“Durable director Lloyd Kaufman lobs multiple notions at the screen to see what sticks. In a movie held together with this many slimy fluids, pretty much everything does!”

— Jeannnette Catsoulis, The New York Times

“The film has plenty of practical effects for classic horror fans and fans of Troma alike. We get some great blood and gore effects along with so many amazing looking puppets that, once again, brand the Troma humor. The make-up effects look great and are in the running for best of the year. Overall, #Shakespeare’s Shitstorm is like no other. The film is everything a Troma fan could ask for. Lloyd once again shows why Troma has a dedicated following and #Shakespeare’s Shitstorm is the best film of 2020. DO NOT SLEEP ON THIS FILM. Every second is entertaining.”

Horrorsociety.com

“…what endears me most to #ShakespearesShitstorm are Lloyd Kaufman’s incredible grasp on Shakespeare’s work and intent, as well as the director’s unflinching introspection. Kaufman approaches conversations on his art and how the world around him has changed as he has created it with sincerity and even sadness similar to that of Charlie Chaplin in his final years.”

“This is an exploitation film unlike any other, and it is a pure and simple cinematic masterpiece.”

Jesse Berberich, somethingghoulish.com

“…the film is surprisingly even-handed in its rhetoric, especially given the broad register it operates in, portraying both the virtues and the ills of a (performatively) enlightened society gone awry. In the end, the saturating melange of political and social commentary — including the welcomingly progressive treatment of body, race, and gender — while entirely outrageous, manages to embody its own sort of wokeness.

#ShakespearesShitstorm is an act of defiance by a singular artist, evolving in his own way.”

—Jaime Grijalba Gomez, inreviewonline.com

“…the high point of the film is the climax, as it bears a strong reference to the climax in Brian Yuzna’s Society (1989) and Kaufman lays the message of the film in such a jaw-dropping way, it can only be described as profoundly Frankenstein-esque.

Shakespeare’s Shitstorm is a lot of deranged fun that will satisfy fans of bad taste cinema.”

Harris Dang, intheirownleague.com

“…a story that really holds the road, a frantic pace leaving no respite, a hyper efficient production…

Without revealing too much, the last part will finally delight body horror aficinados à la Gordon and Yuzna by mixing the organic and the political in a surprising way.

Galvanizing, hectic, enjoyable, sassy, ​​twisting … we want more!”

—Audrey Jeanmart, culturopoing.com (original review in French)
“…the film as a whole just scores plenty of legitimate laughs as it’s genuinely hilarious. Treating the blind daughter for sympathy on top of cracking jokes when it can offer up plenty of laughs alongside the heartwarming moments which enables the comedic punchlines to hit that much more. The whole manner of poking fun at drug companies and the pharmaceutical industry for their roles in the state of the world scores massively while the odd musical number interjected into the running time for no reason is another big source of chuckles.”
— Don Anelli, Don’s World of Horror and Exploitation

“#shakespearesshitstorm is not just the movie that we DESERVE in 2020, it’s the movie we NEED. Lloyd Kaufman proves that vital filmmaking knows no bounds, be it the content of the film or the age of its director.

I’d stack Lloyd up against any modern Enfant terrible … Lloyd continues to push the boundaries of filmmaking. His latest feature is a testament to his infallible pursuit of (uncomfortable) truth in cinema and art. Thanks to Lloyd, Shakespeare isn’t rolling over in his grave – he’s slam-dancing in it.”

Trent Haaga, writer of DEADGIRL, 68 KILL, CHEAP THRILLS, and CITIZEN TOXIE: THE TOXIC AVENGER PART IV

“If you’re looking for gross-out humour and over the top action (that car crash makes a welcome appearance, of course), you won’t be disappointed. There’s even a sequence that almost out-does Brian Yuzna’s Society for body horror.”

“This is probably Troma’s pièce de résistance, a film in which all the elements come together to create one marvellous magnum opus. The satire, gross-out humour, use of Shakespeare and complete irreverence work perfectly. It’s even better than Derek Jarman’s version of the story.”

Starburst Magazine

“Altogether, if you are a Troma fan, you will not be disappointed by #ShakespearesShitstorm. It is possibly the ultimate Troma movie. It’s a love letter to Troma, the people who have worked there, and it’s fans, all while being a silly gross-out extravaganza.

I think that this film might even be a great introduction to Troma for those who have never seen one of their films before, considering its relevance to our times.”

— Lorry Kikta, Film Threat

“For all the disgusting gags that are delivered in buckets, the sweeter side of Troma rises out of the muck to remind fans why they really love the outsider studio.”

“Eric Fox’s MORB-X FX seems to take some inspiration from the look of failed balloon animals and the shunting scene in Brian Yuzna’s Society to create some fairly jaw-dropping moments of ‘WTF AM I LOOKING AT?'”

— Drew Tinnin, Dread Central

“#Shakespeare’s Shitstorm is Kaufman’s manifesto for the age of outrage.

“Both McGarrigle and the wonderfully unhinged Amanda Flowers as the wheelchair bound, crack-addicted Ariel offer up go-for-broke comedic turns… Kaufman turns in a memorable performance as Prospero.”

—Mike Vanderbilt, Consequence of Sound

“I really hate to reuse this word, but if I was asked for one word for how I felt about this movie, it’s truly ‘charming.’ It’s sophomoric in Kaufman’s quite intelligent way, but there’s a heart to it that you can’t deny.

“Every single person on screen knows exactly what they are doing and what it is Kaufman is going for. That’s a testament to a solid director and competent producer. All this, and more, should be what you should expect from Troma.”

—Geoff Arbuckle, Film Seizure

“As is expected, the practical effects are incredible.

Could #ShakespearesShitstorm be my favorite Troma film? It’s definitely the most consistent and sleekest-looking of all the Troma movies, dating back to 1984’s The Toxic Avenger. It’s an absolute laugh riot, even if you haven’t read Shakespeare or seen any of his plays since high school. But if you have done your homework, you would know that Shakespeare hid dirty jokes throughout his work, and he would have wet his tights with laughter watching the greatest tribute to his legacy since The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged).

 Chris Aitkens, Nightmare on Film Street

Shakespeare’s Shitstorm is a monumental movie.”

 — Gregory J. Smalley, 366weirdmovies.com 

“One of the most impressive things about this adaptation is the way in which it lives up to the essence of the original characters while turning them into something that is unmistakably a Troma creation. Kaufman really brings the Prospero character to life in a brilliant way…”

 — Sean Boelman, disappointmentmedia.com 

#SHAKESPEARESSHITSTORM is a masterpiece. It is irreverent, crude, hilarious, and consuming, all hallmarks of a stellar Troma flick. And, oh is it biting. This film has teeth, and Lloyd Kaufman is their master.

…perhaps more than any other film of his in Troma’s legendary filmography, #SHAKESPEARESSHITSTORM is a testament to true independent cinema and independent thought… 

Satire aside, Troma’s #SHAKESPEARESSHITSTORM is as much about the magic of art as the original source material is.”

 —Jesse Berberich, haddonfieldhorror.com 

“Kate McGarrigle as Miranda was the real standout for me here… her comedic timing was so spot on that she pretty much stole the show in every scene she was in.
Amidst this shit storm of comedic debauchery, Kaufman tackles major modern themes of entitlement, big pharma, opioid addiction, and cancel culture. Don’t worry, if that sounds hefty… this is of course set against the backdrop of gags on gags, boner jokes and a barrage of fun practical FX by the maestro of the morbidly grotesque.”

—Angel Melanson, horrorgirlproblems.com 

“…Kaufman’s creative reworking of Shakespeare’s characters in a contemporary setting makes for an amusing new take on the classic story.”

— Mallory Moore, elementsofmadness.com 

“Writer Brandon Bassham and director Kaufman succeed in displaying the gruesome, gorgeous art that is Troma while staying contemporary and poking at today’s ‘snowflake’ online influencers. Even if you belong to that type of mentality, you will nonetheless definitely at least have ONE laugh-out-loud moment throughout the film.”

— Simon Rother, infamoushorrors.com 

 

“Lloyd Kaufman’s take on “The Tempest” is truly a shitstorm of epic proportions. And that’s no figure of speech. There is literally shit everywhere and no societal group is left without a little bit of Uncle Lloydie’s fecal matter on them.”

— Matthew Steward, simplisticreviews.net 

“Kaufman is a brilliant director and his talents are on full display here.

The acting is refreshingly over-the-top, the locations are varied and interesting, and, dammit, the movie is laugh-out-loud funny. But, there’s one thing that deserves special notice – the art direction.

Making a movie is one of the hardest things to do, and making an independent movie is even harder, but Kaufman has been doing this exact thing for nearly 50 years. In what has been rumored to be his final film, Lloyd Kaufman has given us the exact movie that we deserved at the exact time that we deserved it. While ‘Disrupting Media’ is the main slogan for Troma Entertainment, there is another slogan which sits on the crest of Troma’s logo. That slogan is ‘movies of the future’, and although it may not exactly feel like it, the future is now.”

— Ben Schatzel, horrorpatch.com 

“Anyone who has read The Tempest can see how true to the story this film stayed while being undeniably a Troma film.”

— Celeste Parker, hexenarcane.com

“Ambitious, offensive, disgusting, and frequently hilarious, Shakespeare’s Shitstorm is everything a devotee like myself has come to both want and expect from a Troma movie. Using the template created by Shakespeare as a dramatic spine and then filling in the margins with their usual cast of colorful characters, dialogue, and outrageous gags, Lloyd Kaufman has made a film that celebrates 40 years of Troma by sometimes feeling like the company’s greatest hits, other times branching out into commentary that’s very much of the present.” 

— Patrick Bromley, fthismovie.net

“Equivalent to what Quentin Tarantino demonstrated in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Kaufman communicates that it will not change in the face of the current parameters that judge cinema from the moral point of view. At the end of the day, Troma has never taken herself seriously. Her violence, gore, taste for the grotesque, sex scenes with countless nudes, her particular sense of humor (satirical, absurd, vulgar, black, eschatological), and all that ‘incorrect’ material have always had a single purpose: to amuse, make the viewer enjoy.

At the expense primarily of those who confuse activism and want no one to have fun in the movies again, particularly with the ‘politically incorrect’, Kaufman laughs and makes us laugh. Bravo!”

— Eric Ortiz Garcia, cineinferno.com (original review in Spanish)

“Here, we shoot red balls on everything that moves: the influence of social networks, diversity issues (Troma has always been very inclusive and open), American politics, cultural appropriation, genetics and pharmaceuticals all go through the wringer, among others.
In short, if you love gore delirium (Bad Taste and Dead Alive style of a young Peter Jackson) and other films filled with mutants (like The Island of Dr. Moreau and the Society of Brian Yuzna) in Troma sauce, I dare hope you invited some friends over on Saturday August 29th and didn’t miss the #ShakespearesShitstorm world premiere at Fantasia.”

— Kristof G., Horror Quebec (original review in French

 

“This is an undeniably unpredictable film, an irrationally rational societal commentary made by Troma for Troma fans specifically, which is what Troma has always done, and what continues to make them a studio that is loved by their fans. Fellow depraved weirdos are going to want Lloyd and Troma to adapt every Shakespeare play after seeing #ShakespearesShitstorm.
— Matt Konopka, Killer Horror Critic