Toxic Shock

Alex Coolman

Ever since the ‘70s, Lloyd Kaufman’s Troma Studios has made movies full

of pointless violence, gratuitous nudity and sophomoric references to

bodily functions.

The films are -- the 53-year-old Kaufman is quick to assert -- some of

the finest independent cinema being created today.

“Troma is out there by itself as a beacon of light for all creative

spirits,” is how Kaufman puts it, his slightly maniacal voice full of

devious energy.

Movies with titles such as “The Toxic Avenger,” “Bloodsucking Freaks”

and “A Nymphoid Barbarian in Dinosaur Hell” might not seem at first

glance to be quite the radiant exemplars of cultural vitality that

Kaufman suggests. And sometimes they don’t seem that way on second or

third glance, either.

But, as Kaufman contends in a new book, “All I Need to Know About

Filmmaking I Learned From The Toxic Avenger,” the movies are the product

of a fierce commitment to creating art outside the mainstream. For all

their dubious production values and junior high infatuation with the

depiction of the lewd and crude, Troma productions have never been

compromised (much) for the sake of money or the fear of offending.

He will read from his chronicle tonight at Borders Books, Music & Cafe in

Costa Mesa.

Kaufman’s account of Troma’s rise to prominence as a purveyor of highbrow

schlock, emphatically defends the approach the studio has taken over the

years. He argues the films, which he makes with studio co-founder Michael

Herz, are “true art,” the sort of thing that could never be produced by

the “devil-worshipping committees” of Hollywood cinema.

“We believe that true art comes from the soul, and it is important that

it be a product of total commitment and strong passion and strong

emotion,” Kaufman said. “It’s not about money or the biggest car or the

biggest penis or the biggest breasts. It’s about doing what you believe

in.”

Despite what the movies may suggest, Kaufman’s film heroes -- the people

he thinks did the best job of pursuing their beliefs -- are not camp or

exploitation filmmakers.

Directors to whom he is frequently compared, such as Russ Meyer, of

“Faster, Pussycat, Kill! Kill!” fame; and John Waters, “Hairspray” and

“Pecker,” excite him far less than figures from the early days of

Hollywood -- Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, for instance.

A scene from Troma’s most recent release, “Terror Firmer,” emphasizes

Kaufman’s indebtedness to that slapstick tradition: a naked man runs

through Times Square in New York with a blindfold over his eyes, an

accident waiting to happen. The film cuts to a shot of a banana peel on

the sidewalk, which, of course, sends the man tumbling in classic

Keatonesque fashion.

But “Terror Firmer” is a Kaufman, not a Keaton film: after falling, the

man is crushed by a car, which then explodes. Where Keaton gave the

audience a restrained physical gag, Troma goes for maximum gross-out

every time.

The tension between the relentlessly crude subject matter of Troma films

and the high-flown commercial/aesthetic theories of the director are

something Kaufman acknowledges in his humorous discussion of his work.

Kaufman says his favorite movie is the 1955 film “Princess Yang Kuei-Fei”

by the graceful Japanese filmmaker Mizoguchi.

To his own work, he happily applies labels including “lousy,” and

“low-budget.” But Kaufman is passionate in his assertion that Troma truly

does make important cinema.

“We don’t take ourselves seriously, but we take the films very

seriously,” he said. “People are starting to look at our movies and

beginning to see that there is indeed a body of work.”

That body first rose to prominence in 1984 with “The Toxic Avenger,”

Kaufman’s tale of a geeky teenager who is transformed into an hideously

deformed, yet fundamentally virtuous, superhero -- sort of like a more

violent version of “The Incredible Hulk” -- after being shoved into a

barrel of toxic waste.

The film, with its bad lighting, wretched screenplay, abundant gore and

needless footage of jiggling breasts is paradigmatic of Troma work

generally. It won critical praise and a large popular following, spawning

a comic book and (troublingly) a Saturday morning cartoon.

Kaufman followed up on the success of “The Toxic Avenger” with a slew of

other films emulating its cheezy, cartoon-like aesthetic, including the

post-apocalyptic “Surf Nazis Must Die,” directed by Peter Brown, 1987;

“Maniac Nurses in Ecstasy” (1994); and “Sgt. Kabukiman NYPD” (1993).

Though none of the movies has gone on to truly mainstream acceptance,

Kaufman asserts his “toxic” influence can be seen in many big-budget

pictures.

The recent slew of “gross-out” dark comedies, including “There’s

Something About Mary” and “Very Bad Things,” owes a lot to the tone Troma

pioneered, he said. And the reflexive camp of the horror films, such as

“Scream” and “Scream II, “ draws on the knowing approach to cinematic

cliches that is a Kaufman specialty.

“You can see a lot of ‘Toxic Avenger,’ in there,” Kaufman said. “There’s

a lot of Troma in these new horror movies.”But if the mainstream is

embracing the Troma way of making movies, Kaufman isn’t about to return

the love. The director is full of contempt, both for the giants of

Hollywood -- the villain of “Terror Firmer” is a big Spielberg fan -- and

for supposedly “independent” movie studios that are financially

controlled by outside interests.

“Most of what passes for ‘independent’ today is really dependent,”

Kaufman proposed. “They’re basically auditioning to become big Hollywood

moguls.”

In contrast to this approach, Kaufman champions “the Troma technique of

filmmaking,” wherein dedication to craft and abundant energy are intended

to compensate for low budgets and not particularly well-honed acting

skills.

The Troma technique relies on the enthusiasm of crews that are often

unpaid or poorly paid, stalwarts who are willing to subsist on munching

cheese sandwiches and sleeping on the floor of Troma’s office in

Manhattan, in exchange for the sheer thrill of being involved with

Kaufman’s productions.

The creation of “Terror Firmer,” a film that comically addresses the

struggle of independent movie-makers to create their art, proved to be a

particularly dramatic example of this love-based approach.

The large cast included many actors from previous Troma productions --

“nobody got paid, of course,” Kaufman noted -- and a crew of volunteers

from around the world. A pair of French moviemakers paid their own

airfare to America, solely for the privilege of being vomited on in one

particularly unpleasant scene.

In the film, Kaufman plays a role close to his heart: a director. The

catch, though, is that the character is blind and goes tapping through

scene after scene with a wiggling white cane.

It’s the type of tasteless gag that is close to the Troma heart. Kaufman

isn’t particularly concerned that not everyone will think it’s funny.

“Maybe it wasn’t important whether or not you fail so much, as whether or

not you acted according to your beliefs,” he writes on the final page of

his book. “Maybe that’s what I should tell people.”

Then Kaufman tells a joke about going to the bathroom. It’s a thoroughly

Troma conclusion.

----

FYI

* WHAT: Lloyd Kaufman, co-founder of Troma Studios, reading from “All I

Need to Know About Filmmaking I Learned From The Toxic Avenger”

* WHEN: 7 p.m. today

* WHERE: Borders Books, Music & Cafe, 1890 Newport Blvd., Costa Mesa

* HOW MUCH: Free

* PHONE: (949) 631-8661

NOTE: There will also be a whimpering contest, the winner of which will

have an opportunity to be a Troma extra.