Anthology Film Archives

Film Screenings / Programs / Series

TROMA-GEDDON

October 23 – November 1

52 years young, and still going strong – in a landscape littered with the remains of countless failed film studios and distributors – the proudly low-budget, defiantly tasteless, and astonishingly prolific Troma Entertainment is a goddamn national treasure! Founded in 1974 by the indefatigable Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz, and with a catalogue that currently numbers more than 450 titles, Troma picked up the mantle from the likes of American International Pictures and Roger Corman’s New World Pictures, extending their fast-and-dirty approach to filmmaking into the era of home video and R-rated permissiveness, and creating a space where creativity, ingenuity, collaboration, and sheer lunatic energy were more important than the niceties of good taste. Over the years, Troma has produced and/or distributed hundreds of sublimely over-the-top movies, nurtured the talents of untold numbers of filmmakers, performers, and crew members, and made an indelible mark on American popular culture, thanks to the likes of the TOXIC AVENGER series, CLASS OF NUKE ‘EM HIGH (1986), SGT. KABUKIMAN NYPD (1990), CANNIBAL! THE MUSICAL (1993), and many other lesser-known but deliriously inventive and entertaining films.

Back in the year 2000, Anthology presented a 25th-anniversary tribute to Troma. That series was wholeheartedly endorsed by Jonas Mekas – godfather of experimental cinema and co-founder of Anthology – who recognized in Lloyd Kaufman and his upstart studio a filmmaker who – however populist his sensibility and filmmaking philosophy – was in the tradition of the gleefully transgressive, anti-bourgeois, and defiantly independent spirit of much of 1950s-70s underground cinema. Twenty-six years later, Anthology welcomes Lloyd Kaufman and his team back for a new celebration of their half-century of unrestrained, raucous cinematic shenanigans – a body of work that is, simultaneously and paradoxically, politically incorrect yet politically uncompromising (the Troma filmography is suffused with Kaufman’s deep-seated anti-corporate convictions).

Featuring recent restorations of Troma classics, rare screenings of deep cuts from the company’s back-catalogue, 35mm prints of selected films, and appearances from cast, crew, and of course Kaufman himself, this series – while it may only scratch the surface of Kaufman and company’s output – contains enough comedy, gore, and cinematic resourcefulness to animate a whole year’s worth of programming. Come dive into the world of Troma – you’ll never be quite the same again.

Special thanks to Lloyd Kaufman, Michael Herz, and Sabrina Mendoza (Troma Entertainment); Bret Berg (American Genre Film Archive); and Jonathan Lees.

Upcoming Screenings

< Back to Series