‘Toxic Avenger’ actor Ron Fazio says cult film worth reboot

CANTON – Ron Fazio recalled the time he tried to convince a video store employee he had played the lead role in a “Toxic Avenger” sequel in the 1980s.

Fazio’s sister was there and even vouched for him.

“I don’t know if it was Blockbuster,” he said. “I can’t remember the name (of the video store). But my sister was proud that I did (the movie). And I said, ‘Hey, let’s go see if they have ‘Toxic Avenger’ … and we found it.

“My sister said (to the worker), ‘This is my brother, that’s him right here (on the box).’ And they said, ‘No way!'”

Displaying his driver’s license, Fazio walked away with the employee still in doubt.

“But there’s like no picture of me,” he said of portraying the role of a mutant superhero in a full mask. “It’s just the picture of the ‘Toxic Avenger’ on the box, and there was no way of convincing anybody, and this happened to be in South Jersey at the time (and the movie is based in New Jersey).”

Ron Fazio is shown in costume as "Toxie" in one of the two sequels in "The Toxic Avenger" franchise. Fazio will appear from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday at Happy Pappys Action Figure Extravaganza shop in downtown Canton.

Reflecting on such encounters, the 59-year-old Fazio said that making the movies were fun, “and I did it, and I know I did it.”

‘Toxie’ visiting downtown Canton toy store

Fazio will be available to share more stories about his “Toxic Avenger” days with fans of the films when he appears from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday at Happy Pappys Action Figure Extravaganza, 135 Sixth St. NW, in downtown Canton.

Fazio will sign autographs for $20, with opportunities for photos and to ask him questions.

Fazio portrayed “Toxie” in “The Toxic Avenger Part II” and “The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie.”

Ron Fazio, who portrayed "Toxie" in "The Toxic Avenger Part II" in the 1980s, will be appearing from 3 to 6 p.m. on Saturday at Happy Pappys Action Figure Extravaganza shop in downtown Canton.

“‘Toxic Avenger’ and ‘Basket Case’ have always been (some) of my favorite B horror movies,” said Clifton Boggs, owner of Happy Pappys. “As a kid, my mother used to take me to Camelot Music in Mellett Mall.

“I got to rent three to five horror movies for the weekend,” he recounted. “Man, do I miss those movie marathons. So that is one of the many reasons to have Ron Fazio at the store and share his love for playing Toxie.”

‘Toxic Avenger’ was pinnacle of Ron Fazio’s acting career

Sharing the role of “Toxie” in those two sequels was the late John Altamura, who left the project during filming, said Fazio, who originally was hired only to help with secondary scenes and as a backup.

Fazio admits that his lead role in “Toxic Avenger” parts 2 and 3 was the pinnacle of his acting career. Other roles included “Basked Case 2,” as well as small parts in “The Sopranos,” soap operas and various television shows.

Roughly 35 years later, Fazio said he’s amazed that “The Toxic Avenger” has attained a cult following, particularly the 1984 original, a low-budget flick that fully embraces its own campiness and absurdity. Explosions, sexual innuendo, violence, gunshots, humor, gore and other shtick fill the movies.

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“If you’re taking ‘Toxic Avenger’ too seriously, you would shut it off in like a few minutes, but … it’s almost like having a party on film,” Fazio said. “… Just watching this movie and sort of having a good time, that’s what it is, and you can basically escape the reality of all this stuff and laugh and have fun — it takes you away to a different world, and I enjoy that.”

‘I always thought that ‘The Toxic Avenger’ should be a Marvel or DC comic and movie.’

While acknowledging the silliness, the Cary, North Carolina, resident is unabashedly proud of his connection to a storyline that has garnered enough interest and fans to warrant a big budget reboot of “The Toxic Avenger.”

Filming has been completed for the latest incarnation of “Toxie,” a 98-pound weakling of a janitor at a health club, who falls into a drum of toxic chemicals, which transform him into a grotesque, mop-toting mutant with superhuman size and strength.

“Toxie” fights corrupt politicians, pimps, bullies, and even the devil.

The new version by Legendary Pictures stars Kevin Bacon, Peter Dinklage and Elijah Wood. “Toxic Avenger” co-creator Lloyd Kaufman, who with Michael Herz helmed the sequels featuring Fazio, are also involved in the project, according to Den of Geek, a movie news website.

“I always thought that ‘The Toxic Avenger’ should be a Marvel or DC comic and movie,” Fazio said. “It had that mass appeal. Don’t get me wrong, I love Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz, and ‘The Toxic Avenger’ was their baby.

“But in the hands of a major Hollywood studio, the concept of a hideously-deformed creature of superhuman size and strength who is ugly and deformed but crushes the bad guys … well that is just a great base for a mainstream action movie, and I’m happy they did a redux of it — possibly making it more popular than it already is …”

‘They didn’t pay us much money, and some people they didn’t pay any money.’

Produced by Troma Entertainment, the sequels were unapologetically low budget, Fazio said.

“They didn’t pay us much money, and some people they didn’t pay any money,” said Fazio, who tried out as a tight end for the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles in the 1980s before being cut. “But they told you that up front, and they were honest. … They said this is going to be an experience, this is going to be fun.”

Fazio chatted affectionately about the films, sharing story after story, including a gory scene using pig intestines from a local butcher’s shop. However, the disgusting footage was cut because it would have made the movie X-rated, he said.

Another time, “there was a little bit of a medical emergency” while filming in the Peekskill, New York, area.

“It gets warm, so I’m wearing this big mask, and heat usually escapes more from your head,” Fazio said. “I had to chase after the devil, who was stealing a bus with children on it.

“I had to do some running scenes,” he said. “I think I did three running scenes, but that third one, I had to quit because … I was actually overheating, and I said, ‘I’m going to pass out.’

“I laid down without the mask on, and they gave me ice cream,” Fazio recalled. “I couldn’t even function; my body was like weak and couldn’t work.”

‘Toxie’ now works in a hospital’s heart surgery unit

Decades later, Fazio only dabbles in acting if the right part comes along in North Carolina. He works as a physician’s assistant in the cardiac surgery unit of WakeMed hospital in Raleigh.

Most coworkers and patients have no idea he once played a bizarre superhero.

“But I have friends who I’ve talked with about it, and I say, ‘Check it out,’ and they say, ‘Holy (expletive), that’s amazing,’ and then they rent it,” he said.

Reach Ed at 330-580-8315 and ebalint@gannett.com

On Twitter @ebalintREP