Tromaville has a monstrous new hero. The Toxic Avenger is born when meek mop boy Melvin falls into a vat of toxic waste. Now evildoers will have a lot to lose.

This is the story of Melvin, the Tromaville Health Club mop boy, who inadvertently and naively trusts the hedonistic, contemptuous and vain health club members, to the point of accidentally ending up in a vat of toxic waste. The devastating results then have a transmogrification effect, his alter ego is released, and the Toxic Avenger is born, to deadly and comical results. The local mop boy is now the local Superhero, the saviour of corruption, thuggish bullies and indifference. Troma classic with good make-up effects and stunts, a pleasant surprise indeed.

Look for future Oscar-winner Marisa Tomei as an extra (coming out of a shower).

The head-crushing scene was based on a time when Lloyd Kaufman was backing a car out of his garage and accidentally hit his younger sister. Nobody was harmed, but the memory haunted him for years.

While shooting in Shinbone Alley, a homeless man stole a prop gun from one of the trailers and threatened the crew.

Patrick Kilpatrick, who played Leroy (the face-painted criminal at the Mexican restaurant), quit the film after having to point a shotgun at a baby.

The violent-looking crushing of a child's head in the movie was accomplished by injecting a melon with corn syrup and red food dye. A wig was placed on the melon and it was fitted onto a dummy. Though cheap, the effect is highly unsettling.

The scene where the guide dog gets shot received the most complaints by Troma up to that time.

One of Mayor Belgoody's last lines in the film was "I'm too young to die." Pat Ryan sadly passed away 7 years later at age 44.

According to Mitch Cohen, during filming the scenes fighting Cigar Face and his gang in Shinbone Alley, a homeless man walked up to him and offered him a drink, believing him to be a genuine homeless burn victim.

The sheep that Mark Torgl had to kiss was infested with lice, but he did not find that out until after the scene was shot.

Larry Sulton, who played Frank, only had one arm. During the scene at the Mexican restaurant, one can see that his right arm is a prosthetic; he never moves or uses it until Toxie rips it off.

During pre-production, Vincent D'Onofrio was set to play the role of Bozo. Prior to filming, D'Onofrio asked for a slight raise and was instead fired from the movie and replaced.

The spinning newspapers were simply newspapers placed on a spinning cheese rack.

Jennifer Babtist (Wanda) and Robert Prichard (Slug) fell in love on the set and ended up marrying and later divorcing. Coincidentally, they play a couple in this film.

During the car wreck scene, the stunt car was rigged to allow the vehicle to drive straight with the gas pedal to the floor. The roll-bar installed in the car however was wrecked when the car was falling off the cliff, it almost killed the stunt driver who was driving the vehicle.

The guide dog that was shot had been trained to glide across the floor on command and its "guts" were spaghetti covered in gray paint.

The monster Melvin turns into was never actually referred to as the Toxic Avenger by any actor in the film besides the narrator. They did not have a name for the character as the film was being made. This is proved further by the kids in the film wearing t-shirts that say "I love the monster hero".

Although he would become Melvin Junko in later movies, the character's original name is Melvin Ferd III.

Mark Torgl caught fire from the police officer's flaming hands. You can see the fire drop on him during an overhead shot.

It took four hours to get Mitch Cohen into the Toxic Avenger costume. While wearing it, he could only eat through a straw.

The scene where a toxic waste drenched Melvin soaks in his bathtub was largely directed by Mark Torgl himself. The water in the tub was ice cold, and attempts were made to warm it up. Ultimately, Torgl chose to bear the discomfort and get the shot finished.

After going behind the scenes on Rocky (1976), Lloyd Kaufman decided to make a movie in a health club with his friend Michael Herz. After reading a magazine article with the headline "Horror Film Is Dead", Troma decided to change it into a horror movie. The film's working title was "Health Club", and lobby cards bearing this title can be viewed on Troma's website.

A deleted scene, which is available on the DVD, shows Toxie throwing a sandwich, smacking the face of Sara's next door neighbor. Playing the neighbor is Mitch Cohen without his Toxic Avenger make-up.

The location used for the Mexican restaurant is now a Popeye's in Rutherford, NJ.

The crew reportedly ate the large sandwich that Pat Ryan lay on top of for his role as The Mayor.

The Mexican restaurant was actually called "The Mexican Place", just like it was in the movie.

According to Dan Snow, the character name and gimmick for Cigar Face were thought up on the spot by Lloyd Kaufman while they were filming his scenes when Kaufman spotted Snow lighting up a cigar on the set.

D.J. Calvitto, who plays the boy who gets his head crushed by the car, was chosen because he resembled the stunt man.

Jennifer Babtist was considered for the role of Sara. She was ultimately cast as Wanda.

Although Andree Maranda was dating one of the film's main producers, she won her part through an audition.

Rick Collins, who would later go on to play the Chairman in Atomic Hero 2 (1989) and Toxie's letzte Schlacht (1989), makes a brief appearance in this movie. He plays one of the bikers who harass Sara (Collins is the one who is holding her cane).

According to Mark Torgl in the Apocalypse Soon documentary, the cast and crew mostly ate Jarlsberg cheese sandwiches three times a day. By the end of the shoot, everyone was getting tired of this "so-called diet" - so, the crew put the cheese to waste by throwing the leftover five to six loads off a mountain.

53 minutes in when Melvin is surrounded in the alley, Leroy (Patrick Kilpatrick) who's head was turned into a milkshake at the Mexican restaurant returns from the dead as one of the thugs.

The Restaurant is called "The Mexican place" but yet it has Samurai swords on the wall.

In a deleted scene (reintegrated into the Extended/Japanese cut), it is revealed that Toxie didn't kill Wanda or Julie. Slamming Wanda onto the hot rocks simply injured her, and he just cut all of Julie's hair off. The two girls are shown having a fight at the police station with Wanda wearing a big gauze bandage on her rear and Julie's head completely bald.

Body Count: 27 (including one dog).