Shakespeare's Sh*tstorm

Troma overload. Director Lloyd Kaufman has used the work of the Bard of Avon to comment at length in a roundabout way with a wide-ranging manifesto on all sorts of modern trends, and I imagine that even jaded fans of this peculiar movie-maker will be properly overwhelmed by this Dadaist and quite literal shitstorm. Either way, it is an endearing movie for those who know exactly what to expect from the legendary indie movie studio Troma. [The Shockproof Film Festival 2021] (31.10.2021)

Viewers leave Troma’s Shakespeare's Sh*tstorm with their heads wrenched in disbelieving astonishment at all of the current trigger issues that Kaufman and co. dared to dig into. Troma has always prided itself on its absurdity and excess, but despite its noisy coarseness and lack of seriousness, it has also prided itself on inclusivity, even at the time when inclusivity had not yet been profaned and bastardised by the major Hollywood studios in the interest of generating publicity and profits. It is thus no wonder that Kaufman is now taking shots at everyone and everything, because his former supporters and heroes have paradoxically become his opponents. At first glance, it may seem that with the new film, Troma is merely attempting to replicate and combine, in mutant form, its two most successful efforts, the non-PC musical satire Poultrygeist and Tromeo and Juliet, an imaginative adaptation of the Bard's classic. But since the creation of these cult films, times, moods and attitudes have changed fundamentally in relation to the rebellious production company and its style of humour. The idea of adapting Shakespeare’s The Tempest (about a betrayed castaway who plots bitter revenge on his former loved ones) thus reveals the self-reflective meta-level of the film. But for Kaufman, it isn’t about people falling to their knees and celebrating him. His goal is to reclaim his position as a provocative clown on the fringe, whose humour disgusts, outrages and evokes sympathy in equal measure. (04.11.2021)