Troma's War

Released by: Troma
Released on: August 18th, 2015
Director: Lloyd Kaufman, Michael Herz
Cast: Carolyn Beauchamp, Sean Bowen, Jessica Dublin
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The Movie

Troma's War is a rare breed of sorts; an ensemble cast war film which shoots for some creative stars, as opposed to the established heights of lunacy previously achieved by Troma's out-there cinema legacy. The film follows a group of stranded Tromaville citizens after a horrific plane crash, who then have to contend with a military-controlled army of blood-thirsty and lust-crazed terrorists with a sadistic streak.

It should be said that Troma's War had some issues during its initial release as a victim of some pretty hefty cuts by the MPAA, resulting in a neutered and watered-down version being released to theatres, thus bumming out Troma's legion of dedicated, blood 'n guts fanbase. This Blu-Ray restores the original director's cut from Troma owners Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman-who co-directed under the pseudonym of "Samuel Weil"-complete with all of the expected gunk, junk and excessive offensiveness Troma fans had come to expect from the NYC indie institution.

There's some ballsy fun to be had here with Troma's War as the principal cast are clearly having some fun here with the material, with some even delivering a level of emotional depth not usually witnessed with some of Troma's more popular work. Troma's War does suffer from a boring first act as situations are getting set up for the characters, but once the action set pieces get going, it's all full steam ahead for Troma's War from the middle third, right on through to the back end. One particularly infamous sequence occurs when one of the terrorists-suffering from a hefty amount of facial lesions and sores-threatens the crash survivors-cum-rebel forces with his "A.I.D.S. Brigade," while the final battle scene encapsulated every war film cliche, here Troma-fied to the tenth power.

It's nice to see Troma's War released in HD in an unexpurgated version, as this film may just be one of the more forgotten gems in the company's extensive catalog.

Video/Audio/Extras

The Blu-Ray here for Troma's War doesn't look quite as nice as their recent Nuke 'Em High release, but it's certainly better than the infamous Rabid Grannies disc from earlier in the year, as the film is presented in 1080i AVC encoded widescreen with a decent color palette and sharpness. There are some instances of DNR which rear their heads now and again, but it's not too distracting, overall. Additionally, there are some definite artifacting and compression issues to be had, as well, primarily when the action gets hairy near the final act. It's not a constant thing, but it's certainly there, and is sadly indicative of the crap-shoot in quality when it comes to Troma discs.

The Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track is nicely balanced, however, as Christopher DeMarco's melodic synth score booms out quite nicely, even behind all the gunfire and explosions. Unfortunately, there's some serious syncing issues with the dialogue not matching the actors mouths. Granted, a lot of the dialogue here is dubbed, anyway, but there's a couple seconds of delay which are readily visible when watching the disc with Kaufman's commentary on that are fixed when watching the film on its own. It's distracting, but at least Troma's War proper is free from this glitch.

Extras include this aforementioned commentary from Kaufman, who is his usual entertaining self here, detailing production facts while at the same time describing-with a straight face-how Troma's War utilizes allegory about corruption in the military-industrial complex and A.I.D.S. ignorance in the U.S. It's good and irreverent stuff which reminds Troma fans everywhere about how much we love Kaufman and Co.'s dedication, so many years later.

There's also a newly-recorded intro with Kaufman, the theatrical trailer as well as interviews with Lloyd and Michael about their experience making the film, presenting a nice package to celebrate this ambitious little film from Troma.

The Final Word

Troma's War has aged pretty well, and is a reminder of how fun low budget filmmaking can be, Troma-style, even twenty-five plus years later.

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!