Troma Entertainment

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Troma is a film production and distribution company founded by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz in 1974. The company produces very low-budget, independent movies, many of which have developed cult followings around the world. Many of Troma's films are well known in mainstream Hollywood circles, even though their films are not mainstream pictures.

1 Company information
2 Films
3 Other work
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Company information

Troma films are known for their shocking imagery; some would categorize them as "shock exploitation films". They typically contain overt sexuality, graphic violence, gore and nudity, so much that the term "Troma Film" has become synonymous with these characteristics. Troma's slogan is "Movies of the Future." Many Troma films are intentionally produced in the Brechtian form which is vastly different from mainstream horror movies. Troma is also known for reusing the same props, actors, and scenes over and over again, sometimes to save money. At a certain point, however, this became another hallmark of Troma. Examples include a severed leg, the Penis Monster, and the flipping/exploding car filmed for the movie Sgt. Kabukiman, NYPD, which, though blue, is used in place of any other car that needs to crash and explode.

Some claim that Troma has had a keen eye for emerging talent, having produced or acquired early films with Kevin Costner, Samuel L. Jackson (Def by Temptation), Marisa Tomei (The Toxic Avenger), Vincent D'Onofrio ("The First Turn-On"), James Gunn (Tromeo and Juliet), Trey Parker (Cannibal! The Musical) and Matt Stone (also in Cannibal! The Musical). Their latest production, Poultrygeist, will be released in early 2007.

[edit] Films

Some of their more famous films include:

In addition, the documentary film All The Love You Cannes (much of it shot by Lloyd Kaufman himself) chronicles the Troma team at the 2001 Cannes film festival in France. This includes about 30 Troma volunteers who attempt to get attention for Troma by dressing as characters from Troma films or in some cases by simply wearing very skimpy outfits and then parading around the most crowded areas of the event.

[edit] Other work

Troma holds the annual Tromadance Festival in Park City, Utah at the same time as the Sundance Festival to accentuate their true independence from the mainstream. The festival screens submitted movies from independent filmmakers from around the world, the best of which are usually released on DVD by Troma or compiled in the Best of Tromadance series. In parallel, Troma acts as advisor to aspiring filmmakers with Lloyd Kaufman teaching classes, contributing cameos and often releasing the finished films on DVD.

Lloyd Kaufman has written two books about his experiences with Troma in low-budget cinema. One, All I Need to Know about Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger, is an autobiography of sorts co-written with James Gunn. The other, Make Your Own Damn Movie, is a how-to book about making low-budget films. In 2006 a novelization of The Toxic Avenger was released.