Lloyd Kaufman

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The first time that I was introduced to Lloyd Kaufman and Troma films was in the early or mid nineties, when The Sci-Fi Channel was actually airing low–budget horror films, in primetime. They had a week dedicated to Troma films, which I believe the first three Toxic Avenger Films and Class of Nuke’em High 1 and 2. It was something that caught my attention, as it had the b-movie feel of the Full Moon Entertainment films that I usually watched, during that time. It made me glued to the screen. Now there are a couple of documentaries about Kaufman that are out on the festival circuit. “Tromatized: Meet Lloyd Kaufman” is one of them.

“Tromatized, Meet Lloyd Kaufman” is a look at one of the most prolific cult filmmakers of our time. For those horror fans, who have been living under a rock, Kaufman is the president of one of the oldest independent studios that’s out there today, in an era where the major studios have put almost all of these independent studios from the eighties and nineties, out of business. He has directed insane and entertaining films, such as, “The Toxic Avenger”, “Terror Firmer” to his most recent film “Poultrygeist”. The film features, some insightful interviews from famous personalities that worked with him to some of his friends, in the industry.

“Tromatized: Meet Lloyd Kaufman” is a very entertaining and crazy documentary, of the man who has directed such cult classics, as “The Toxic Avenger”, “Tromeo and Juliet”, right down to his latest film “Poultrygeist: Night of the Living Chicken Dead”. Director, Fabien Martorell does a great job capturing Lloyd Kaufman, as a fighter for artistic freedom, in era where the big shots in Hollywood are calling the shots. He manages to paint him, as a true filmmaker, who cares about truly making his own films, without corporate interference. Martorell captures the man, through his interviews, with such people as John Badham, Mark Damon, Tiffany Shepis, Trent Hagga, James Gunn, Stan Lee, and Roger Corman, to name a few. He also does a good job, in letting the people talk about their experiences with Kaufman and how he does things, as there was some great insight from those people that was interviewed for this, as I got to know, how much knowledge that they gain, while working along side him, which shows Kaufman’s true genius, as a filmmaker.

But the best thing, about the documentary was the interview with Kaufman himself. Having Lloyd Kaufman, in anything will energize your film. And it truly did, with this documentary. Martorell lets Kaufman open up, about his history of making low budget films, from to the controversial issues that he tackles to type of humor that’s made his films gain cult status. I liked how, Martorell also allows Kaufman to go into his filmmaking background, as it provided interesting things that I never knew about him, which helped shed a light, about how he’s become, the filmmaker that he is today.

Tromatized, Meet Lloyd Kaufman is definitely a must see for all Troma and Lloyd Kaufman fans alike.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 at 10:09 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.