After 1984’s The Toxic Avenger became a home video hit in 1986, two sequels arrived a few years later. February 1989 brought Toxic Avenger Part II, and Toxic Avenger Part III showed up in November 1989, a mere nine months later.

Fans needed to wait much longer for another chapter. However, one finally arrived in 2000 with Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV.

The “Diaper Mafia” nabs hostages at the Tromaville School for the Very Special. When the Toxic Avenger (David Mattey) and his sidekick Lardass (Joe Fleishaker) save the day, an explosion results that opens a path to Amortville, Tromaville’s mirror universe counterpart.

Toxie ends up trapped in Amortville while the Noxious Offender (Mattey) – his villainous doppelganger – creates havoc in Tromaville. While Noxie causes problems, Toxie fights to make it back home and clean up this bad situation.

Of course, Citizen didn’t invent the concept of the mirror universe, as that notion goes back decades. However, this twist puts the movie in line with the 2020s “multiverse” trend, so it seems more “modern” than otherwise might be the case.

This potentially appealing concept aside, Citizen becomes the worst of the four movies. If you check my reviews of the prior three, you’ll see I entered every entry with the hopes it’d click and give us a fun mix of comedy and action and horror.

That proved untrue for the first three, but I thought perhaps those flicks were just too “80s” for their own good. Maybe the more modern-day Citizen would finally fulfill the character’s promise.

Heck, the movie even promises this! In an opening narration from Stan Lee – an occasional collaborator of Citizen director/Troma leader Lloyd Kaufman – we get a reference to the pair of 1989 films as “two rotten sequels” and assures us that this one will offer the real deal.

For diehard Troma fans, this may prove correct, mainly that Citizen becomes the most offensive of the film’s since the 1984 original. Actually, it outdoes the first flick, as Citizen goes out of its way in its attempts to shock and offend.

As I noted when I reviewed the 1984 movie, I thought it seemed surprisingly ugly and mean-spirited. However, the original looks tame by comparison to the relentlessly and gratuitously cruel Citizen.

Troma made Citizen in an era where “shock” and gross-out comedy found large audiences. Crassness turned into big business via efforts like the American Pie movies and the works of the Farrelly brothers.

However, those movies tended to come with some form of earnestness and heart. They managed a form of warmth completely absent from the nasty Citizen.

Comedy falters when those involved “punch down”. In other words, if someone attempts laughs at people “less privileged”, it comes across as bullying and cruel.

That turns into a major issue with Citizen. While those involved think their mockery of various groups makes the movie edgy and rebellious, instead it just leaves us with a tale that shows shockingly little self-awareness.

We get gratuitous ugliness right from the start in the way the movie portrays the students of the Tromaville School for the Very Special. We find an array of characters with Intellectual Disabilities - though played by neurotypical actors, of course.

Citizen finds it hilarious to mock these roles in the cheapest, most mean-spirited way possible. Of course, we’re supposed to see this as pushing the boundaries, but instead, it just seems heartless.

Matters don’t improve from there, as the film comes with one ugly stereotype after another. Whereas a better movie would mock the notion of the clichés, instead this one delights in the simple ability to laugh at different minorities.

Through this set’s bonus features, I get a smug vibe from those involved, as they seem to believe Citizen pushes the envelope and punctures the pious and condescending among us. Take the school name, for instance.

The filmmakers convey that “School for the Very Special” acts as an overly sensitive moniker versus something like “School For Useless Retards” or whatever they believe would be more accurate. They also imply that these students are a waste of space and don’t deserve education.

These points don’t show intelligence or daring. They just appear harsh and cruel and without any form of empathy for others.

Attitudes like this abound in the desperately unfunny Citizen, and those involved clearly think “tasteless” automatically means “clever and hilarious”. Even some of the cast and crew recognize the movie occasionally goes too far, such as when it shows rednecks who drag a Black man behind their pickup truck and cause him to nearly die.

Citizen’s participants seem to forgive this horrifying spectacle with the silliness that follows, as the character survives, albeit as just a head. Unfortunately, this doesn’t make the startling lack of taste any more acceptable.

Again, if we found some intelligence here, perhaps the crass nature of Citizen would find some redemption. Instead, the filmmakers just “punch down” the whole time and mock various groups out of a sense of arrogant superiority.

It doesn’t help that many scenes run on and on without purpose. 109 minutes seems awfully long for a tale such as this, and the film’s self-indulgent pandering grows tedious well before it finally – mercifully – ends.

There’s no actual story here. Despite the “mirror universe” theme, instead we just find random collections of scenes.

For a movie that wants to seem smart and socially aware, Citizen sure does revel in crass treatment of different groups. Kaufman – who occasionally refers to his allegedly super-high IQ without irony or self-awareness – seems enchanted with his own sense of brilliance, but he lacks any insight when it comes to various topics.

This means everything gets rendered in the cheapest, lowest-common-denominator way. Kaufman feels that gays, women, the disabled, ethnic minorities, religious groups and others exist as nothing more than targets for his witless mockery.

Essentially, Citizen feels like a really stupid and terrible Kevin Smith movie. It concludes Troma’s original run of Toxic Avenger movies on a horribly sour and demeaning note.

Footnote: a tag scene appears after the end credits.

Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger Part IV appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. As the newest of the franchise’s four films, I expected Citizen to bring the strongest visuals – and it did, though it still came with issues.

As with the prior flicks, print flaws became the dominant concern, as I saw a mix of specks and marks. While these became less prevalent than with the first three movies, I still witnessed way too many of them, especially for a movie from 23 years ago.

Otherwise, the image did well, with sharpness that generally appeared accurate. Some softness crept in at times, but most of the film looked well-defined.

No concerns with jagged edges or shimmering occurred. I saw no edge haloes, and grain seemed natural.

Like the prior movies, Citizen opted for a natural palette, and it worked well. Most of the colors seemed lively and full, with a nice boost from HDR.

Blacks appeared deep and dark, while shadows came across as reasonably smooth. HDR added heft to whites and contrast. The print defects held back the image, but otherwise it seemed satisfactory.

The three movies from the 1980s came with mono audio, which didn’t surprise me given their era and low budgets. Although Citizen also enjoyed sparse funds, the fact it got made in 2000 meant its DTS-HD MA monaural track felt awfully primitive.

Audio quality seemed adequate. Speech appeared fairly natural and lacked edginess, though we found some awkwsrd looping at times.

Music and effects seemed fairly clear and accurate, though they lacked much range. Still, they didn’t suffer from notable distortion or other concerns.

But seriously – mono audio in the year 2000? That automatically left the movie with a low grade, and the lackluster sonics didn’t help.

This would be a perfectly satisfactory soundtrack – for a movie from 1970. Since Citizen came out 30 years later – in an era where 5.1 audio was the norm – it wound up with a “D+”.

On the 4K disc, we get a fresh Introduction from Director/Co-Writer/Producer Lloyd Kaufman. The two-minute, one-second clip offers minor notes about the movie’s themes. Don’t expect much.

We find three audio commentaries, the first of which comes from Lloyd Kaufman. He offers a running, screen-specific view of story/characters, cast and performances, various effects, sets and locations, music, and various production elements.

Kaufman recorded his Avenger II track in June 2002. In that environment nine months after 9/11, Kaufman went off on too many political rants.

Because Kaufman’s Citizen commentary takes place September 11, 2002 and launches in that vein, I feared he’d make this one similarly off-putting. Happily, he keeps this side of the piece minimal.

Well, that holds true until the very end of the movie, at which time Kaufman unleashes all his political venom. At least the timing of this means the viewer can turn off the commentary when Kaufman launches into his 9/11-triggered rant and miss nothing.

Kaufman spends too much time with attempts at humor, especially given his juvenile and unfortunate affection for homophobic comments. Still, he brings a fairly frank look at the movie and manages to turn this into a largely worthwhile piece despite some missteps.

For the second commentary, we hear from actor/co-writer Trent Haaga, actor/art designer Michael Budinger and actors Joe Fleishaker, Heidi Sjursen, David Mattey and Paul Kyrmse. All appear to have recorded their own running, screen-specific tracks that got edited into one piece.

As expected, most of the track looks at the cast and their performances, but we learn about other topics as well, especially since some like Haaga and Budinger held other responsibilities behind the camera as well. This means a nice variety of thoughts, and all involved appear to refuse to hold back with their comments.

One big negative arrives here, unfortunately, as Budinger does a lot of his session in character as “Tito”. As a result, we find plenty of ugly, crass “humorous remarks” that drag down an otherwise solid chat.

Finally, we find a commentary with editor/co-writer Gabriel Friedman and associate editor Sean McGrath. Both sit together for their running, screen-specific view of editing choices as well as a mix of production domains.

Expect another solid chat here, one that covers a good array of topics and seems blunt and honest. We find plenty of insights and honest thoughts in this engaging track.

The package includes a Blu-ray Copy as well, and it opens with a circa 2014 Introduction from Kaufman and Friedman - with “Transgender Toxie” as well as a bunch of annoying convention fans and some dude who calls himself “Count Smokula”. In this three-minute, 15-second clip, they offers some self-congratulatory notes – and an annoying song from the Count.

The BD repeats the same commentaries found on the 4K but it provides a bunch of other components, and the main attraction comes from Apocalypse Soon: The Making of Citizen Toxie. It spans a whopping two hours, 17 minutes, 48 seconds and offers a “fly on the wall” view of the production.

Comments from those involved arrive along the way, but these fall into the impromptu situation, so we don’t formal interviews. Instead, we follow the shoot from Day One and see all the shenanigans the rest of the way.

Most “behind the scenes” programs exist as puff pieces. That doesn’t become the case from “Soon”, as it paints the Citizen set as… well, toxic.

If anyone enjoyed the experience or anything positive occurred, you won’t find evidence here. Actually, some mildly encouraging moments occur, such as when Kaufman treats Sjursen in a surprisingly gentle manner when she refuses to do a nude scene.

Otherwise, we find a brutal look at the shoot, and that makes “Soon” fascinating. Given the lack of pay involved, one would expect Troma shoots to offer a certain “us against the world” joie de vivre, but signs of that remain sparse to non-existent.

I don’t know if the Citizen production really was as awful as “Soon” makes it seem or if its creators play up the dysfunction and misery. Whatever the case, it becomes an absorbing documentary.

Troma’s Tribute to Lemmy spans eight minutes, 14 seconds and involves footage from various Troma sets for movies in which musician Lemmy Kilmeister appeared. I assumed this existed due to Lemmy’s death in 2015, but it seems to predate that event.

That means we just get a random collection of elements, some of which seem interesting. I don’t know why Troma decided to stage a tribute to Lemmy when they did, but the clips offer some value.

With The American Cinematheque Honors 40 Years of Troma Entertainment, we locate a two-minute, three-second clip that shows a montage of clips from Troma flicks overlaid with some text that praises the studio. It feels like a waste of time.

We finish with trailers for Volumes 1 and 2 of Return to Nuke ‘Em High as well as Pro Wrestlers Vs. Zombies. It seems odd we get no promos for Citizen or the prior three Avenger flicks since all those appeared on those Blu-rays.

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.

Even though the first three movies failed to satisfy, I hoped Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV might end the series on a high note. Instead, it became the worst of the bunch, as it provided nothing but a too long collection of ugly, offensive scenes with no real purpose. The 4K UHD comes with erratic visuals, dated audio and a strong mix of bonus materials. This turns into an inconsistent release for a truly atrocious movie.

Note that as of October 2023, this 4K version of Citizen Toxie 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 The Toxic Avenger Part III.