I’d like to think as a gay man I’m more open to things a straight man would either ignore or hate. Sometimes my desire for different experiences has led me down strange paths, especially when I had the great opportunity to interview filmmaker Lloyd Kaufman while he was here for the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo back in April.

Lloyd, along with his business partner Michael Herz, are the driving force behind Troma Entertainment. If the name doesn’t sound familiar to you, these gentlemen are the twisted geniuses responsible for The Toxic Avenger (along with its sequels and the children’s cartoon show Toxic Crusaders), Class of Nuke ‘Em High, Sgt. Kabukiman NYPD and the recent musical/horror/omedy release, Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.

Kaufman started out in the mid-70s directing raunchy sex comedies, but onwards from The Toxic Avenger, most of their films leaned towards "shock exploitation" type films containing overt sexuality, graphic violence, gore, nudity, and a surreal sense of humour.

In other words, good times!

While there are undoubtedly some sweater-queens in our community who would swoon at this concoxion, those of us who like over-the-top, almost cartoon-like gore and violence would enjoy the bizarre journeys Troma sends us on. Additionally, given Troma’s slogan of "Movies of the Future," those same sweater-queens who clutch their pearls now will probably be laughing their asses off in 30 years when Hollywood rehashes the same damn ideas.

All the gore aside, the interesting thing about Troma films is that they identify with the underdogs, and don’t mock them as mainstream horror films do. Watching The Toxic Avenger  and  Nuke ‘Em High, for example, the gay characters are not teased or tormented - they are just there as part of the background scenery (which, for horror films in the 1980s was damn near revolutionary). Furthermore, Troma’s recent film Poultrygeist, featured a lesbian relationship central to the plot line. That, and a guy getting anally fingered by a zombie hand in a graveyard.

Lloyd feels a kinship with the LGBT community, on being outsiders, being marginalized: "Troma – at least my movies – tend to support the underdogs." As way of example, he mentions that in the first Toxic Avenger, everyone turned against the title character except his mother, the children, and the gay men.

Troma also helped finance and distribute the 1991 film Vegas in Space - the glamorous story of three astronauts transformed into women in order to complete a secret mission on the all-female planet Clitoris. Yes, the film was campy; however it also starred and was written/created by Doris Fish, one of San Francisco’s most noted drag queens, Lloyd told us.

"An all transvestite musical comedy that takes place in space and...it was well before Priscilla: Queen of the Desert. We brought Miss X (a drag queen star of the film) to Cannes Film Festival two years before Priscilla was made. It was very unusual – people were really surprised...That was a big deal, it was very controversial."

Despite the contentious nature of some of his films, Troma attracts a loyal fan base. "We’ve got a lot of fans – and that’s the only reason we’re around is because of the fans." A showing of a Troma film guarantees a packed theatre, as happened in 2007 when Poultrygeist showed at the Calgary International Film Festival. Lloyd showed me a picture of a lineup for a recent showing of The Toxic Avenger in Vegas, which went around the block!

However, because of the genre of Troma’s movies, some financial difficulties and missteps with past films, and his independent streak, Troma has been marginalized.

"At the Cannes Film Festival, people go, didn’t you used to be Lloyd Kaufman? We cannot penetrate the hymen of the mainstream, and when we do, we get fucked."

This despite having actors such as Marisa Tomei, Ron Jeremy, Vincent D’Onofrio, Trey Parker and Matt Stone acting in Troma films early in their career. Additionally, directors Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth are admirers of Kaufman’s work. "We’ve never been more famous yet we’ve never had less business," Lloyd told us.

Part of the problem with this, Lloyd asserts, is that in the States, the media is controlled by conglomerates and they strangle the little guys. The rules which governed monopolies were done away with, and being an independent film-maker is next to impossible. Lloyd thinks for all that, the World Wide Web is the future.

"The Internet is the big hope, which is why we need to keep it free and open and diverse. That is a big threat because the telephone companies, the giant media companies, they do not want net neutrality because they have to compete and they do not want to compete. It’s much easier if it’s a cartel."

He stresses the public needs to tell their elected representatives to support net neutrality as it means freedom for creative expression. We can’t and shouldn’t support big companies who are opponents of net neutrality, as they don’t want variety or diversity unless it’s THEIR kind of variety and diversity - which means a choice of nothing.

Considering the mainstream choices of late are another Sex and the City film, and anything barfed up by "author" Nicholas Sparks, having the Tromas of the world is a nice laxative to the aforementioned crap. Be warned, the splattergore Troma films are not for the weak of heart. However, for the genre, Lloyd’s work is surprisingly savvy. Toxic Avenger and Nuke ‘Em High played with the public’s fears of toxic waste and nuclear power, respectively. Troma’s recent film, Poultrygeist, was also an effective skewering of the fast food industry in North America.

"Among other things, I am interested in political/sociological themes as well as sex and violence," said Lloyd.

Granted, he knows a large portion of his audience are straight males (which would explain the numerous instances of topless women), however anything showing nudity or sex are pretty much so far over the top, half the time you’re laughing at the characters. Additionally, unlike the cowering females of most mainstream horror movies, a lot of the Troma female characters can kick ass as much as - or even more than - the male hero. When any gay characters appear onscreen, they usually aren’t cannon fodder for once, but just characters in the film – either on the side of the hero (Toxic Avenger) or one of the villains (Nuke ‘Em High). Well, okay, the gay Spanish character from Poultrygeist got ground up and made into a Sloppy Joe-type sandwich that could talk (with Pimento olives for eyes) but this was again an example of cartoon-like over-the-top violence, and damn funny.

Lloyd’s films may not be to everyone’s taste, yet I find Troma releases to be a hell of a lot more entertaining than your average horror schlock film which goes for the easy targets. It’s a shame Hollywood doesn’t embrace him, but will steal his ideas ten or twenty years down the road.

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Contributor Evan Kayne |

Locale Calgary |

Person Lloyd Kaufman |

Topic Calgary Expo | Celebrity Interview | Celebrity Video Interview | Comic Expo |