1984’s The Toxic Avenger received little exhibition but turned into a success on home video. This led to Toxic Avenger Part II in February 1989.

Though Troma took a few years between the first and second movies, no similar greeted fans anxious to see The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie. With a November 1989 release date, it arrived a mere nine months after the second chapter – and actually came largely from footage shot for the second film, as Troma ended up with so much material for Part II they figured it’d make sense to split matters into two flicks.

The Toxic Avenger (Ron Fazio) cleans up crime in his hometown of Tromaville. He does his job a little too well, as he winds up with little purpose or anything to occupy his time.

Toxie tries to get a job but can’t find a gig that matches his particular skill set – until his enemies at the evil corporation Apocalypse Inc. offer him a position. Because he wants to fund surgery that might restore the sight of his blind girlfriend Claire (Phoebe Legere), Toxie accepts, but he begins to turn into a real monster: a yuppie.

If nothing else, the fact the second and third Avenger flicks shot so close together means we don’t observe the odd lapses of continuity greeted in Avenger II. Many perplexing changes occurred between the first and second movies, but these become much less of an issue with Temptation.

Really, Temptation feels like the partner film to Avenger II that it offers. It reprises a lot of the characters and themes from the prior movie and occasionally seems a little like a remake.

Actually, that doesn’t seem entirely fair, as Avenger II broadened into a visit to Japan and Toxie’s quest to find his father. Still, both share the threat of Apocalypse Inc. and issues related to Toxie’s relationship with Claire.

To my surprise, Temptation seems considerably less graphic than does Avenger II. The latter came with ample scenes of over the top gore as well as plenty of nudity.

Outside of a nude woman coated in body paint, Temptation eschews skin, and it scales back the violence as well. Indeed, huge chunks of the movie pass without any action at all.

Which doesn’t strike me as a terrible deviation, though I expect franchise fans greeted the more tame vibe of Temptation with disappointment. After all, most people watch Troma flicks for their explicit material, so it surprises me that the movie toned down matters.

This seems even stranger since Temptation opens with a scene that brings exactly the kind of gross-out footage we expect. Toxie takes down psychopaths in a video store with all sorts of wild and graphic attacks.

After that, though, we find little to push the bounds of censorship. Given the ratings issues Troma encountered with Avenger II, perhaps they did this intentionally, but even in its unrated incarnation, Temptation doesn’t approach the gore of its predecessor.

Because I didn’t love that footage, this doesn’t bother or disappoint me. It simply surprises me and feels like a weird choice given the nature of the Troma fanbase.

As I mentioned in my Avenger II review, I did sense that Troma wanted to make aspects of the franchise more “kiddie friendly”, which meant the rampant violence and nudity felt weird. Given the way it tones down those elements – and makes a climactic fight against the Devil (really) a living video game - Temptation feels even more like it wants to reach the pre-teen audience.

But again, Temptation remains too graphic for this to become logical. Of course, by the late 1980s, kids enjoyed plenty of access to “R”-rated material via VHS and cable, but it still seems to me that if Troma wanted to really reach that audience, they’d have made the Avenger sequels more “PG”.

This means the nature of Temptation appears unlikely to satisfy either side. Too tame for Troma-philes but too nasty for families, it exists in a problematic netherland.

Beyond these areas, Temptation falters because it simply feels half-baked and only vaguely coherent. Granted, no one goes to a movie like this and anticipates flawless logic or three-dimensional characters, but this one just seems lazy.

Plot points come across as selected at random and don’t tend to go anywhere interesting. Toxie’s shift into yuppie status shows no clear build-up and appears to exist just because co-writer/co-director Lloyd Kaufman hates them.

As with the first two movies, Kaufman wears his passions on his sleeve, and that seems fine, especially since he mostly embraces worthwhile domains like benefits for the environment. After all, Toxie came into existence as a criticism of consumerism and abuse of the Earth.

The issue stems from the clunky way Temptation pursues these goals. “Ham-fisted” seems too much praise, as the movie brings out the elements in the clumsiest fashion.

Kaufman goes self-serving with his messages this time, though, as the opening fight at the video store exists mainly a) to promote Troma and b) to bemoan the monopoly big studios held over shop shelves. This doesn’t seem clever, but instead it just feels like the whiny navel-gazing it is.

Avenger II occasionally entered self-referential/meta domains, and Temptation goes wild with those. We get more than a few indications the characters know they’re in a movie, and these scenes grow tedious.

My biggest complaint here comes from the basic lack of fun on display, and that was the case with the prior two movies as well. As I noted when I reviewed the 1984 Avenger, I thought – and still think – the title role and basic premise come with potential.

The 1984 film became strangely ugly and mean-spirited, but I still held out hope the sequels would offer a better reflection of Toxie’s positives. And they do, but that’s mainly because I found the original flick to seem so sadistic and cruel.

The sequels go even campier than the original but that doesn’t make them much more enjoyable. Instead, they simply feel like more of the same glib silliness and over the top parody.

Given that nearly 40 years after the first movie’s release, Toxie enjoys enough of an audience for Troma to produce a pricey 4K boxed set, clearly the franchise has fans. I just don’t get the appeal, as through three movies, I can’t find much entertainment from Toxie. Well, maybe Avenger IV will do the trick.

The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. Like the first two movies, this one came with a scan that offered a mixed bag.

As with the prior films, print flaws turned into the main issue. Throughout the film, we got quite a few instances of specks, marks, nicks and spots.

Outside of those issues, though, Temptation looked pretty good. Sharpness veered a bit soft at times, but most of the film offered fairly positive delineation.

No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects popped up, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain seemed natural.

The film opted for a bright palette that came across well. The colors felt vivid, and HDR gave the hues added zest.

Blacks seemed dark and dense, while low-light shots became largely well-rendered. HDR brought some extra zing to whites and contrast. The prevalence of source defects made this a “C+”, but otherwise it worked nicely.

Given the fact both came out back to back in 1989, I assumed Temptation’s DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack would fare as poorly as the shrill material heard with Avenger II. Happily, the audio for Temptation seemed much more satisfactory.

Not that this meant the mono mix excelled, as it showed limitations. Still, speech came across as reasonably natural, with only a little of the edginess that marred the prior flick. Effects came with some distortion and never showed great range, but like speech, those elements seemed cleaner and better represented. Music also felt less than vibrant but showed superior fidelity than did the prior flick. In the end, this was a pretty mediocre track but it still came as a pleasant surprise given the terrible quality of the second movie.

On the 4K disc, we get a fresh Introduction from Co-Director/Producer/Co-Writer Lloyd Kaufman. The one-minute, 33-second clip offers minor notes about the movie’s inspirations but tells us little.

We find two audio commentaries, the first of which comes from Lloyd Kaufman. Troma editors Ronnie Thomas and Sean McGrath accompany Kaufman, and fellow Troma editor Gabe Friedman shows up along the way as well.

The track looks at the development of the film and its literal connection to Avenger II, cast and performances, sets and locations, themes and influences, effects and stunts, and thoughts about the movie.

Kaufman delivered a good commentary for the first film but his track for the second one became too packed with wisecracks and political rants. Happily, Kaufman bounces back for the third flick.

Of course, Kaufman stills makes jokes along the way, but he sticks more with production notes than he did during the second flick's conversation. The others offer some frank thoughts about what they do/don't like about the film, so this adds up to a generally solid chat.

For the second commentary, we hear from actor Joe Fleishaker. He brings his own running, screen-specific discussion of his experiences as a long-time Troma actor.

Or that’s what Fleishaker promises at the start. In the end, he tells us… not much.

Oh, Fleishaker occasionally gives us nuggets about the world of Troma, but he mostly points out when he appears on screen and he mocks the movie’s stretches of logic.

Fleishaker offers an affable personality but he just doesn’t tell us much of interest. Add a lot of dead air and this turns into a forgettable track.

By the way, Fleishaker misses one of the movie’s weirder plot holes. We learn that Claire was a brilliant scientist who lost her sight in an accident.

However, when Claire regains her sight, she acts like she’s been blind since birth. Of course, the movie also makes her seem stupid – she’s never heard of Benjamin Franklin? – and that doesn’t make sense given the notion she was supposed to be really smart.

Anyway, I didn’t remark on this weird choice in my review because I figured if I dug into the movie’s inconsistencies, I’d spend hours on that topic. However, because Fleishaker dug into this, I figured it felt like a good spot to pick on the film’s (maybe) dumbest goof.

The package includes a Blu-ray Copy as well, and it opens with a circa 2014 Introduction from Co-Director/Producer Lloyd Kaufman. In this three-minute, 43-second clip, we find Kaufman on vacation in Denmark, the same as his lead-in to Avenger II.

Kaufman tells us the Danish are the happiest people on earth an shows a few alleged Danes as they laugh hysterically and smoke pot. Nothing about this has anything to do with the movie, so this becomes a waste of time.

The BD repeats the same commentaries but it provides a bunch of other components, and we find Tromoma, an 11-minute, 40-second piece. It involves Kaufman, Troma director/producer/makeup artist Doug Sakmann, and actors Asta Parades, Mark Quinnette, Bill Weeden, and Catherine Corcoran.

“Tromoma” looks at a January 2014 Museum of Modern Art event that honored Troma. Expect a lot of praise and not much more.

Make Your Own Damn Horror Film! spans 11 minutes, 26 seconds. It involves Kaufman, costume designer Moira Shaughnessy, 1st assistant camera Nolan Ball, director Christian Winters, cinematographer David Kruta, writer Paul Travers, PAs Jessica Long and Wesley Ortiz and actors Olivia Alexander, Bill Moseley, and Kane Hodder.

We see Kaufman as he does a cameo in low-budget flick Old 37. This becomes an excuse to offer brief lessons in the world of bargain-basement filmmaking.

Though none of this applies to Toxic Avenger, it turns into an enjoyable view of the production. I also like the snarky meter that keeps track of Ortiz’s many utterances of “you knows”.

With A Halloween Carol, we get a nine-minute, 54-second segment. As expected, this one offers a brief Troma adaptation of the Dickens classic that moves the setting from December to October.

Kaufman plays a version of Scrooge in this comedic piece. More a promotion reel for Troma than anything else, it doesn’t go much of anywhere.

Rabid Grannies: The Informercial lasts one minute, 56 seconds, and indeed advertises that Troma movie. It offers attempted comedy as it sells us the film.

Radiation March fills a similarly brief 56 seconds and shows an odd interpretive dance/environmental message. It seems unclear for what market Troma made the clip.

Also found on the prior two BDs, 40 Years of Troma delivers a two-minute, three-second reel that shows a montage of clips from Troma flicks overlaid with some text that praises the studio. It feels like a waste of time.

In addition to trailers for Avenger and its three sequels, we get promos for Return to Nuke ‘Em High: Vol. 1 and Return to Nuke ‘Em High: Vol. 2.

Note that this set offers a new Blu-ray and does not appear to simply replicate the prior release from 2014. As far as I can tell, Troma does not have an individual release of this BD.

After two flawed movies, I went into The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie with low hopes. The movie matched those low expectations, as it brought another disjointed and not especially entertaining affair. The 4K UHD comes with erratic but generally appealing picture and audio as well as a mix of bonus materials. Maybe the fourth movie will hit the spot, but Temptation fizzles.

Note that as of October 2023, this 4K version of The Toxic Avenger Part III can be found only as part of a four-film 4K “Toxic Avenger Collection”. This also includes The Toxic Avenger, The Toxic Avenger Part II and Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger Part IV.