Apocalypse Soon: The Making of 'Citizen Toxie' (2002)

Admirable film.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

APOCALYPSE SOON is a behind-the-scenes documentary exploring the making of Lloyd Kaufman's CITIZEN TOXIE, the fourth film in his TOXIC AVENGER series. Inevitably this documentary turns out to be funnier and more engaging than many films put out by Troma themselves, because it shines a spotlight on low budget filmmaking practises, and many of the absurd situations are very funny indeed. Kaufman comes across a lot stricter than I imagined, but there's plenty of goofiness here as well as an endearing enthusiasm for the craft.

Then you MUST see this! You must also see it if you want an in-depth insiders look at the frustrating "guerilla film-making" style at work in New Jersey-based Troma Studios. This feature-length documentary, about the production of CITIZEN TOXIE: THE TOXIC AVENGER, PART 4 (and contained on that film's collector's edition DVD), is a long series of migraine-sized headaches from the scripting stage, to the casting stage, to the filming stage and, yes, right up to the finished product and L.A. Premiere.Watch casting sessions go bad when front runners for the Toxie role don't show up! Watch Lloyd spend half a day trying to explain to an inept production assistant how to remove numbered papers from the script! Watch as the lone camera breaks as infuriated extras fume and suffer heat exhaustion in an non-air conditioned school building! Watch what happens when miles of film are already in the can and the lead actress refuses to lose her top during a crucial lesbian scene! Watch incompetent pyro and firearms technicians at work! Watch lead cast members show up on the set flagrantly late, or worse...flagrantly late and hung over. Yes, you will be reaching for the horse tranquilizers before it's all over...As disorganized as the "studio" seems to be, and as profane, immature, unreliable and smug as much of the cast and crew seems to be, it's amazing they managed to pull it all together, but they did. Kaufman himself comes off as an enthusiastic kook, as expected. Troma fans will enjoy seeing behind-the-scenes clips and/or interview snippets featuring the likes of Trent Haaga, Debbie Rochon, Joe Fleishaker and James Gunn. Perrenial tabloid regular Corey Feldman also makes an appearance here and during one of the more unbelievable segments goes to great lengths to hide his identity (if he thinks a Troma movie will do HIS career any harm at this point, he's sadly mistaken). We even get a trip to the Playboy mansion where Hugh Hefner, B-movie goddess Julie Strain, her husband Kevin Eastman (creator of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and former Playmate of the Year India Allen (who was later sued by Kaufman over a failed DV production that would be partially salvaged in TALES FROM THE CRAPPER) pop in to say hey.It's alternately interesting, informative and irritating. However, if you plan on making a film one day, you will learn some valuable things about what NOT to do if you want to make it through without losing your sanity.

Tonight LLoyd Kaufman got his lifetime achievement award. Afterwards there was a presentation of 'Apocalypse Soon' which I expected to be very raunchy (like the extras on Troma's War DVD), but turned out to be incredibly educational and entertaining as well. 135 minutes of perseverence by Kaufman, cut from a gruesome production in which eleven people got sacked and the cameraman hired back again (then trashed), an M16 didn't work, a stuntman had to be paid for jumping from a stunning 3 feet high onto two-feet-high cushion, actresses suddenly don't want to take their shirts off (you can't do that to a Troma movie) and lots of other mind-boggling problems. If this is a fake story about a troubled production merely to make the featured movie sell, then i don't know what's real anymore.If you don't consider the quality of the featured movie, then I'd have to say 'Apocalypse Soon' is better than 'Hearts of Darkness' in which case i have to rate it 10/10 and i will. Just a pity they don't show how Kaufman fires all those crew. I still hope the Hollywood companies (read: the devil-worshipping international conglomerates) see this and realize they've been beaten once and for all by Troma. The editing is ingenious, as is the camera-work. Even Michael Herz's (Joe Fleishaker?) corpulence surpasses Marlon Brando's! It's hard to admit, but I don't think a 135 min docu about The Lord Of The Rings would be THIS interesting.These 135 minutes are simply worth it and confirmed that Kaufman (also see Terror Firmer) indeed has achieved a lot. BTW, the lifetime achievement award formerly went to Paul Verhoeven (Soldaat van Oranje, Starship Troopers, Basic Instinct) and Brian Yuzna (Bride of Re-Animator, Society, Beyond Re-Animator) and Dario Argento (Phenomena, Suspiria, Profondo Rosso).

You think it's easy to make a low budget film? Watch this documentary. Almost as good as the film it's a companion to, this making-of can be watched and appreciated on its own as well. The trials and tribulations experienced by everyone is at the same time hilarious and devastating. Nobody pulls any punches despite the presence of a documentary crew. Troma movies are silly, raunchy, and a lot of fun, but "Apocalypse Soon" takes you behind the scenes to show this is first and foremost a business. Anybody who thinks that independent filmmaking is easy needs to watch this. 5/5.