News

If you’ve never heard of Lloyd Kaufman, you’ve managed to avoid the work of one of the most prolific pioneers of independent film from the past four decades. Kaufman’s New York-based movie studio Troma Entertainment has produced and distributed more than 1,000 films, and in the process has helped launch the careers of some of Hollywood’s most successful talents.

New Yorkers unfamiliar with Troma have a chance to catch up on its sensibilities this weekend. On Friday and Saturday, Troma hosts the 17th annual Tromadance Film Festival in Brooklyn, a free festival showing feature films and shorts from filmmakers around the world. This is the story of how one wacky filmmaking factory found its groove.

Schlock With Purpose

Founded in 1974 by Kaufman and his business partner Michael Herz, Troma bills itself as the longest-running independent movie studio in North America. The company is known for its low-budget...

Xenon

Anyone who thinks all bad movies are a laugh riot would be cured if locked in a cinema during a triple bill of Track Of The Moon Beast, Octaman and Tales From The Crapper. Movies that are enjoyably bad are a rare commodity (if not a dying breed), but the amount of joyless and oppressive films stretches to the moon and back.

You could, for instance, find yourself watching The Creeping Terror, surely the only movie where a killer carpet from space terrorizes a community by devouring folk singers and bikinied starlets. If that description sounds like fun, be aware that the director lost the soundtrack in post-production and brought in a local newsreader to narrate the picture, turning a cheap and messy film into a thoroughly unwatchable one.

Or how about Dark Harvest 2: The Maize, which critic Michael Adams said was “for people who thought The Blair Witch Project...

Two more crazy movies from Troma Studios will screen Friday night April 13th at The Way Out Club as part of our fourth monthly Troma Night At The Way Out Club. We’ve got a great Free double feature of gore, laughs and insanity from the lunatics at Troma Studios – and this time they’ve given us some Troma posters to give away!

The show begins at 8:30 and admission is Free !!!! Our line-up this month: Bloodsucking Freaks and Tales From The Crapper !

“This isn’t S&M, this is Art!”

Joel M. Reed directed the notorious cult-horror comedy Bllodsucking Freaks, which was the center of impassioned protests by Women Against Pornography. Seamus O’Brien stars as the epicene Sardu, who stages Grand Guignol torture performances at a downtown New York club. What the amazed audiences don’t know is that the performances are real, using kidnapped victims who are kept in cages,...

Lloyd Kaufman is the president and co-founder of Troma Entertainment and one of the main reasons I love horror movies so much! He's been a key instrument in low budget indie filmmaking getting noticed and has opened so many doors for filmmakers. Unless you've been living under a freaking rock you've heard of Troma's The Toxic Avenger and once again Toxie will grace our screens soon. Kaufman also has the 12th annual Tromadance Film Festival which will crank up again beginning April 22nd and run through April 23rd. The cool thing about this fest is there's no entry fee for filmmakers so what are you waiting for, get over there and enter your project! Check out my latest "Versus" with the man, the myth, the legend Lloyd Kaufman. I, Brian Shirley will see you at HorrorHound Weekend in Indy Mr. Kaufman!

Brian S- Tell me about Tromadance Film Festival and...