Tag Archives: Arnold Schwarzenegger

The Toxic Avenger: Reboot to Feature Schwarzenegger?

The amazing theme music, the hilariously grotesque deaths, and the near pantomime scenes of campiness will all be going through the minds of Toxie fans everywhere when ever his name is mentioned. Well keep hold of those happy memories because there is a very real chance they are about to get obliterated. Variety have just released the news that plans are in the works to remake this beloved radioactive crusader from New Jersey into a more main-stream friendly action adventure movie. If that is not making you run to the hills screaming then just wait as there is more. The Governor himself Arnold Schwarzenegger is in talks to play the lead role. Now I know what most people are thinking right now. You are imagining Mr Freeze from Batman and Robin just with green skin and a pink tutu right? Well get rid of all those thoughts because he is not going to be playing Toxie at all…

Toxic Avenger

Now for those unfamiliar with the character of the Toxic Avenger here is a brief recap. Made by Troma Studios (makers of all things trash and proud of it) we have the character of nerdy janitor Melvin Ferd, who after accidentally falling through a window and into some toxic waste (a prank by some heartless jock types), he emerges as a deformed muscle-bound superhero who dishes out justice to the people who wronged him. He is New Jersey’s only superhero. He has fought thugs, corrupt mayors, his own evil twin and even Satan himself and still keeps coming back for more. Despite the highly inappropriate content of the moives, they still found a way for kids to get in on the action with the popular, if not ill-advised, Toxic Crusaders cartoon series.

Toxic Crusaders picture from soundonsight.org
Might as well have made a kids cartoon out of The Accused…

This is all in the planning stage at the moment so nothing is set in stone but if Arnie is not the avenger then who could he be? My guess is that International Film Trust (who are in charge of the reboot) and Steve Pink (Hot Tub Time Machine) will have Arnold as some kind of detective trying to piece together a series of horrific crimes all involving a mop. No just kidding he is actually a character called ‘The Exterminator’ (thanks to Yahoo Movies for that information), a black ops agent who teaches the Toxic Avenger how to use his powers to fight for justice. So is the Toxic Avenger even going to be Melvin at all, because this seems more like he may be an ex soldier who gets exposed to radiation while on a mission or something of that ilk.

The choice of Steve Pink is interesting. His vision of the 80s from Hot Tub Time Machine was exactly how I imagined it from numerous daily doses of movies like Pretty in Pink and Red Dawn. We know he can do humor quite well, but is he skilled enough to take on Toxie, especially as he has an army of fan boys and girls who will be hot on his heels?

toxic avenger remake arnie

What it seems to me while reading this new is that Troma Studios don’t seem to have any input here. One of the main reasons these films worked was because of the cheesy vibe that Lloyd Kaufman (the creator of Toxie) gave to the movies. The great blending of dark horror and comedy helped to give this film a cult following. If International Film Trust is going for a different tone they may be losing track of what actually makes these movies so appealing. All I do know is that good or bad, this news is going to bring more attention to Troma and their flagship character and if it’s getting new audiences to visit Tromaville for the first time than this reviewer is all for it. Worst case scenario we will always have the original to fall back on. Hopefully future news will give us a better idea on the direction this film will be taking.

Terminator 5 In The Works, Now With More Arnold Schwarzenegger!

I’m probably one of the few hundred or so people who actually quite enjoyed Terminator: Salvation. While it wasn’t the thrilling all out war that was promised from the opening scenes of Terminator 2, it still whetted my appetite pretty thoroughly for more Terminator movies and I was pretty ready for the franchise to come back strong. Unfortunately like I previously said, I was one of the very few who liked that movie, and what with the infamous Christian Bale blowout on set, it seemed like the Terminator franchise was doomed.

Fortunately it seems like the rights to the franchise were picked up by Skydance Productions, and progress is being made on the five-quel.

via [Deadline]

[quote] Skydance Productions and Annapurna Pictures have set Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier to script the next installment of The Terminator franchise.[/quote]

The good news about this is that #1) We’ll be getting a new Terminator movie, and in the spectrum of things, that’s something I’ll always be thankful for, and #2.) the talent involved is interesting to say the least. Patrick Lussier is a name known to genre fans, who most recently unleashed the wonderfully insane Drive Angry on the unsuspecting public. Laeta Kalogridis wrote Shutter Island, which I found to be pretty enjoyable. But the last bit of REAL good news, is that the ol’ Governator himself will be returning to the franchise!

via [BleedingCool]

[quote]Briefly: our man Patrick Dane is down at the London junket for The Last Stand and he reports back, in short, that Arnold Schwarzenegger will be appearing in the next Terminator movie. Arnold said so himself.[/quote]

My real point of contention here is going to be where exactly the movie will take place in the Terminator timeline? I think the only logical place to take it would be to show us the time machines actually being invented, and The Resistance trying to stop Skynet from building the time machine to go back into time, so the Terminator’s remains won’t be found by Cyberdyne, so there will be no Skynet in the first place. The problem with that would be with no Skynet there’d be no Resistance to stop Skynet, so then Judgement Day would still happen and there’d be The Resistance who’d stop the time machines and…

Well now my nose is bleeding so I’m gonna stop there. But a Terminator movie that delves into the mythology of the chicken/egg time travel situation when it comes to how Skynet came to be sounds great. Really have it go into detail about time travel, explain how it works and iron out some of the kinks/plotholes from T2 and forward. Plus have an aged Michael Biehn in there somehow, along with aged Arnie, (presumably from the alterna-future?), and you’d have the beginnings of a time travel story that’d really be something.

I'm sure he could use the work too.
I’m sure he could use the work too.

I’m basing this on nothing but pure speculation, since there’s really no story or script details at all at the moment, but you can bet when there is, my weird mind will be racing with possibilities. At this point there’s so many places they could go with the story, and I’m really hoping they don’t screw it up monumentally.

Of course, that’s if the movie ever actually gets made. Clearly you can see I hope it does.

Oh if only...
Oh if only…

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s The Last Stand: New Trailer and Interviews

Back in August we talked about Arnold’s big 2013 comeback, starting with The Last Stand – out this Friday. It’s been since 2003 since Arnold’s last lead role in the epically disappointing Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Now while I imagine this new one will be more T3 than T2, I still plan to visit the theater this weekend. It is Schwarzenegger after all. The basic idea is that Sheriff Arnold is too old and the FBI is too slow, and the bad guys are super fast and good. Here is the 2nd trailer for it…

Continue reading Arnold Schwarzenegger’s The Last Stand: New Trailer and Interviews

10 Things You Might Not Know About Arnold Schwarzenegger

With the Governator’s recent biography release, I thought it was high time we take a look at some of the things Arnold has been involved in, that may have gone under the radar of most casual fans. Let’s see how many of these you knew already.

Continue reading 10 Things You Might Not Know About Arnold Schwarzenegger

What Is Best In Life? ‘The Legend of Conan’ Starring Arnold Scwarzenegger!

Conan the Cimmerian has been a long standing character of fiction, dating back to 1932. Created by Robert E. Howard, Conan began crushing his enemies in pulp magazines like Weird Tales, and soon branched across all media with books, comics, cartoons, TV series, and movies. In 1982, we were presented with probably the most well-known and loved rendition of the character.

Conan the Barbarian featured Arnold Scwarzenegger in the title role, and pretty much started his ridiculously powerful action movie career. Not only is Conan the Barbarian a fine example of the character, it gave most of us our first taste of the legend to be known as Ah-nuld. He returned in the sequel, Conan the Destroyer, which is probably the best Conan movie ever made (unfortunately you can’t hear my sarcasm). We saw another rendition more recently with Jason Momoa taking over the title role. It was okay, but it certainly wasn’t Ah-nuld.

Continue reading What Is Best In Life? ‘The Legend of Conan’ Starring Arnold Scwarzenegger!

Countdown to Halloween #18: The Cryptkeeper

From comic books to television to movies – The Cryptkeeper has been a constant in the genre for over 60 years. Originating in EC’s Crime Patrol #15 in 1949, the Cryptkeeper would become the most famous of EC Comic’s ghoulish trio of hosts (with The Vault-Keeper and The Old Witch) as he would go on to star in their Tales from the Crypt comics for the next few years following his debut. That was until 1954 upon the release of The Seduction of the InnocentA true study in 1950s paranoia, the book chronicles psychiatrist Fredric Wertham’s assertion that near all delinquent behavior in America could be traced back to the evil that was comic books. The stir caused by this book resulted in the industry’s self-imposed ‘Comics Code Authority‘ which essentially de-toothed comics, turning Batman from a creature of the night into a glorified boy scout, and all but killing EC Comics and their horror themed books.

Continue reading Countdown to Halloween #18: The Cryptkeeper