Editing The Toxic Avenger (1984 film) (section)

===Critical response===
On review aggregator [[Rotten Tomatoes]], ''The Toxic Avenger'' holds an approval rating of 70%, based on 20 reviews, and an average rating of 5.5/10. Its consensus reads, "A silly and ribald superhero spoof, ''Toxic Avenger's'' uninhibited humor hits more than it misses."<ref name="rottomatoes">{{cite web |title=The Toxic Avenger (1984) - Rotten Tomatoes |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/toxic_avenger |website=Rotten Tomatoes.com |publisher=Flixster |access-date=February 13, 2019}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], the film has a weighted average score of 42 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "Mixed or average reviews".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-toxic-avenger/critic-reviews|title=Critics Reviews for The Toxic Avenger - Metacritic|publisher=[[CBS Interactive]] |work=[[Metacritic]]|access-date=February 13, 2019}}</ref>

Author and film critic [[Leonard Maltin]] awarded the film 2.5 out of 4 stars, calling the film, "A funny spoof... Not without violence and gore but still entertaining."<ref name="Harchick2013">{{cite book|author=Jonathan Harchick|title=Leonard Maltin's 2014 Movie Guide: Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gdwEnwEACAAJ|date=28 October 2013|publisher=Createspace Independent Pub|isbn=978-1-4936-2083-8|page=1448}}</ref> [[Stephen Holden]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' rated the film a score of 3/5, complimenting the film for its "maniacally farcical sense of humor", while also noting that the film itself was "trash."<ref name="nytimes86">{{cite news |last1=Holden |first1=Stephen |title=FILM: 'TOXIC AVENGER' - The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/04/movies/film-toxic-avenger.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=4 April 1986 |access-date=13 February 2019}}</ref>

[[TV Guide]] gave the film a negative 1/5 stars, writing "Though it is silly, sleazy, and graphically violent, ''The Toxic Avenger'' does hold a bit of warped charm for fans of this sort of thing."<ref name="tvguidereview">{{cite web |title=The Toxic Avenger - Movie Reviews and Movie Ratings |url=https://www.tvguide.com/movies/the-toxic-avenger/review/121084/ |website=TV Guide.com |publisher=TV Guide |access-date=13 February 2019}}</ref> Keith Phipps from ''[[The A.V. Club]]'' was highly critical of the film, writing, "As for the movie itself, it's still a piece of trash, if a marginally entertaining one: it's too self-consciously parodic to be good kitsch, and too gross to be all that fun."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Phipps |first1=Keith |title=Toxic Avenger: The Unrated Director's Cut |url=https://www.avclub.com/toxic-avenger-the-unrated-directors-cut-1798194850 |website=AVClub.com |date=29 March 2002 |publisher=Keith Phipps |access-date=13 February 2019}}</ref> In his book ''Comedy-Horror Films: A Chronological History, 1914-2008'', Bruce G. Hallenbeck described the film as "disgusting, sick, vile, poorly acted and sloppily produced." He challenged the interpretation of the film as a parody, arguing that the mean-spirited tone of its extreme gore and offensiveness makes clear that the filmmakers were simply trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator.<ref>{{cite book |title=Comedy-Horror Films: A Chronological History, 1914-2008 |url=https://archive.org/details/comedyhorrorfilm00hall|url-access=limited |last=Hallenbeck |first=Bruce G.|publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]|year=2009 |isbn=9780786453788|pages=145–147}}</ref>