Other luminaries whose early work can be found in Troma's library of self-produced and acquired movies include Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Vincent D'Onofrio, Samuel L. 1 and 2") and Trey Parker and Matt Stone ("South Park," "Team America").
Troma was a stepping stone to Oscars glory for Oliver Stone and Kevin Costner as well as a filmmaking hothouse for James Gunn ("Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. But we are not that well-known," laments Kaufman, who describes the studio he founded with university friend Michael Herz as "jalapeno peppers on the cultural pizza." "Troma has left a big mark on the countryside of the moving images industry. The movies - mainly shown these days in art house theaters and on college campuses - haven't made money since the 1990s but Troma's mutants have become icons of American schlock culture. Troma's iconic B-movie back catalogue includes such squelchy, sanguinary delights as "The Toxic Avenger," "Surf Nazis Must Die," "Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead" and "Tromeo and Juliet."
With a library of 800-plus movies, a cult following and a record for giving stars their break, Lloyd Kaufman could be the biggest movie mogul you've never heard of.įor half a century, the 72-year-old co-founder of Troma Entertainment - the world's oldest independent film studio - has been the enfant terrible of comedy horror, a low-budget Abbott and Costello for the gross-out crowd.