Anthology Film Archives, the film center at 32 Second Avenue in the East Village, is spending Halloween week with Troma Entertainment. Its series Troma-geddon runs from October 23 through November 1, 2026, with screenings almost every night of the low-budget horror comedies that Troma has made and distributed for more than half a century, including The Toxic Avenger, Class of Nuke 'Em High and Cannibal! The Musical.

Anthology says the series will include recent restorations of Troma titles, rare screenings of lesser-known films from the company's back catalog, 35mm prints of selected films and appearances by cast and crew, along with Troma co-founder Lloyd Kaufman himself.

A studio with Lower Manhattan roots

Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz founded Troma in 1974, and the company's catalog now runs past 450 titles. Anthology places Troma in the line of independent exploitation producers such as American International Pictures and Roger Corman's New World Pictures, carrying that fast, cheap way of making movies into the home video era. Over the decades the studio has also given early work to a long list of filmmakers, actors and crew members.

This is not Anthology's first Troma program. The theater staged a 25th anniversary tribute to the studio in 2000, a series supported by Anthology co-founder Jonas Mekas, the experimental filmmaker who saw in Kaufman's work the same independent, rule-breaking spirit found in the underground cinema of the 1950s through the 1970s. Twenty-six years later, Kaufman and his team are back on Second Avenue for a celebration of the company's first 50-plus years.

What is playing this week

The remaining schedule, as listed on Anthology's calendar:

  • Saturday, October 24: The Battle of Love's Return (1971) at 4:45 p.m.; Waitress! (1981) at 7 p.m.; Class of Nuke 'Em High (1986) at 9:30 p.m.
  • Sunday, October 25: Troma's War (1988) at 4 p.m.; Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D. (1990) at 6:30 p.m.; Def by Temptation (1990) at 9 p.m.
  • Monday, October 26: Cannibal! The Musical (1993) at 6:30 p.m.; Mother's Day (1980) at 9 p.m.
  • Tuesday, October 27: Tromeo and Juliet (1996) at 6:45 p.m.; Bugged! (1997) at 9:15 p.m.
  • Wednesday, October 28: Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV (2000) at 6:30 p.m.; #Shakespeare's Shitstorm (2020) at 9:15 p.m.
  • Thursday, October 29: Terror Firmer (1998) at 7:30 p.m.
  • Friday, October 30: Class of Nuke 'Em High at 7 p.m.; The Toxic Avenger (1984) at 9:15 p.m.
  • Saturday, October 31: Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D. at 4 p.m.; Def by Temptation at 6:45 p.m.; Cannibal! The Musical at 9:15 p.m.
  • Sunday, November 1: Tromeo and Juliet at 3:30 p.m.; Terror Firmer at 6:15 p.m.; Citizen Toxie at 9 p.m.

A few titles come with useful background for first-timers. The Toxic Avenger, from 1984, started the Toxic Avenger series, the first Troma title Anthology names in its series notes, and it plays on the night before Halloween. Cannibal! The Musical, from 1993, was the first feature by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, years before South Park, and tells the singing, dancing version of the true story of the Colorado prospector Alferd Packer; Anthology notes it includes a cameo from experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage. Tromeo and Juliet, from 1996, is Troma's take on Shakespeare, and Def by Temptation, from 1990, is a horror film directed by James Bond III.

These are films made for adult audiences, with plenty of gore, crude humor and on-screen mayhem. Anthology describes the series as carrying enough comedy and gore to fill a full year of programming.

Also at Anthology this weekend

Troma shares the screens this weekend with the People's Poetry Gathering Film Festival, a two-day program on October 24 and 25 tied to the poetry festival founded in 1999 by City Lore and Poets House. On Saturday, October 24, at 6 p.m., Anthology screens Fugs Film!, Chuck Smith's 2025 documentary about the New York band the Fugs, followed by a Q&A with Penny Arcade, Steven Taylor and other participants from the film.

Tickets and getting there

Anthology lists general admission at $14. Students and seniors pay $10, and Anthology members and children 12 and under pay $8. Tickets are sold online through Anthology's website and at the box office, which can be reached at 212-505-5181, extension 15.

Anthology Film Archives is at 32 Second Avenue, at East 2nd Street, in the East Village. The closest subway stop is Second Avenue on the F line, about a block away. The Bleecker Street stop on the 6 train is roughly a seven-minute walk west. Anthology notes that its upstairs theater and lobby are reached by stairs only, and asks visitors who need help to call ahead.

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