In the late 1960s, Lloyd Kaufman was diligently pursuing a degree in Chinese Studies at Yale University—unaware that his life was about to take a most “Tromatic” detour, as he later recalled in his first of seven books, All I Need To Know About Filmmaking I Learned From The Toxic Avenger, “At Yale I was placed in a dormitory room with a film fanatic, and I knew everything had irrevocably changed.” From that moment on, Kaufman was hopelessly infected with an unshakable love for the movies. He fell in love specifically with so called “auteur films.”

In 1971, he crossed paths with fellow Yalie Michael Herz, his future business partner. Just three years later, the Troma Universe was born. They kicked things off with a series of wildly original, boundary-pushing comedies—Squeeze Play!, Stuck on You!, and The First Turn-On! (Vincent D’Onofrio) among them—that helped inspire later studio hits like Porky’s and many others. During these early years, Kaufman took on important positions on blockbusters like Rocky and Saturday Night Fever, though his time in mainstream Hollywood was short-lived. “There were problems,” he mused. “I wanted to do things my own way, while my employers insisted I do things the correct way.”

But, Kaufman’s insistence on doing things his way soon paid off. In 1984, Troma struck gold with The Toxic Avenger, the story of a 98 lb weakling, health club, mop boy who becomes a hideously deformed, superhuman, after a toxic-waste mishap. Spawning three sequels, an animated series (Toxic Crusaders), Marvel comic books, a stage musical with music by Bon Jovi’s David Bryan, and a AAA Hollywood reimagining starring Peter Dinklake, Elijah Wood, Kevin Bacon, amongst others, The Toxic Avenger solidified Kaufman’s place in cult-cinema history.

Building on that success, Kaufman unleashed a universe of similarly outrageous, shamelessly pioneering movies—films like the Class of Nuke ‘Em High trilogy, Sgt. Kabukiman NYPD, Troma’s War, and Tromeo and Juliet (James Gunn). Though the intelligentsia sometimes turned up their noses, these “Tromatic” gems spoke to a new generation of fans who were bored with formulaic studio fare. Many of those fans—Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith, Mike Judge, James Gunn, Peter Jackson, Fritz Lang, and Trey Parker among them—grew up to shape Hollywood in their own right. Kaufman repaid their admiration by popping up in cameos for more than 200 films, including James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Sharknado 4, and more.

Undeterred by shifting trends, Kaufman continues to create audacious, independent films at Troma. He revisited the Nuke ‘Em High universe with a 2 Volume Return to Nuke ‘Em High and Return to Return to Nuke ‘Em High Vol. 2 and wowed critics with his irreverent take on Shakespeare’s The Tempest in #Shakespeare’s Shitstorm, which is streaming exclusively now on Troma’s own streaming platform, TromaNow! His latest project, The Power of Positive Murder, his 1st film noir, is currently in post-production, promising another delightfully deranged ride for Troma loyalists.