The Toxic Avenger remake promises to be sufficiently noxious for its hard-core fans.
The star-filled reboot of the ultra-violent 1984 cult classic was given an R rating by the Motion Picture Association on Wednesday for “strong violence and gore, language throughout, sexual references and brief graphic nudity.”
The rating means Legendary’s The Toxic Avenger will join the club of R-rated superhero titles, which includes Logan, The Suicide Squad, Deadpool, Watchmen and Blade.
When the effort to reboot the Troma title first got underway in 2010, producers announced they were making a “family-friendly PG-13 action comedy.” The auspices have changed several times since then, with the new film directed by Blue Ruin actor Macon Blair (who made his directorial debut with 2017’s I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore).
The reboot boasts an impressive cast led by Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage as Winston, “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.”
The remake also stars Elijah Wood, Julia Davis, Taylour Paige, Kevin Bacon and Jacob Tremblay. There’s no release date yet set for the film.
