Independent film company created by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz, specializing in low budget, violent, and over-the-top exploitation films, such as "The Toxic Avenger".

In 1984, Lloyd Kaufman directed The Toxic Avenger, a film about a nerdy mop boy named Melvin Junko who becomes the first superhero from New Jersey: a hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength who mops up crime and lives in a garbage dump with his blind bimbo girlfriend.

The Toxic Avenger is trashy, gory, fun filled with an eclectic set of characteristics that subsequently defined what a Troma Team Release would stand for: blood, guts, sex, and over-the-top violence.



As well as the filmmaking/distribution company, Troma is also the abbreviated nickname of Tromafreak - the Trash Epics moderator and horror forum legend. Similar to other cryptozoological oddities like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, not much is known about Tromafreak. Some say he lurks the mangroves of Florida's coastlines, giving heart attacks to unsuspecting tourists with the sheer power of his handsomeness. Some say he was once Divine's conjoined twin. Some say he once beat a man to death with a live dolphin. Some even say that he actually enjoys the movies of Chris Seaver, though personally I find that a little too far-fetched.

This is suspected to be the only authentic photograph ever taken of the elusive Tromafreak aka Troma -

http://tonywardstudio.com/photos/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/ci1331-1875LEX.jpg