Troma Film’s President Lloyd Kaufman isn’t exactly known for his subtlety. The man behind such micro-budgeted shlocky cult mainstays as The Toxic Avenger, Sgt Kabukiman NYPD, and Class of Nuke ’em High series of films has reveled in pushing the envelope for over 40 years now. Perhaps his most ‘acclaimed’ film was 1996’s Tromeo and Juliet (co-written by a pre-Guardians of the Galaxy James Gunn), which may have lead him to once again attempt a radical adaptation of the Bard for what is reportedly his last film behind the camera, Shakespeare’s Shitstorm.

In Shakespeare’s Shitstorm, Prospero (Lloyd Kaufman himself) has long been exiled plotting his revenge against the executives of the big pharmaceutical company that ousted him years prior, including his own sister Antoinette (also Kaufman). Prospero concocts a plan to shipwreck them in Tromaville, New Jersey, where he fled to years prior with his blind daughter Miranda (Kate McGarrigle), in order to enact his fiendish revenge. Once arriving, CEO Big Al (Abraham Sparrow) and the rest of his executive team indulge in every debaucherous act you can imagine until it’s too late to stop Prospero’s ultimate revenge.

The premise for Shakespeare’s Shitstorm is surprisingly simple, but the execution is pure ‘balls to the wall’, throw everything and see what sticks filmmaking. Everything you expect from a Troma film is here.

But beyond this, Shakespeare’s Shitstorm actually has some serious things to say about social justice warriors, cancel culture, race relations, and big pharma, just through the skewed eye of Kaufman’s lens.  And while admittedly this film will likely repulse more than it will endear itself to in the general population, it will be hard for fans of Kaufman to see this any other way than him going out on top of his game.