"Watch the first trailer for the new TOXIC AVENGER reboot starring Peter Dinklage" is not a string of English-language words I ever thought I'd type. And yet, here we are — the first red-band trailer for the only superhero movie reboot that matters. Or something.
Did I mention that the movie stars Kevin Bacon and Elijah Wood, in addition to Peter Dinklage in the titular role?
While there's no wide release date for the movie yet, Gizmodo got into a preview screening, and their review sounds pretty good, all things considered ("all things," of course, being that the original Toxie is a famously bloody and offensive shock shlock Troma film). "The movie fully embraces its Troma roots in all the best ways—it's dumb, it's bloody, it's fun—but rejects them in all the bad ways," Gizmodo says — and that's enough to sell me on it. It also helps that the storyline sounds a little improved as well. Instead of an awkward, creepy teen who gets tricked by bullies into wearing a tutu before falling into a vat of toxic waste, Dinklage's character is a single father and widow who tries to force his evil corporate bosses to pay for his healthcare treatment … and then falls into a vat of toxic waste whereupon he transforms into a hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength.
Also, fair warning: this red band trailer is gruesome, in a very Troma-tastic way.