No, Kaufman had a stellar screenwriting savant up his sleeve, a scribe headed in a definite Tinsel Town trajectory. But something inspired him to reach a little higher for this effort, and it wasn't just the belief in the beauty of the Bard. Sure, Kaufman creates excellent genre attractions, horror films that are heinous and hilarious, comedies that are campy and crude.
This results in a kind of crazy quilt approach to movie making. Anyone familiar with company president and filmmaker Lloyd Kaufman knows that he enjoys balancing art with anarchy, championing the spirit of outsider cinema while callously catering to the sometimes sophomoric needs of his adolescent demographic. Yet instead of piling on the gore, or obsessing on silly toilet humor, Tromeo and Juliet uses sex, fetishism, kink and its own cruel crackpot logic to deliver a wholly satisfying and cinematically unique experience. More serious than the fabulous freak-out known as Terror Firmer, better conceived and constructed than the entire Toxic Avenger saga, this punk rock revamp of the classic Shakespeare story of star-crossed lovers gets good and tweaked by the Manhattan based masters of rudeness and bad taste. Tromeo and Juliet is arguably Troma's masterpiece, a film that truly represents everything the 30 year old independent production and distribution company stands for. The grudges between these folks run deep, and frequently turn dire… and deadly. But it may be too late for the both of them. When a marriage of convenience is arranged between Juliet and a local meat magnate, Tromeo takes steps to insure their lasting love. Eventually, they begin meeting in private, avoiding confrontation with family members of all sides – as well as the ever present evil of the felonious flesh peddler Cappy. While Tromeo seeks solace in computer porn, Juliet gets frisky with her lesbian maid and the local phone sex operator. Sexually repressed, drawn by desires both carnal and considered, our doomed paramours find it almost impossible to celebrate their passion. Whatever the reason, the families have been warring ever since, and caught in the middle of it all are young lovers Tromeo Que and Juliet Capulet. Others claim the quarrel was based on Cappy's coveting of Monty's wife. Many believe the bad blood began when Cappy Capulet stole Monty Que's adult movie business. This is indeed a great film, and a terrific new digital presentation to boot.Īs long as anyone can remember, the Houses of Que and Capulet have been feuding. Tromeo and Juliet is one of the best films Troma ever created, and thanks to the new 10th Anniversary Collector's Set, we have a near definitive DVD package to accent the movie's many cinematic pleasures. Sadly, all these common criticisms are sadly mistaken. A few grumble and grouse over the nudity, while others just can't cotton to the homemade movie approach to the production. Others are troubled by the lack of splatter and repressed rivers of flowing red gore. Some just don't like the constant nods to that enemy of high school English students everywhere – a certain Mr. No, there is something about Tromeo and Juliet that seems to mystify many a genre devotee. and Terror Firmer, respectively) receive an equal number of votes. Naturally a certain monster named Toxie and his constant avenging gets a lot of the adulation and attention, while efforts as diverse as the adventures of a Japanese policeman and the making of a low budget epic ( Sgt. When you ask the average Troma fan for their favorite film from the Independent production house, few site Tromeo and Juliet from amongst the many.