Troma's War

"Bad" movies come in three basic varieties:

1. movies that aren't great but are fun (A.K.A. guilty pleasures)
2. movies that are so bad they're good (A.K.A. the "Plan 9" type)
3. movies that are just a waste of time (A.K.A. boring).

Over the years Troma Entertainment has been responsible for movies of all three types, making it hard to know just which Troma films are worth the investment.

Troma's War (also known as 1,000 Ways to Die) falls into all three of those categories, depending on which version you end up seeing. The film was made when Troma was at it's creative and financial height - the mid to late 1980s, following two of Troma's best films, The Toxic Avenger, and Class of Nuke 'em High. Unfortunately, the original cut of the film was considered too graphic to receive an 'R' rating by the MPAA, and the film was heavily edited. The edited cut was again rejected, and the film was finally released in a version so heavily edited as to drop it into the "waste of time" category. Predictably it flopped and nearly sunk Troma with it.

The film is a parody of 80s action films, and the undercurrent of biting social commentary is definitely there. The plot involves an airline crash on a Caribbean island which is inhabited by a group of terrorists are planning to launch an attack on the U.S. The crash survivors soon run afoul of the terrorists, and eventually after learning of their plans, lead guerilla attacks to take them down.

Despite being one of Troma's best films, it was treated like a red-headed stepchild, one of Troma's more obscure titles for decades, difficult to find in video stores or big box bargain bins. Fortunately it lives on today and can be found for streaming on numerous sites - for free! The best version, however is probably the one available through Troma's own YouTube channel, as it is the best print and avoids pan-and-scan aspect ratio cropping, and some seriously bad sound issues and technical glitches some of the other versions have.