gunn as Dr. Flem Hocking
  • Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf as God
  • Corey Feldman as "Kinky" Finkelstein, Sarah's gynecologist.
  • Debbie Rochon as Ms. Weiner
  • Jason Sklar as Jason Diaz
  • Randy Sklar as Jason Gonzales
  • Al Goldstein as Mayor Goldberg's Press Secretary
  • Tom Fulp as New Wave Painter, the creator of Newgrounds
  • Kevin Eastman as a Biker who gets killed by Noxie
  • Julie Strain as a Tromadu model who gets killed by Noxie
  • Lemmy as Lemmy
    • Lemmy also portrays the alternate reality Lemmy
  • Eli Roth as Frightened Tromaville Citizen
  • Bill Weeden as Abortion Doctor
  • Will Keenan as man Getting Hit By Car On The News
  • Mitch Collins as Racist Truck Driver, The Original Toxic Avenger
  • Rick Collins as Police Chief, the unnamed chief of police. Collins is the only actor except for Dan Snow that has appeared in all 4 Toxic Avenger movies.
  • Gil Brenton as Warren. Brenton reprises his role from Class of Nuke 'Em High (1986)
  • Charlotte Haug as Mrs. Ferd, Toxie's mom.
  • Tromelissa Saytar as Lesbian Art Student
  • Bella Compagna as Diaper Mafia Temptress
  • Terri Firmer as Wet Lesbian
    • Terri Firmer also portrays a Topless Deaf Translator
  • Stacy Burke as Additional Contest Winner
  • Tiffany Shepis as Beautiful Interpretative Dancer
  • Celeste Octavia as Glamorous Gyno-American
    • Celeste Octavia also portrays a Naked Nurse
  • Devin DeVasquez as Glamorous Gyno-American
  • Masuimi Max as Glamorous Gyno-American
  • Lenore Claire as herself
  • Hugh Hefner as The President of The United States
  • Lloyd Kaufman also shows up in the end of the film during a PSA about traveling accidentally to other dimensions

Release

Home media

The film was released on DVD on March 18, 2003.[1] The DVD includes deleted scenes; three commentary tracks from the director, actors and crew; “around the world” footage; and a more than two-hour documentary dubbed as a real look at filmmaking.[1]

Reception

Critical response

Unlike The Toxic Avenger's first two sequels, The Toxic Avenger Part II and The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie, which both received negative reviews, Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV received positive reviews and currently has a 67% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[2] Stephen Holden of The New York Times opined, "If the take-no-prisoners humor of Citizen Toxie is very funny, the movie's relentless comic excess is ultimately a little exhausting."[3] Reviewing the 2015 Blu-ray release, the website Den of the Geek found that "It's a real shame, then, that the ridiculously enjoyable silliness turns nasty for Citizen Toxie, representing the studio's more recent trend towards plain horribleness, irritatingly pointless celebrity cameos (here, we get Corey Feldman, Lemmy from Motorhead and porn-star Ron Jeremy) and over-the-top (even by Troma standards) bad acting."[4]

Possible Sequel

Shortly after the release of the fourth entry, director Lloyd Kaufman announced a fifth entry titled Toxic Twins: The Toxic Avenger V, which would revolve around Toxie and Sarah's twins. In 2010 a press release announced that Collyn McCoy would serve as the screenwriter.[5] Kaufman shot promo footage for the film in 2013 and 2016, but as of 2023, Troma has not begun official production on the sequel, and its unknown if the project will still happen with the release of the Toxic Avenger reboot.

References

  1. 1 2 Topel, Fred (March 1, 2003). "Toxic DVD Shows Ups, Downs of Indie Films". hive4media.com. Archived from the original on March 22, 2003. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  2. ↑ "Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
  3. ↑ Holden, Stephen (November 2, 2001). "Citizen Toxie The Toxic Avenger Part IV (2000)". The New York Times. Retrieved May 30, 2015.
  4. ↑ Aldwinckle, Nick (February 18, 2015). "The Bottom Shelf: The Toxic Avenger Parts III and IV". Den of Geek. Retrieved June 13, 2023.
  5. ↑ "Writer Named for The Toxic Avenger 5: The Toxic Twins". Dread Central. July 30, 2010. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
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