Color, 1990, 105 mins. 15 secs. / 100 mins. 5 secs.
Directed by Michael Herz &Lloyd Kaufman
Starring Rick Gianasi, Susan Byun, Bill Weeden, Thomas Crnkovich, Larry Robinson, Noble Lee Lester, Shaler McClure, Joe Fleishaker
Vinegar Syndrome (UHD & Blu-ray) (US R0 4K/HD) / WS (1.85:1) (16:9), Troma (Blu-ray & DVD) (US R0 HD/NTSC), Refuse Films (Blu-ray) (UK R0 HD) / WS (1.78:1) (16:9)
After wrapping up 
its initial Toxic Avenger trilogy at the end of the '80s, Troma Entertainment was looking for another oddball superhero to add to its roster of misfit characters. Though he didn't get a full film series to rival Toxie's, they found their answer in this 1990 comedy, a bizarre blend of Japanese culture and the company's trademark anti-corporate railing.
Scruffy, goofball New York cop Harry Griswold (Fatal Frames' Gianasi) decides to go undercover at an amateur Kabuki performance to try to get to the bottom of a local crime spree, but instead the night at the theater turns into a bloodbath when goons bust in wielding machine guns. Strengthened by the consumption of eating magical worms, one of the performer victims passes on the mystical gift of Kabuki to Harry, which turns the mild-mannered officer into a mighty, opera-singing superhero capable of flying and fending off his foes with powerful fiery chopsticks and flying sushi. Meanwhile the nefarious, pistol happy, and very greedy Reginald Stuart (Weeden) is busy implementing a plan to not only take over the city but unleash a dark force called the Evil One that only Kabukiman could possibly stop.
A direct result of Troma's courting of its Japanese investors and fan base after the last two Toxie films, this film features one of the weirdest identity crises in the studio's catalog thanks to tension between Troma and the Japanese backers over the tone of the project. A PG-13 version missing five minutes of T&A shots and some bloody violence was released to theaters a few years after completion in 1995, with a VHS edition of the rougher director's cut popping up a year later. Either way it's a peculiar patchwork of silly comedy (with whimsical music to match) and the more standard Troma exploitation elements, but in a way that also makes it stand out from the pack. 
The film also inadvertently became a great time capsule of New York and New Jersey in transition out of the '80s, with a parade of 
fashions and great city street shots far removed from what you'd ever see on camera today. However, the undisputed highlight is the (relatively) elaborate car chase in the middle of the film, featuring a crazy stunt that's been recycled by Troma in many subsequent titles.
Though it's been divisive among Troma followers, the Kabukiman character proved popular enough to earn recurring appearances in several later Troma projects and offshoots including a PSA and a proposed cartoon series. It's surprising they didn't get around to a Blu-ray edition until 2015, but the disc turns out to be a pretty strong one with a fresh HD scan of the uncensored director's cut. Not surprisingly, everything looks drastically improved over the decades-old master we've been stuck with, and while it'll never look like a pristine multi million-dollar production, there's more than enough of an upgrade here to satisfy. (No nasty compression issues like the ones plaguing Troma's War either.) As usual Troma only supplies a lossy Dolby Digital track, which should be no surprise. Owners of the original DVD may want to hang on to that as it contains the cartoon show pilot and some selected clip commentary by Gianasi, but the Blu-ray adds on a handful of new and preexisting material. Co-director and Troma head Lloyd Kaufman appears for one of his more dense and informative audio commentaries (recorded for the DVD), including a thorough rundown of the character's origins during a shoot in Tokyo and the background of most of the locations and participants. The anecdotes about eating boxes of worms and shooting the big car stunt are pretty priceless, too. You also get a pretty clever new 6m27s video intro with Kaufman kicking off a faux doc about Kabukiman's up and down fortunes since the film including encounters with a variety of celebs, and Gianasi turns up for a 6m45s video shot at a convention in Orlando, Florida for a Q&A about his current whereabouts and the legacy of his most enduring character. A two-minute "Kabuki Karaoke" features more con footage of fans singing along with the theme song, while "Kabuki's Cocktail Corner" is... um... a very strange 12m8s talk show 
with Kaufman and 
comedian Brian Quinn. Finally the disc rounds out with "Stupid Moments in Troma History," the film's original trailer, and a 2015 Tromadance highlight reel. A subsequent U.K. edition features both cuts of the film (widescreen and open matte for the uncut one, open matte for the PG-13) plus all the preexisting extras, a slew of brief additional Kubukiman tidbits and fest appearances, a new tribute to Doug Sakmann, and a new commentary by Jeff Sass.
After Troma fumbled its stab at the UHD market with its defective Toxie box, thankfully the rest of their catalog stayed with Vinegar Syndrome with Sgt. Kabukiman getting a three-disc UHD and Blu-ray treatment in 2025. The UHD of the director's cut looks simply insane, with the HDR-compatible Dolby Vision turning this into a visual carnival with a riot of eye-popping colors and pin-sharp detail. It looks so much more healthy and vibrant than any other release, and the framing shifts slightly to 1.85:1 versus the earlier 1.78:1 with a little more on the sides and a tad less on the bottom. The DTS-HD MA 2.0 English mono track sounds great and features optional English subtitles. The UHD and first Blu-ray are devoted to the director's cut with the archival commentary by Kaufman plus a new commentary by James Branscome and Nick Vance of the Cinematic Void Podcast, who start off talking about the attempts to go a little more commercial and make a PG-13 film and then riff on what's happening in the film. There's a lot of quiet space in here especially after the 15-minute mark, so be ready to fast forward accordingly. The first Blu-ray then packs in all of the video bonus features starting with "A History Lesson on Kabukiman" (26m31s), a new piece with Kaufman (in a musical mood) and Disreputable Cinema programmer Jesse Berberich covering the film's enduring appeal, the "secondary mascot" status the character earned at Troma, and the history of the character and project including the heavy Japanese presence in New York City at the time and the involvement of Namco. In "Troma Olivier" (18m5s), scene-stealing actor Bill Weeden explains how his shattered marriage in 1989 led to his acting career and the dream he pursued with an astonishing degree of enthusiasm after seeing the first Toxic Avenger. In "A Bond Girl, Troma Style" (16m43s), actress Shaler McClure Wright (who plays Felicia) discusses her move into acting by sending a headshot to Troma and her memories of the rollicking "Tromaland" production, as well as the path she took after acting. Then Redneck Zombies director and onetime Troma employee Pericles Lewnes appears in "From Redneck Zombies to Tromaville" (7m54s) to talk about getting the filmmaking bug from Taxi Driver, the background of his signature film, and the way he ended up being special effects coordinator on this film. Then the archival extras section ports over the Blu-ray's Kaufman intro, and the Gianasi interview and select scene commentary, plus a 1989 Kaufman and Michael Herz interview with -- yes, really -- Dick Cavett (24m3s) complete with Toxie cameo, an in-production sales reel from 1989 (8m46s) selling the hell out of every action shot they had, a 5m11s Kaufman intro for the laserdisc release, a 5m47s reel of Troma Team video intros (with a Kabukiman stand-in, Kaufman, and Herz among others), a 2m24s VHS sales pitch promo for "Troma's most ambitious movie," and a 9m47s reel of trailers climaxing with a VHS commercial offering you an "EP-speed edition also available." Who could pass that up? The deluxe packaging also comes with a 40-page perfect-bound book featuring essays by Chris Shields ("Troma's Other Superhero"), Austin Trunick ("Make Mine Troma! The Unmade Films of Lloyd Kaufman and Stan Lee"), and Jesse Berberich ("Lloyd Kaufman in 'The Battle for Kabukiman's Spirit'"), which collectively provide a great snapshot of Troma at the time, the various directions it wanted to go, and this film's odd but vital place in its truly unique history.
VINEGAR SYNDROME (UHD)
TROMA (Blu-ray)
Updated review on August 29, 2025
