Troma Entertainment

Background
Troma Entertainment was founded in 1974 by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz. Originally producing a slew of lowbrow comedies, the company later found success with many cult low-budget horror-comedy movies. Since the 1990s onward, Troma has specialized in distributing independent films.

1st Logo (1974-1981)


Logo: We see the midtown Manhattan skyline at dusk. The words: MICHAEL HERZ AND LLOYD KAUFMAN PRESENT A

TROMA TEAM RELEASE

are shown on the screen, in the Souvenir font.

Technique: Fading effects.

Music/Sounds: Environment sounds. Sometimes, it's silent.

Availability: Extremely rare. Seen on older copies of earlier Troma films such as Bloodsucking Freaks.

2nd Logo (1981- )
Logo: We see a Manhattan skyline with a red sky and searchlights moving behind the city. The words:

Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz

present

shown in yellow, zoom in. The text zooms out, and the words "A Troma Team Release" (also shown in yellow) zoom in.

Variants:
 * A version exists where the text is in a different font and is aligned differently. A still variation also exists where it merely shows the city skyline with moving searchlights and the text "TROMA" beneath it. The "O" is replaced with a sunburst.
 * On The Toxic Avenger, the "A TROMA TEAM RELEASE" notice flies in, in-credit, against a set of buildings similar to the skyline.
 * In 2004, a 30th anniversary variant was made. It has the same Manhattan skyline, but the searchlights are in front of the city instead of the back, and are very different, with one on either side of the screen. The logo begins with a blurred zoom-out effect, and the word "TROMA" in a yellow Arial font with a red outline is shown, with each letter fading in one-by-one. The words "Entertainment inc." wipe in, shown in an Impact font. Then the words "30 years of Independent Art" (in an italic script font) wipe in. A clip from The Toxic Avenger fades in behind the city.
 * On the company's recent films (which can be seen on YouTube), the logo is remade in Flash. Here, the text is now in Garamond Bold and the searchlights animate less wildly.
 * A variant of the Flash remake has the text in a slightly thinner, more spaced out font. The second screen replaces "Release" with "Production".

Technique: Likely live action, as it appears to be flashlights held by a person waving them behind a cutout of the city. The remake is done in Flash.

Music/Sounds: A synthesized theme with strings and piano chords. Occasionally the logo is either silent or has background music/noise from the film. In the 30th anniversary variant, Toxie's roar is added.

Availability: Rare. Seen on many Troma films, such as The Toxic Avenger, Class of Nuke 'em High and Cannibal!: The Musical. The Flash version can be seen on their films on YouTube.

3rd Logo (1991-1993)
Logo: On a blue background we see a gold sketch of Midtown Manhattan with a filmstrip in the back. "TROMA, INC." is below in silver. The entire logo shines.

Technique: CGI.

Music/Sounds: An electric guitar note.

Availability: Seen on The Toxic Crusaders.

4th Logo (Home Video Version) (1999?-2000s)
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Logo: We see the New York City skyline plastered on an animated, cloudy blue sky background, with the music from the 2nd logo playing on. Then, the sky fades to red as searchlights appear and a whistling noise is heard as an UFO crashes into the Empire State Building and explodes. From it comes a logo formed by a yellow oval (with a whirl-lke pattern), and the word TROMA with the face of Toxie, the Toxic Avenger inside the O (Toxie's name and the copyright symbol feature underneath). "movies of the future" is above the logo, while "ENTERTAINMENT INC." is below. The logo spins out and apparently crashes on the screen, causing Toxie to get propelled out the logo and crash onto the screen as his eyes pop up (he seemingly screams in protest of this explosive situation). He gets back into the logo and then the background explodes, causing the logo to shatter to pieces. As the explosion clears out, the skyline morphs into the Troma logo on a black screen.

Technique: Intentionally bad effects, likely made on a video editor, such as Final Cut Pro.

Music/Sounds: The music from the 2nd logo, which is then interrupted by a metal guitar tune (the intro part from "Ten Ton Hammer" by Machine Head). Proceeding is the whoosh and "boom" of the UFO, an alarm whooping and an ascending sci-fi whoosh. When Toxie is zooming-in, a weird roaring scream is heard, probably from him. An old fashioned-sounding explosion is heard for the remainder.

Availability: Rare. Found on Troma films on VHS and DVD.