Most genre fans have some knowledge of Troma Entertainment. The New York film company, lead by writer/director Lloyd Kaufman, was responsible for a long line of gory and/or gratuitous B-movies in the 80s and early 90s. While Troma has made cult classic movies like The Toxic Avenger and the Class of Nuke Em High series, that anyone unfamiliar with should go watch immediately, they have also released a plethora of content from other filmmakers.
Even long after their peak, Troma has continued to release interesting films that no one else would, giving many amateurs or just bizarre filmmakers a chance to share their work. In 2015, Troma launched Troma Now, a streaming service devoted to its massive catalog of films. The service is a chaotic mix of lost 80s schlock and modern no-budget films, making exploring it quite a gamble. Luckily, here are ten hidden gems on the service that are worth your time.
10 Blood Junkie (2010)
This 2010 retro horror/comedy from Drew Rosas came out before the boom of amateur and low-budget filmmakers all emulating the style of 80s slashers. The film avoids the typical Troma form of shock and schlock and instead goes for more homage than parody, trying to be as genuine of an 80s slasher as possible.
While it doesn't exactly nail it, the less bombastic style is a nice change of form when viewing the movie strictly as a piece of the Troma Now catalog, and there are much worse no-budget attempts at slashers out there.
9 There's Nothing Out There (1991)
This meta-horror follows a group of friends as they head out to a cabin in the woods for the weekend. It sounds like a familiar plot, and one of the characters would agree, as he has seen every horror film ever made and consistently notes the clear signs of danger the group is seeing.
The film's monster is adorably laughable, but it only adds to the already present charm the whole thing carries. Plus, its use of a horror-nerd knowing how to avoid death was a clear inspiration on Scream a few years later.
8 The Good Exorcist (2018)
A recent premiere on the service, The Good Exorcist is Josh Stifter's debut feature, created for only $7,000 as part of Robert Rodriguez's reality television show Rebel Without a Crew. The film follows an eccentric exorcist as he lives with a family that believes their house to be possessed by a demon.
Shockingly, it is, which leads to the magical moments of the exorcist having to kill random house items that the demon is controlling, like a teddy bear or house phone. The action is well-done, and the plot has a heart behind it, making the whole thing into a strong low budget effort.
7 Corpse (2019)
Just produced last year, this comedy/murder-mystery follows a group of young men who get together for a night of drinking and reminiscing, only to wake up and find a complete stranger dead on the living room floor. The pace picks up and doesn't slow back done, with the latter half being chaotically fun.
Corpse was written and directed by Southern filmmaker Chris Williams, taking place almost entirely in one house, and featuring knockout performances despite the cast being completely made of unknown actors. The whole thing is a huge testament to how much can be done without a budget.
6 Wheelchair Werewolf (2008)
This comedy web-series from Joe Avella starts as a fake educational video, then quickly devolves into a wacky story about a town's police force trying to figure out who is committing murders in their town, despite the obvious wheel tracks at the scene of every murder.
The episodes are short, with the whole series only being eight episodes long, so it is a quick fix for anyone looking to laugh and have a good time for a little less than a half-hour. The true magic of the series is that the episodes appear to be missing pieces or full episodes altogether, causing the plot to shift around in unruly, hilarious, ways.
5 Nightbeast (1982)
While many Troma films are hard-fought amateur efforts, and others are 80s B-movies, Nightbeast is both. A science-fiction creature-feature from no-budget filmmaking hero Don Dohler, the film has grown a small cult following in recent years, being referenced by modern filmmakers and even having a short cameo in the 2018 Nicolas Cage film Mandy.
The movie follows a small town in hysteria as a vile alien sporting a disco suit runs rampant, disintegrating everyone he crosses paths with for seemingly no reason other than fun.
4 Fear Town, USA (2014)
This film is the better of two slasher comedies available from comedian filmmaker Brandon Bassham. It follows multiple groups of young people all converging at a cabin for a big party, where a killer lurks. The plot is simply a side effect of the constant arrangement of almost sketch-like comedy scenes.
By constantly shifting between characters, and packing literally every scene with as many gags as possible, the film never gets boring, despite being made for a minuscule amount of money. Most importantly, what separates the film from other comedy slashers is that the jokes throughout are actually (mostly) funny.
3 Monster In The Closet (1986)
The second film on the list to homage the 1950s genre of "monster loose in small-town," this one follows a town's best attempts to contain the threat of a huge creature that hides in people's closets waiting to eat them. The gag becomes truly hilarious when it is revealed that the creature cannot kill someone unless it first gets them to a closet. Something learned when it tries to eat a young Paul Walker in one of his first roles.
The movie is a treat for fans of creature-features, with weirdly impressive monster design, and while the humor is inconsistent, the jokes aren't annoying. While I can't spoil it here, the government's solution to the creature is genius comedy filmmaking, making the last ten minutes of the movie a finale you will be telling people about for days after watching.
2 Def By Temptation (1990)
Another film that has gained a following since its original release back in 1990, this vampire blacksploitation film is one of Troma's most genuine efforts. While there is some schlock to be found, the film is a coherent and well-produced tale about how sexual temptation can have severe consequences.
Well-shot, beautifully lit and featuring a great cast of actors like Samuel L. Jackson and Bill Nunn the movie is a true oddity among Troma's other work of the time.
1 Father's Day (2011)
The Canadian filmmaking collective Astron-6 are masters at making movies that homage the grindhouse style of the 70s and 80s while still putting enough humor and originality into it that it goes far beyond parody and becomes something new entirely. This has been the case with their other films Manborg and The Editor and is, of course, true for their Troma effort Father's Day.
The film follows a pulpy hero who is brought back into the fold when a sadistic serial killer that only targets dads begins striking again. The movie takes whatever its likely minuscule budget was and stretches it further than anyone before, creating a movie that feels massive in scope while still staying deeply personal. The practical effects, characters, humor, and plot all work wonderfully, making the movie truly unlike anything you've ever seen before it.
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