Fans have been waiting a long time to see writer/director Macon Blair’s remake of the Troma cult classic The Toxic Avenger (watch it HERE), which wrapped filming way back in 2021 and unveiled a teaser trailer near the end of 2023, around the time it had its world premiere screening – but we won’t have to wait much longer. At the start of the year, it was announced that Cineverse had acquired the distribution rights with the intention of giving the film a wide release, and we’ve since learned that they’re aiming for an th theatrical release. A few days ago, a full red band trailer dropped online, and now our friends at Bloody Disgusting have shared a video that shows cast member Elijah Wood’s reaction to the trailer! The trailer itself can be seen in the embed above, and the Elijah Wood reaction video is at the bottom of this article.

Three years ago, the Motion Picture Association ratings boards gave the film an R rating for “strong violence and gore, language throughout, sexual references and brief graphic nudity”… but never mind all that. The Toxic Avenger remake is being released unrated (so, presumably, anything that was cut for the R rating has been put back in).

Blair’s version of The Toxic Avenger centers on Winston Gooze, 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.

Peter Dinklage plays Winston Gooze and is joined in the cast by Kevin Bacon as villainous corporate overlord Bob Garbinger; Elijah Wood as Bob’s brother Fritz Garbinger, who is described as “sort of Riff Raff from The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the Danny DeVito Penguin mixed together”; Taylour Paige as investigative reporter / vigilante detective JJ Doherty; Jacob Tremblay as Winston’s stepson Wade; Jonny Coyne as a “shadowy criminal figure”; Sarah Niles as a “corrupt city official”; Julia Davis as an unspecified character; and Blair as a guy named Dennis.

Dinklage doesn’t physically play Toxie. Instead, Luisa Guerreiro, an actor and movement artist, provides the physical performance of Toxie underneath the makeup and costume. Dinklage does still provide the character’s voice after Winston becomes Toxie. 

The Toxic Avenger remake was filmed in Bulgaria. Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz produced with Legendary Entertainment. Are you looking forward to the movie? Take a look at the Elijah Wood trailer reaction video, then let us know by leaving a comment.