Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie [1989]
Troma Films' Toxic Avenger series shows its lack of legs with the second sequel to its 1985 hit. Despite a typically absurd premise, which has Toxie battling Satan to save his hometown of Tromaville, the film lacks the go-for-broke gags and gore that made the first two films such guilty pleasures. Part of the reason for this may be that the movie was culled from footage shot for The Toxic Avenger, Part II; Troma heads Lloyd Kaufman (who also helmed the feature) and Michael Herz simply stitched together Part III from the loose ends. While haphazard construction is part of the charm of Troma's films, the relatively high quality of the Toxic Avenger series raised the bar, and the slapdash nature of Part III is more of a disappointment than a campy source of humor. True to their nature, Troma disregarded the drubbing this film received and completed a fourth entry, Citizen Toxie. --Paul Gaita