The talent isn’t just on screen in writer/director Macon Blair’s The Toxic Avenger; it’s just as stacked behind the camera. That even extends to the gore, with legendary Tippett Studio handling some of the film’s bloodiest and most outrageous VFX moments. Tippett Studios, founded by Academy Award-winning VFX artist and stop-motion animator Phil Tippett, is […]
Photo credit: Tippett Studios
“And he really was referencing a lot of the old Toxic Avenger stuff. He wanted to have the same essence, but give it a modern twist. Even things like there’s going to be common physics involved, and I do recall this, but there’s going to be physics involved, but we don’t really need to hone in on the actual physics of how the gore should react. But it was that very free-flowing fluid, very, very, very organic meeting of the minds. So it really felt like we were a part of that creative process from the initial start.”
Photo credit: Tippett Studio
While The Toxic Avenger features a variety of VFX, including Toxie’s transformation, Tippett Studios was tasked with Toxie’s carnage. “It was mainly gore. We had, I think, a group of about 20 artists. We had maybe 25-ish, 26 shots. It was a relatively small package of shots that we did. But we did handle, I’m hoping, the iconic shots, where it was a really tight shot of Budd Beserk getting lobbed off. We did get some key art on how the brain was going to be situated after Toxie’s head chop with his magic mop, and they just aired on that. But still resonated the same tangible, very, very practical makeup quality of it.”
Nakamura breaks down how the VFX worked in tandem with practical effects, “There was a shot where we lobbed off Buzz’s head, and then the reverse shot facing Toxie, it was just a complete wipe of blood. It was a mixture of a lot of practical stuff that we shot at Tippett a while ago, and then we just added and padded some CG stuff because it wasn’t enough. You can call it a balance of how we would weigh things with the gore, just initially off the gate. We thought it was too much, but it was just right, more or less.”
Photo credit: Tippett Studio
The Toxic Avenger plays its gore frequently for laughs or pure Troma-style fun. That comedic slant allowed for a looser interpretation of reality and factored into Tippett Studios’ approach to the VFX, both in the color palette and splatter placement.
Even the blood color was taken into consideration. “There was a lot of colorfulness to it. We did a version where we had done the research, especially with the brains, the tissue, and all that, but we added a sense of color to it. They wanted to broaden that palette so that’s taking you out of, in a way, the reality of very tangible, recognizable gore. But it created this comedic content to it, and I think that’s what was adhered to early on. Once we got that feedback from him, we started to add those elements into the look itself, but without deviating too much from reality. It was those little details that we would goose up post render once we saw it rendered and lit and textured and everything. If it were a CG element, we would go in there and just add a little bit of flavoring, so to speak.
“Definitely intent comes with it, meaning where things land, where would place emphasis. There was a moment when a brain exploded. So, we placed emphasis on the buildup to that punchline part of a shot, where I think we had the brain bubbling, and it would just increase in frequency and amplitude, and then have this moment where it would just explode. Then we went in just offhand without even consulting him and the team, and we added these secondary blood squirts. Again, over the top, but it all went into the film.”
Photo Credit: Tippett Studio
As a lifelong horror fan and tenured artist at Tippett Studio, Nakamura is well-versed in decapitations and arterial spray. Yet he found himself wading into uncharted territory when it came to The Toxic Avenger, a Toxie moment so repulsive that it left Nakamura with feelings of pride and modesty.
“There was a shot that we pulled off. It’s definitely an eyesore, in comparison to what I know about the film and what I’ve seen with the red band trailer and everything. It’s just definitely one that will stick out. I don’t think I’ve ever seen something like it before. So I’m proud of that. What I’m not exactly proud of is explaining to people, ‘This is what I’m doing. It’s definitely one for the books.’ And honestly, in my 21 years at this same studio, I’ve worked on gore, we’ve worked on monster films. I’ve never worked on something quite like that before.”
Nakamura is referring to what Macon Blair himself has coined “Butt Guts,” even crediting Nakamura and the Tippett Studio team as the Butt Guts Unit. It doesn’t even require description; you’ll know it’s the Butt Guts when you see it. And the team fully committed to bringing it to life on screen.
“It was just like when we first did the first version, we added way too much,” Nakamura recalls. “It was shot practically, but we added way too much stuff. And 98% of it stayed in there. I think all of it stayed in there because I put that shot together. I think the first pass that went out was like, ‘Okay, this is good, let’s finish this shot.’ I was like, ‘Okay, that’s fine with me. I need to get onto other things.’ So, proud? Yes. Proud? Not really.”
Photo credit: Tippett Studio