Film

Troma's War

Name: Troma's War
Genre: Comedy, Action, Adventure, Horror
Released: 1988
Cast: Carolyn Beauchamp, Sean Bowen, Rick Washburn, Patrick Weathers, Jessica Dublin

War action

Troma's War is a gleefully anarchic 1988 action-comedy where ordinary people accidentally stumble into a war against terrorists run by shadowy elites. It's deliberately cheap, proudly trashy, and stuffed with practical gore, absurdist humour, and genuine affection for its goofy heroes. Made for people who think restraint is a four-letter word.

TMDb rating

2.7

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you relish cheap, anarchic B-movie satire where gore and political jabs arrive with a wink, and you don't mind a disorderly parade of outrageous set pieces.

Skip it if you need slick production values or a tight plot, since the budget shows and the humour lands unevenly, sometimes running well past the point where it is funny.

What it asks of you: Roughly an hour and three-quarters at a loose, scattered pace, with gore and broad slapstick arriving in bursts, so you must go along with its cheerfully messy chaos.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

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Dead Poets Society1989

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But The practical effects get genuinely disturbing and the tone whiplashes between comedy and genuine unease. Not everyone wants their laughs this unsettling.

Evil Dead II1987

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Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Troma's War

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?1964

Both are anarchic low-budget action-comedies that celebrate incompetence as a creative virtue—the budget isn't hiding, it's the whole point.

A proto-Troma film from the 60s: cheap, incoherent, absolutely committed to its own weirdness, and genuinely fascinating as evidence that schlock-horror comedy didn't start with Troma—it was always there.

But The pacing is glacial, the plot is genuinely nonsensical, and the acting is so amateurish it can feel painful rather than charming. This is for completionists and historians.

The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? poster

The Return of the Living Dead1985

A punk-rock zombie comedy that's funny without winking, terrifying without being grim, and genuinely clever about using horror tropes for laughs. The soundtrack alone is worth the price of entry.

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Chopping Mall1986

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Peak 80s action: Schwarzenegger chewing scenery, impossible physics, one-liners every thirty seconds, and Matrix-level body counts delivered without irony. Pure, uncut enthusiasm.

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An action-satire that works as both visceral entertainment and social commentary. It's violent and funny without being silly, and the script is genuinely smart about corporate dystopia.

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Big Trouble in Little China1986

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But The fish-out-of-water comedy relies on 80s action tropes that can feel rote now, and some of the cultural elements haven't aged smoothly.

Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama1988

If you want true bottom-shelf chaos: a demon is released in a bowling alley, mayhem ensues, the budget is visible and respected anyway. It's an honest work of gleeful incompetence.

But This is proudly micro-budget, the acting is rough, the effects are held together with prayer, and if you're not specifically into 'so-bad-it's-honest' cinema, it will frustrate you.

Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama poster

The Toxic Crusaders1991

Same DNA, completely different register—proof that Troma's sensibility can work outside their usual framework, just as Troma's War proved they could do action.

Troma's animated Saturday morning cartoon spin-off of Toxic Avenger, but aimed at kids. It's utterly bizarre to watch family-friendly material from an inherently trashy source—genuinely surreal and surprisingly fun.

But It's a 90s cartoon with all that implies: limited animation, weird voice acting, and the cognitive dissonance of 'Troma for children' might be off-putting rather than fun.

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Both are action films that refuse to choose between spectacle and absurdity, building worlds where the rules are their own and nothing needs to make outside sense.

A post-apocalyptic action-adventure that's genuinely weird: Australian, visually inventive, committed to its own mythology, and willing to be campy without losing momentum. Tina Turner is a villain for the ages.

But George Miller and George Ogilvie's vision is darker and more serious than Troma ever gets—if you want more laughs, this pivots to pulp opera instead.