Cover Art

Credits

Director: Lloyd Kaufman Starring: Jane Jensen, Will Keenan, Valentine Miele, Maximillian Shaun, Sean Gunn, Debbie Rochon Screenplay: Jason Green, James Gunn, Lloyd Kaufman Music: Willie Wisely Tagline: Body Piercing, Kinky Sex, Dismemberment. The Things That Made Shakespeare Great. Country: USA

Tromeo & Juliet's story is the expected star-crossed lovers bit, this time with a penis monster. The Ques and the Capulets are feuding families, but Tromeo Que and Juliet Capulet have never met. When Tromeo sneaks in to a Capulet party, he sees Juliet for the first time, and instantly falls in love with her. Juliet falls for Tromeo as well, but then they find out whom the other is, and that's where the star-crossed bit comes in, but it's still a while to the penis monster.

Tromeo & Juliet was released the same year as Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet. I can't really say which is the better updating, because I've never seen the Luhrmann film. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the Troma movie is superior, simply because any film that doesn't have Leonadro DiCaprio has got to be better than one that does.

Tromeo & Juliet marked a turning point for Troma, where, despite shrinking budgets, their films began being taken somewhat seriously. This is probably due to the fact this script, from Slither writer/director James Gunn and a certain Toxic Avenger creator, shows enough cleverness that even those not into the Troma style could still see some merit. While there is a weird mix of genuinely funny lines with terrible jokes and fart noises, any fan of Troma knows that's been going on for years in their films, but the intelligence factor is upped here. Perhaps the fact it takes nearly five minutes before the first bit of nudity won some previous naysayers over as well, despite the fact it would've disappointed long time Troma fans.

That being said, Tromeo still needs tightening. There're significant gaps in the film, a telltale sign that director Lloyd Kaufman, president of Troma and creator of the Toxic Avenger, shot too much footage. This is particularly evident when Tromeo and Juliet's plan to undo her prior engagement is completed, but they're STILL dealing with trying to prevent her wedding for the rest of the movie, so something major must've been cut. It also doesn't help that there are some fairly obvious things happening plot wise, and most viewers will know exactly what the "shocking" final twist will be WELL before the film gets there.

The first disc has deleted scenes, each with intros by Lloyd Kaufman, president of Troma and creator of the Toxic Avenger. Yes, we can finally see Ron Jeremy as a background actor for a few seconds. I guess the part is slightly bigger than his one in Killing Zoe, at least. There's also a "stunt gone wrong" segment, which is a precursor to some of the stunt man mishaps found in the feature length Troma behind the scenes docos, and a quick outtake. A video excerpt of Lloyd Kaufman, president of Troma and creator of the Toxic Avenger, and James Gunn commenting on the deleted scenes is also included.

The first disc also has FOUR commentary tracks, to rival the amount found on Eli Roth's Hostel. Obviously, with four tracks, info does repeat, but each track is worthwhile. I know I said Hostel had too many commentaries, but the most anyone appears on the Tromeo tracks is twice, and there's a 9-year difference between the recording sessions, so they are able to present new slants on things.

First up is a roughly seven minute featurette on the recording of the new commentary with James Gunn and Lloyd Kaufman, president of Troma and creator of the Toxic Avenger. The track starts with Lemmy bashing, which was what got Gunn's previous commentary left off the last DVD release. It's a humorous commentary, which isn't surprising, and it's really good to hear someone who worked on set with Lloyd Kaufman (president of Troma and creator of the Toxic Avenger) and still calls him a friend.

The second commentary was recorded in 1997, and features Gunn and his brother Sean, who co-starred in Tromeo & Juliet and really suffered for his art. Previously banned for shit talking, this is a good, lively track that mocks Lemmy, Billy Bob Thorton (from Troma's own Chopper Chicks in Zombietown), other cast members, and the FX.

The third commentary is with Tromeo & Juliet editor Frank Reynolds and Gabe Friedman, that cool editor guy that does commentaries and makes kick ass docos about Troma. This is also a good track, and particularly relevant to those who want to hear about how film editing has changed in the last 10 years, especially at Troma.

And, finally, we get the original 1997 commentary by Lloyd Kaufman, president of Troma and creator of the Toxic Avenger. This is another great tongue in cheek track, with lots of info for him to cover, like the Shakespeare connection.

On disc two, fans will finally get to see the full version of Lloyd Kaufman, president of Troma and creator of the Toxic Avenger, visiting the set of Slither. There's also a short featurette of James Gunn and Lloyd Kaufman, president of Troma and creator of the Toxic Avenger, going to Eli Roth's birthday party.

A Wisely video clip is included because the leader of the band scored Tromeo & Juliet. The clip features Andy Dick and some porn star, but that doesn't change the fact that the music is awful. Two kinda funny fan recreations of famous Tromeo & Juliet moments are here, as are the original laserdisc intro and outro. Speaking of intros, there are several intros or Troma's Edge clips featuring cast members Stephen Blackehart or Jane Jensen or both. Blackehart does the Redneck Zombies intro, which is still my favourite Troma intro ever. The Cannibal!: The Musicalintro is also included because it features James Gunn, as are snippets from Tales From The Crapperand Citizen Toxiethat feature him. The masturbation public service announcement is present, I assume for the clip from Tromeo, as is the hamster public service announcement, but I don't know why the later was added. Rehearsal footage of the lesbian scene is here, but there's no nudity, so it's not as good as the lesbian rehearsal egg from Citizen Toxie.

But the main extra on this disc is a series of interviews with the cast and crew. A few of them, like Willie Wisely and Lisbeth Kaufman, are actually skits, but most are interviews. You can check out the crew interviews to get a taste of the chaos on set, but it's still too bad there wasn't enough archive footage for Gabe Friedman to do another doco. Also in this section are Stephen Blackehart and Joe (Wrong Turn 2) Lynch discussing Tromeo & Juliet and its impact.

We also get a few trailers. There's one for Lollilove, which I think looks great, and has involvement from Blackehart and Gunn, and one for Rockabilly Vampire, which starred Blackehart. There're also the trailers for Make Your Own Damn Movie, and (presented with a funny menu title) the three books by Lloyd Kaufman, president of Troma and creator of the Toxic Avenger. The most important trailer on the disc is Poultrygeist's. This movie is going to kick ass all over everything!

Oh, and the Radiation March is here as well. God forbid Troma put out a DVD that didn't have that on it…

But if all that didn't meet your Troma needs, there're also three Easter eggs, all found on disc two.

On the main menu, press up to make the line "Wherefore art thou?" appear. Press enter to see Lloyd Kaufman, president of Troma and creator of the Toxic Avenger, face accusations on double dipping with this DVD, and explaining the absence of Will Keenan and Jane Jensen on the DVD. One's excuse for not participating is valid, the other's is just odd.

Press right on "Debbie Rochon" in the cast interviews to see some outtakes from her interview, which is actually pretty amusing.

Press right on the music video in the bonuses menu to highlight "Ella Records." Press enter to see a tour of the Wisely home.