Look Who's Toxic (1990) Online

This film looks like it was made on an extremely tiny budget. It has some of the grotesque humour found in classic splatter horror films of the eighties, but is surprisingly low on gore (except for a few nasty incidents). The acting is mostly amateurish. Good fun. "I want a young strong heart and I want it now!"

I really wasn't expecting much from this movie. First of all I knew it was really cheaply made (even for a low budget movie the lack of money is extremely evident) and secondly, from the title I expected some dumb radioactive humour along the lines of THE MUTANT KID or REVENGE OF THE RADIOACTIVE REPORTER. I ended up being pleasantly surprised! Sure, this film isn't a masterpiece, but the low budget is utilised well, there's a fairly complex plot for a change and it remains watchable and interesting throughout. Things begin with a downbeat narrative which bombards us with statistics to the effect that the world is becoming more and more dangerously polluted. Of course we know that this is just an excuse to make a schlocky horror film but hey, it looks impressive anyway.

We're soon introduced to the central character, Davis. Davis is played by one Chris Robinson who is actually a damn good actor. The surprising thing is that Robinson is actually the villain of the film as well as being the lead, but he does such a good job of being dastardly that you can't help but like him anyway. The script gives Robinson's character plenty of word play and witty dialogue which is always a plus. Basically, he's a corrupt businessman millionaire who thinks he can solve all of life's problems with money.

The first half of the flick is in straightforward thriller territory as Robinson gets rid of some people standing in his way (one of them a guy from the EPA come to expose him, another a doctor who refuses to help and is the subject of a hit-and-run accident - while inside a telephone box!). Luckily he has some muscle in the form of a hulking black bodybuilder bodyguard who also plays the flute in his spare time! Things get sticky (literally, as it turns out), when Robinson's heart gives out and he kidnaps and kills a man for his heart. The dead man's girlfriend investigates and is soon captured by Robinson.

The hollow body is unwisely dumped into a polluted lake and no sooner than you can say "Swamp Thing", he's rising from the depths as a slimy, rotting mutation seeking revenge and taking it by butchering Robinson's employees and those who harmed him in the past. The makeup effects on this monster are actually very good considering there was no budget for the movie. He looks a lot like the Toxic Avenger but I would go so far as to say even better, cheesier perhaps but no less impactful. The ending sees the monster take revenge on Robinson and retrieve the stolen heart in the most graphic way imaginable.

Okay, so the plot isn't actually that complex after all, but for a low budget flick it sure is. Most low budget films that I have seen just basically consist of characters running from one scene to another while monsters try to get them. It may be cool once but the effect quickly becomes tiring. LOOK WHO'S TOXIC tries a different angle and becomes interesting as a result of that. As well as the cool monster makeup, there are some surprisingly grisly gore effects too, including scenes of evisceration, a guy getting punched through the chest and his guts torn out, and some graphic open heart surgery definitely not for the squeamish.

LOOK WHO'S TOXIC gets one point for Chris Robinson's enjoyably devious performance, one point for the effective monster rampage scenes, and another for a plot which actually does bear traces of originality as opposed to all those which sadly don't. A low budget, engaging romp which isn't afraid not to take itself too seriously and holds a candle to films with a budget millions of times larger.