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"You don't kill children in movies unless it's Troma," says Kaufman proudly. "That's part of our function. Why not kill them? Why shouldn't they be killed? Kids are scary. Kids are zombies, most of them."

While I'm speaking to Kaufman at Troma's L.A. office, several LAPD officers pause to examine the graffiti caricatures of Toxie, Sgt. Kubikiman and other Tromungous icons that grace the outer wall. Kaufman laughs at the officers. They don't know if it's art or vandalism. This confusion is consistent with the Bad Filmmaking Seal of Disapproval that the Troma label often stamps on its product. Even MTV calls the Troma crew "trashmeisters."

Case in point: "Troma's War" features the "AIDS Brigade" -- a festering, lesion-riddled troop bent on infecting America with their exaggerated affliction. On the one hand, this is offensive. On the other hand, dealing with AIDS in 1986 (long before red ribbons became almost trendy) was brave. Dealing with AIDS humorously was even braver. Adding AIDS to their list of traditionally non-funny topics (along with sex and violence), Troma continued to practice "healthy catharsis through comedy."

Kaufman likens the Tromatic effect to Dadaism, the early-'20s anti-art movement devised to confound, infuriate and shock. "I want to get people's juices flowing, get them to react emotionally. I mean, how can you react emotionally to 'Notting Hill'? You've seen it all before. It's safe and goody-goody -- a true example of passionless, misdirected, unguided, committee-made non-art."

"Everything's being homogenized into baby food for us. When people go to a Troma movie, they know they may love 'The Toxic Avenger,' and they know they may hate 'Tromeo and Juliet,' but they know they're never going to forget 'Terror Firmer.'"

"Terror Firmer" (which was described by the French Cinematheque as "Truffaut's 'Day For Night' meets 'Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer' through the eyes of Frank Capra") is the consummate Troma horror/comedy. It's a Troma film about Troma filmmakers making a Troma film. A "sexually conflicted serial killer" is knocking off members of the crew. Camera-ham Kaufman plays -- get this -- the film's director.

"'Terror Firmer' has people getting their heads squashed. We've got dismemberment, we've got people getting their penises pulled off, we've got everything in this movie," says Kaufman. "But the one thing that gives me the willies is when I watch myself acting -- or trying to act."

"Terror Firmer" has no national launch date. Then again, no Troma film does. "We only have about 60 people working for us," says Kaufman, "and we don't have the wherewithal to open nationally. So we start in L.A."

From there it's a process of convincing the few remaining independent theater houses to play the film. The politically charged Kaufman -- who led the 1999 Academy Award picketing of Elia Kazan's Lifetime Achievement Award -- believes this process is hampered by de facto blacklisting.

"The four or five big companies own everything -- the movie studios, the newspapers, the TV stations, the cable systems … they own the president of the United States, for Christ's sake, and his whore wife! Warner Brothers spends $1 million per film to advertise in New York; we are spending $15,000 in cash. Our fans have been trained to find us quick because there's gonna be some shitty Miramax movie [replacing our film]. It's an age of being brainwashed by the media that everything's got to be big to be legitimate -- big companies, big cars, big breasts, big lips, big money."

To battle what he sees as an economic stranglehold, Kaufman tries to take his product directly to his fans via Troma Team Video, Troma DVD and the upcoming Tromaville.com.

"It's a virtual city in cyberspace specifically aimed at the alternative culture," says Kaufman, who urges everyone to apply for Tromaville citizenship. It kicks off at the Playboy Mansion on Nov. 15, with a live Webcast of the last day of shooting on the set of "Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger 4." One lucky contest winner gets to be killed by Toxie himself.

Kaufman is a consummate underdog. Like him or hate him, Kaufman has resisted selling out or distilling his confrontational vision. "As Jimmy Stewart says in Frank Capra's films, 'Lost causes are the most important ones to fight for.' And the Bard said it, too: 'To thine own self be true.'

"That's the true Troma philosophy."
salon.com | Oct. 30, 1999

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