Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger 4

Billed as the real sequel to Lloyd Kaufman's 1985 gross-out cult classic (even Kaufman disavows parts 2 and 3, which says something), Citizen Toxie begins with a truly loathsome sequence in which a classful of retarded children shit their pants before having their brains blown out, but improves with a parody of the death-by-truck-dragging of James Bird and cinema's first-ever in utero fistfight. The plot, for what it's worth, pits mutant superhero Toxie (David Mattey, with dubbed voice by Clyde Lewis) against his alternate-dimension evil self, the Noxious Offender (not a bad description of the film itself). Though not up to the heights of whacked-out insanity established in Kaufman's last two films, Tromeo and Juliet and Terror Firmer (actor Will Keenan and scribe James Gunn are sorely missed, though Gunn makes an acting cameo as a parody of both Stephen Hawking and Rocky Horror's criminologist), the film does have its moments, notably an extended Citizen Kane parody and a homage to Mike Figgis' Time Code (one of Kaufman's favorite films in recent years). Newcomer Michael Budinger is a hoot playing a retarded Judd Nelson, more or less; Paul Kyrmse is fantastic as the alcoholic, inept Sgt. Kabukiman NYPD; and Ron Jeremy actually turns in the best performance of his (non-naked) career as a born-again mayor. Mark "Melvin" Torgl returns from the first film, as does much of the original footage in recycled form, and the whole thing is best enjoyed while really drunk.