The Toxic Avenger (2023)

by Linda Kay

Directed by: Macon Blair

This review contains a severe Kitty Carnage Warning!

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: Winston Gooze (Peter Dinklage) is a meek janitor who works at a large company guilty of filling the world with toxic chemicals. A series of events leads him to become contaminated by these pollutants which transforms him into a monstrous creature with the power to bring the bad guys to bloody justice.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): Early in the film Winston is leaving his apartment with his stepson Wade (Jacob Tremblay) when they see the owner of the neighborhood store, Daisy (Annette Badland) being threatened by Spence (Abraham Lewis), the son of a notorious gangster. He is holding her precious Golden British Shorthair cat Mr. Treats, making not-so-subtle threats against the kitty in order to make her sign her property over to him.

The Toxic Avenger - Daisy Annette Badland with Spence Abraham Lewis holding golden British shorthair cat Mr. Treats

Daisy finally relents but Spence carries Mr. Treats across the street and gets into his sports car with the kitty (who lets out a dubbed Poor Cat Screech).

The Toxic Avenger - Spence Abraham Lewis holding golden British shorthair cat Mr. Treats outside car

Faux Cat and Kitty Carnage Warning! Seconds later the crook laughs as he tosses the cat out the window of the car as it peels away. Fortunately this and the cat which Winston retrieves from the middle of the road are clearly fake.

The Toxic Avenger - Spence Abraham Lewis throwing fake golden British shorthair cat Mr. Treats out window of car

The Toxic Avenger - Winston Peter Dinklage retrieving fake golden British shorthair cat Mr. Treats from middle of street

The Toxic Avenger - Daisy Annette Badland holding golden British shorthair cat Mr. Treats with Winston Peter Dinklage

Mr. Treats is mentioned a couple of times after this but doesn’t appear again until the end of the film when Winston is being released from the hospital and Daisy approaches him to say Mr. Treats says thanks. A shot of the cat with the subtitle “Meowcì” is shown.

The Toxic Avenger - golden British shorthair cat Mr. Treats in store window

The animal handler on the film was Stoyan Lazarov. The uncredited cat actor who played Mr. Treats was reportedly a bit dangerous on the set as Macon Blair explained to the Write On podcast. “That cat was a menace! That cat was dangerous. We got a trainer and we were like, “Is this cat cool?” and that trainer was like, “Yeah, it’s cool.” That cat scratched up Annette Badland’s arms so bad, it ripped up her shirt and it drew blood.”