Dressed in a sports blazer, dress shirt and a pair of faded blue jeans was a small man moving with the fury of a Tazmanian devil in front of the Troma table. Armed with a magic marker in each hand and a devilish glint in his eye, the face of Troma, Lloyd Kaufman twirled from fan to fan shaking hands, giving autographs and always, ALWAYS, promoting Troma goods. An idol of mine since the first Troma movie I ever rented I made my way to meet the man. After a brief introduction and a few words between us, Lloyd agreed to give me an interview towards the end of the day.

Stunned, I went search for my fellow Horrorwatchers for some guidance and counsel, and as usual they were as about as useful as a pocket pussy in a woman's prison. So I headed up to my room and began to work on the best few questions I could come up with in the time I had. I made my way back down to meet Mr. Kaufaman and he came right up and said "Ya ready?" Nervous as hell, I said "Yeah." and Lloyd lead us outside to a great stair well for the interview. Sitting on the steps of the Hunt Valley Inn, Lloyd began the interview and as we talked fans gathered around and listened to what he had to say, with me sitting high on a cloud beside him.

Full of one-liners and honesty, Mr. Kaufman was fun as hell to interview not just for the one on one and straightforward way about him, but for the respect that those that gathered showed him. I hope you guys enjoy this one and please listen to what he had to say.

After bumming a smoke Lloyd sat back down and the interview began with about ten others hanging around and listening to what was said.

Jareprime: First off the impact of Troma on the whole, what do you think?

Lloyd Kaufman: The impact of Troma on the hole? Depends on who's hole.

JP: That's true.

LK: Uhm, Troma is the only movie studio in history to be totally independent for thirty or more years. So in the scope of things it is a very important and historical element So if you talk to Quentin Tarintino, Takai Shemeki, James Dunn, Trey Parker or Gaspar Noe in France, you know we have a huge reach, the only problem is we are running on air, we're running on empty, on the fumes, we're running on the memory of fumes.

JP: Do you mean ideas?

LK: No we have plenty of ideas, I mean money. We have Poultrigeist, the best movie we have ever made, we are making movies better than ever. The problem is we are living in an age of devil-worshipping, international conglomerates that are controlling the marketplace.

JP: So you’re buried in that mire and anti big company?

LK: No, we are economically blacklisted I'm not anti anybody, but the reality is we are blacklisted. That's the problem.

JP: Because of the Troma features or it's fare or...

LK: No, because Clinton got rid of the laws that used to protect the public against monopolies and the ways to do trust-usting have been done away with. As Michael Moore said, he was the greatest Republican president we ever had.

JP: (LAUGHTER).

LK: And that has been a horrible thing for independents. The only independents you get are coming in through Fox Searchlight or Warner Independent, and those two words together are pretty obscene, and that's been a big problem. That's why you don't get a lot of independents on your screen unless they are, you know… safe.

JP: So if you say that, if you look back on the past, present and future of Troma, what does that mean or what do you hope for it not to mean?

LK: The only hope for Troma is the new technology and that the playing field will become level again through the democratic medium called the internet. So that maybe when the technology gets better we can compete.

JP: Through direct internet features?

LK: Yeah, so if the public has it's choice it will pick good movies. But if all they get is Batman part two, if all they get is The Return of Superman that's all they are going to know. This shit like The Da Vinci Code, a two-hundred-million-dollar ad campaign, the public is brainwashed.

JP: I grew up in the eighties when VHS was in it's heyday and there was all sorts of movies on the shelf.

LK: That's because back then there was competition but now the monopolies have taken over.

JP: So you would say with the turn from VHS to DVD, this all started there?

LK: Well with all the DVDs now the old little stores have been put out of business. You know Blockbuster is controlled by one of these big companies and they have never had a Troma movie. They don't even have [n]Cannibal: The Musical[/b] by Trey Parker, Comedy Central has never even shown it, how stupid is that? And they are owned by Viacom.

JP: So have distributors just said, "Hey we don't want Troma anymore?"

LK: That’s the problem there are no distributors anymore. There is only a cartel made up of large conglomerates that control the market place don't want any independent studios to last. And there aren't anymore except for us and a few that are only a year or two old. And that's really fucked up.

JP: What about you as the face of Troma?

LK: That's pretty pathetic isn't it. The fact that Lloyd Kaufman is the front man of Troma is really awful, but there is nobody else. Michael Herz, simply won't do it. He refuses. He has been my partner for thirty years and he is much more attractive, intelligent and funny, but he hates being in the public eye.

JP: Now how do you feel about that? As in coming to the conventions and being in the fans.

LK: Oh, I love it. It's great and it's a blast, you know the only reason that Troma is still around is because of the fans. We have the ultimate cult movie studio, they are the reason we are still here. They are the reason I can say “FUCK YOU” to everybody. They are the reason I don't have to lick much ass, well I'll lick your ass to get on your website.

JP: You know we have a lot of your stuff on the website, Toxie, Tromio and Julietall that stuff is great. And those of us in our early and mid-thirties are always trying to get the younger guys to check that stuff out. You know the fans that are like fifteen or so up.

LK: Well that's great, keep on doing that.

JP: Well yeah you say that, but there like well that's too old or hard to find. But that was the stuff we grew up on.

LK: That's what happens when you spend two-hundred million to brainwash an entire generation for one movie. You know Mao Zedong didn't spend that much money over fifty years to brainwash and entire nation.

JP: You are very loyal to your fans.

LK: Of course they tell us what to do. The fans told us to do a website, we did. They gave us the idea, we have had one since 1993. They told us to do DVD. We were the first studio, other than porno, to do DVDs. The fans turned us on to that.

JP: Really?

LK: Yeah, we were doing DVD before there were even DVD machines in the stores. I had a lot of VD so it didn't take a lot to change the letterhead. The fans helped us write Citizen Toxie, because when I was doing my book tour for All I Need to Know About Film Making I Learned From the Toxic Avenger whenever I was doing a lecture or class, people would always ask "What would happen if Toxie fought Kabuki?" and it's never going to happen because they are both good guys, so we came up with the base for Toxie 4.

JP: How do you explain the mass appeal of some of the characters? I mean they are violent, gross and goofy but yet they have a great following. Toxie even went on to have a Saturday morning kids show.

LK: The way Stan Lee said Spiderman put a new face on the comic book superhero, Toxie put one on the movie one. He has to take care of his mother, keep a job, and he has a bad skin problem. He really doesn't have super powers, just a mop and he can jump.

JP: You have a new book out right?

LK: Yeah it's called The Toxic Avenger, it's out but nobody knows about it. It's been ignored by the media. Nobody has picked it up.

JP: Well we'll pick it up for you. Troma's films mix horror, violence, gore, comedy and sex and you have never really strayed from that formula.

LK: Roger Corman said that where we were revolutionary was that we mixed everything together.

JP: What about all the guys who have come through Troma?

LK: James Gunn, Eli Roth, Trey Parker, these guys were able to go through the doors that Troma opened up. Tarintino is a huge Troma fan.

JP: Why don't these guys come back and give you all a hand. Do they get too big once they get on their own?

LK: No, they have a lot going on.

JP: If Tarintino is such a fan why hasn't he teamed up with you, Tarintino and Troma seems perfect.

At this point in the interview a discussion breaks out when a guy around us brings up Slither and how it felt like a Troma film. Lloyd tells him that James Gunn was his assistant for a few years and the crowd around us begin to really have a good debate going. But a guy who looks like Willie Nelson walks through us and Lloyd has a little fun with him and continued on.

JP: You know you get in a lot of movies, does it seem like your selling yourself or Troma?

LK: I've been in like 200 movies all for free, I do what I do to help independent films. It helps them sell their films. Most of them are on sale in there, but nobody knows about them except the fans that are in there. Outside of these walls nobody really knows us.

JP: So is that like a plus or a minus, cool or not?

LK: I mean look I've been making movies for forty years, one of the few American directors who works totally free and totally independent.

JP: How crucial was Toxic Avenger to Troma?

LK: Huge and I think it still is. In fact some of the people that produced Dirty Rotten Scoundrels on Broadway, have just optioned to do a Toxic Avenger musical.

JP: I love the fact that you guys have never pimped out your films with a bunch of special editions or updated versions. Like Anchor Bay has done with Evil Dead, I mean they have whored out every drop of that series.

LK: We don't want to do that our fans are poor, they don't have a lot of money, I don't want to rip them off. If our fans ask for it we do it. Like the upcoming tenth anniversary edition of Tromeo and Juliet. The fans wanted it we give it to them.

JP: Have you ever been offered a chance to direct a "big" studio film?

LK: Yeah, but I do things my way, unless they give me a shit load of money. And as soon as I get boundaries set, I'm like “fuck you” and leave.

JP: Push something on me.

LK: Poultrygeist! Go see it in theaters around October and check out Troma.com! Poutrygeist has to make some money or we're dead. My last movie might be a chicken movie.

JP: Noooo, that's not going to happen. Troma will live on.

LK: The films will, but we might not.

JP: Well thanks for the time and the interview.

LK: Oh, your welcome, let me know when it's up and we will post a link. Now I’m all depressed thinking about this, nearly forty years down the tubes.

JP: I don't think so.

LK: We really need the fans and their support for Poultrygeist, go to your theaters ask for the film help us out as much as possible.

JP: We'll try our best even if we have to have a Troma-thon on our site.

LK: What ever you guys can do.

JP: Thanks Lloyd, this was really cool.

LK: You’re very welcome.


In total Lloyd spent nearly an hour with me just rapping on the staircase, the conversation goes on for a lot longer and there are some great quips and quotes to be had like Lloyd’s feelings for Land of the Dead and any hot babe that walked in front of him. If anybody wants the whole interview, PM me and for $1.50, you will get a copy. The money will go into out Troma-thon pot.

Troma needs it's fans guys, so if you've been waiting to buy that single flick or DVD box set get off your Pringle's eating ass and do it NOW! Me and many more of you grew up on Troma films and I think we owe them a little something. If Surf Nazis Must Die!, The Toxic Avenger, Nuke 'em High, Tromeo and Juliet or one of the many other Troma films were one of your favorites a s a kid, head on over to www.troma.com and pick it up.