Michael Herz

Michael Herz is a producer, director and screenwriter, who formed the independent film production and distribution company Troma with Lloyd Kaufman. The duo is well-known for making sexually graphic, violent, gory, but comedic and campy low-budget exploitation movies that play on 1950s horror film conventions. Their most famous work was the cult classic franchise "The Toxic Avenger," which includes three films Herz and Kaufman both co-directed and co-produced. "The Toxic Avenger" series follows the adventures of a hapless janitor who becomes a superhero through an accident with toxic waste. Herz and Kaufman's 1986 comedy horror film "Class of Nuke 'Em High" featured students who experience alarming physical mutations because of their high school's proximity to a toxic waste dump. This film spawned two sequels and became a cult classic in much the same way as "The Toxic Avenger." Herz and Kaufman worked with writer/cartoonist James Gunn on the critically acclaimed "Tromeo and Juliet," a bit of a departure in that it's an adaptation of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," but still featured Troma's quintessential overt sexuality, violence, and quirk--exemplified by the choice to have Lemmy from metal band Motörhead narrate the film. With the fast food industry satire "Poultrygeist:Night of the Chicken Dead ," Kaufman adapted the script, produced, and directed, while Herz only acted as one of the producers. The film, which centered around trapped people under attack from chicken zombie demons inside a fast food restaurant, has received more critical praise then any other film in Troma's history.