Exclusives
Lloyd Kaufman Reveals His ‘Toxic Avenger’ Cameo in the Wake of Cameo in James Gunn’s ‘Superman’
There is no Toxic Avenger without Lloyd Kaufman — and that includes writer-director Macon Blair‘s new take on the cult classic.
In addition to serving as a producer on the superhero horror-comedy reboot, the Toxic Avenger creator makes a cameo in the film as The Hospital Grump.
“Macon gave Uncle Lloyd a wonderful cameo — much better than James Gunn does,” Kaufman jokes with Bloody Disgusting.
“My father used to say, ‘If you rub the back of a hunchback, you have good luck,'” he adds. “With James Gunn and some of the other people who’ve come out of Troma, I’m that hunchback. I haven’t told Macon about that, but he has to rub my hunchback.”
After Lloyd Kaufman gave him his start in the industry, James Gunn has repaid the Troma president with cameos in all of his films, from Slither and Guardians of the Galaxy to a blink-and-you-miss-it appearance in Superman.
“Lloyd paid me $125 to write my first film, Tromeo and Juliet,” Gunn once wrote of the experience. “It may seem cheap, but it was a great way to get my foot in the door in feature filmmaking!”
‘The Toxic Avenger’ (2025)
For his take on Toxie, Macon Blair tells Bloody Disgusting that he wrote a role specifically for Kaufman.
“Before I had a script, before I knew what the story was going to be, I knew there needed to be a Lloyd cameo in the movie, and I knew the nature of it needed to be some version of him telling me to shut the fuck up.”
He continues, “That’s how it was all organized and orchestrated. That’s why I put myself in the movie, so I could appear at just the right moment for him to wag his finger at me and tell me to knock it off. I wanted the cameo to be like the old master telling me to get off his lawn.”
‘The Toxic Avenger’ (2025)
Lloyd Kaufman appears in The Toxic Avenger alongside Peter Dinklage, Jacob Tremblay, Taylour Paige, Julia Davis, Jonny Coyne, Elijah Wood, and Kevin Bacon.
Get your tickets now to see The Toxic Avenger unrated in theaters on August 29!
Exclusives
‘The Haunting of Pennhurst’ Exclusive Clip Trains Scare Actors For Historic Haunt in Tribeca Doc
The past and present collide in haunting, poignant ways in the genre documentary The Haunting of Pennhurst, which sees a Halloween haunt serve as a reclamation of true historic horrors.
Ahead of its world premiere at the 25th Tribeca Film Festival, we have an exclusive clip that sees scare actors in training for the Halloween season. The catch? This haunt is opening at the historic Pennhurst State School & Hospital site, a facility that caused immense harm to its disabled patients over decades of its operation.
In the documentary, “For over seventy years, Pennhurst State School & Hospital was called a place of care. What happened inside killed over half its population. It closed in 1987, leaving behind unmarked graves and an unresolved history. Today, on those same grounds, disabled performers – many living with the same conditions that once sent people to Pennhurst – put on their makeup, pull on their costumes, and prepare to scare people for a living.
“Through grit, compassion, and buckets of blood, the eclectic performers of the Pennhurst Asylum haunted attraction are wrestling with a space that is at once a lucrative business and a gravesite.”
The upcoming documentary hails from directing trio Nathan Stenberg, Mike Attie, and Katarina Poljak, who explore their socially-relevant subject through archival footage, first-hand accounts, and an immersive verité.
“Pennhurst has haunted us since we first passed through its dragon-tooth gates; the horrors of the institution echo through the site today. We are so grateful to bring this film to the Tribeca Festival, particularly the Escape from Tribeca section, which feels right for a story where past and present bleed together. We hope audiences leave unnerved and asking the same uncomfortable questions we did,” Attie, Stenberg, and Poljak said in a statement.
Watch the clip below that sees disabled and neurodivergent scare actors learning the ropes of a Halloween haunt, reclaiming the site’s grim history in the process.
Tribeca Screenings:
- Public 1 (Premiere) Screening – Friday, June 5 at 9:15PM at Village East by Angelika
- Public 2 Screening – Sunday, June 7 at 3:15PM at Village East by Angelika
- Public 3 Screening – Tuesday, June 9 at 6:15PM at Village East by Angelika
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