Troma's War (1988)

Lloyd Kaufman, like all purveyors of exploitation films, is a bit of a carnival barker.  He is well aware of the type of movies he is financing, distributing or directing, and he also knows specifically who his audience is.  That is why even among those who enjoy independent or fringe cinema Troma films are sometimes a niche taste.  Pretty much anyone watching one is prepared for what they are going to see, as the pattern is pretty much set from The  Toxic Avenger forward.  

What is surprising is when Troma starts slipping into the mainstream.  The Toxic Avenger was made largely because the sex comedies the Kaufman directed and produced, and that were a mainstay of the company, started becoming mainstream with the advent of Porky's.  It was similar to the reason Herschell Gordon Lewis made Blood Feast, as Hollywood had caught up with exploitation films at the time, so to get audiences the producers of "nudie cuties" had to do something new.  Where Blood Feast was limited to the drive-in market and local distributors, Troma had the advantage of the home video market, and despite all the usual blood splatter and tasteless jokes in The Toxic Avenger the character became popular enough to enter the mainstream.  Thus, in 1988, Kaufman thought it was finally time for Troma to make its big budget, mainstream film to be played in actual theaters.

A plane flying out of Tromaville crashes on a deserted island.  A handful of the passengers survive, and immediately Taylor (Sean Bowen) starts working with some others to try to figure out where they are and what the situation is.  They quickly find out they are not alone, as Taylor and a British man named Marshall (Steven Crossley) quickly discover the island is crawling with soldiers.  They are none-too-friendly, and they soon capture some of the survivors while killing the others.

It turns out the soldiers are members of a conglomerate of terrorist organizations training to infiltrate the United States to cause chaos and bring the country down from the inside.  One band is led by neo-Nazi Schweinhart, who is convinced that the survivors are in fact an elite commando squad sent to end their operation.  The main group are led by the pig-faced Colonel Jennings (Rick Collins) and buxom, psychotic Major Ramirez (Alexis Grey), who are in charge of making sure the operation goes smoothly.  At the top of the operation are brothers who have plans for the financial elite to rule after the country's collapse.  However, with the help of used car salesman and Vietnam veteran Carter (Rick Washburn), the remaining survivors band together to save the United States. 

Troma's War was an absolute failure at the box office.  Cut down by the MPAA to 89 minutes from its original 104, with an entire subplot involving Señor Sida (Paolo Frassanito) and his "AIDS Brigade" removed completely, the released film was an incomprehensible mess.  Mainstream audiences were just left confused, while Troma fans were wondering where all the breasts and blood went.  Still, it is Kaufman's favorite film that he has made, largely because he considered it socially relevant - which is where the carnival barking comes in, as he claims to have been ahead on many of the issues talked about today, just hiding them behind his usual exploitation trappings.

Needless to say there is no reason to watch the R-rated version as Kaufman's director's cut is what is now freely available.  Despite his heavy-handed treatises against industrialism, the glorification of war and demagogues on both the left and the right, it is still a typical Troma film, with many lines delivered at top volume and the acting ranging from decent to dreadful.  It does restrain itself at times and, unlike many of Troma's pictures, some of the humor lands even if it is childish.  It just doesn't always mesh well with the violence that is on-screen. 

And there is a lot of on-screen violence in this film, with some argument on the body count - said by some to be above 600.  This is one of the more expensive films Kaufman has made, and much of the pyrotechnics and firepower was due to casting Rick Washburn, who went under the pseudonym Michael Ryder.  He is the owner of a company that supplies prop weapons and other such material to movies such as this, and his being cast in a main role was pretty much his fee for providing much of what is seen.  It's a good thing as well since Carter is one of the most memorable characters in the movie.

Even in its full form the movie suffers from having too many subplots, too many characters and too many villains.  It makes up for it with promising what the title delivers, with a ton of carnage seen on screen.  The battle sequences are well done, as is the confrontation with the heads of the organization.  At times it is bafflingly incompetent, others brilliant and, while not the best of the '80s Troma films, makes for quite a memorable experience. 

Troma's War (1988)

Time: 104 minutes

Starring: Sean Bowen, Carolyn Beauchamp, Steven Crossley, Rick Washburn, Tod Johnson, Rick Collins

Director: Lloyd Kaufman