Troma invades Notre Dame University!
March 2005

Troma Films invades South Bend

Jedediah Walls, Assistant Editor

President and Co-founder of Troma Films and cinepatriarch of Indy Media Lloyd Kaufman invaded South Bend last week, spreading a simple message to would-be moviemakers everywhere: A movie doesn’t have to be great to be remembered.

Films by Kaufman include The Toxic Avenger, Class of Nuke ‘Em High, and the award winning Tromeo and Juliet.

Determined to keep independent movies alive against their corporate rivals, Lloyd Kaufman wages his war the best way he can: He makes unforgettable movies.

“I was so excited to see Lloyd I almost puked my guts out!” shouted Ted Wiesman, an avid fan of Troma movies since his first encounter with Redneck Zombies when he was twelve.

During his weekend in South Bend, Lloyd performed guest lectures at Notre Dame and conducted a book signing at Borders for his latest book, Make Your Own Damn Movie!, which gives insightful and detailed methods for creating Indy films. He also showed an original 35mm release of The Toxic Avenger in front of a giant audience of Troma fans.

“Without Lloyd Kaufman,” wrote film critic Michael H. Klienschrodt in the New Orleans Times-Picaynue, “there probably never would have been There’s Something About Mary or Deuce Bigalow, Male Gigolo.”

“Red Neck Zombies is the WORST movie I’ve ever seen, and that’s why I love it!” Recalled Bart Aberman, a local Troma Film fan.

Troma Films burst like a dirty diaper into theaters in 1984 with the cult-hit The Toxic Avenger, and remains a poopy flagship for independent cinema today. With just around 1000 movies under its belt, Troma has almost single-handedly inspired the B-Rated movie genre.

The Toxic Avenger spawned sequels with warped and twisted titles like The Toxic Avenger Two: the Last Temptation of Toxie and Toxic Avenger Four: Citizen Toxie. Toxie went on to inspire several lines of action figures, and even a cartoon show.

Other Troma hits (if you can call them that) include Terror Firmer and the world-famous Sgt. Kabukiman, N.Y.P.D.

Lloyd has written several books, including Make Your Own Damn Movie!, All I Need to Know about Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger, and the as yet unreleased classic Toxic Avenger novel. His current movie, Poultrygeist, is in production.

The Toxic Avenger), an unsuspecting Borders Manager, The Noxious Offender, Tromette Asphyxia and Lloyd Kaufman