Kevin Smith brings gleefully gory cannibal comedy to Atlantic Highlands

Kevin Smith is a Troma believer.

Long before he was an acclaimed filmmaker and podcast impresario, Smith was a movie and comic book fan growing up in Highlands — and that’s when he saw a report on the local news about Lloyd Kaufman.

Kaufman, the co-founder of New York City-based independent studio Troma, is also the writer/director of the 1984 cult classic “The Toxic Avenger,” a film described on that fateful news segment as being about the first superhero from New Jersey.

“That made me feel seen, as the kids now say,” Smith said. “Lloyd was the first indie filmmaker I’d ever heard of, making his movies his way, without any Hollywood help and, sometimes, without even a budget. We can’t be it unless we see it — and seeing Lloyd and Troma making movies their way and having a blast while working definitely helped inspire the path I eventually took for myself.”

In much the same way that many of Kaufman’s Troma films are set in the fictional New Jersey municipality of Tromaville, Smith went on to build the Monmouth County-set View Askew cinematic universe, featuring recurring characters such as Jay and Silent Bob, Jason Mewes’ and Smith’s lovable neighborhood drug dealers.

“You don’t get to Jay and Silent Bob without Lloyd and Toxie,” Smith said.

This weekend, Smith welcomes Kaufman and Troma to SModcastle Cinemas, the independent movie theater in downtown Atlantic Highlands that Smith became the co-owner of last year.

Troma’s “Eating Miss Campbell,” produced by Kaufman, will have its American theatrical premiere at the theater Saturday night, followed by a question-and-answer session with Kaufman and the film's writer/director Liam Regan, moderated by Smith. There will also be appearances by additional cast and crew members as well as, yes, the Toxic Avenger.

“Having them at SModcastle is a true honor,” Smith said, “and I hope this is only the first of many events where we host Troma films.”

“Eating Miss Campbell” stars Lyndsey Craine as Beth, a goth vegan high school student in the United Kingdom who becomes romantically involved with her English teacher (Lala Barlow’s Miss Campbell) right around the same time she develops a hunger for human flesh.

Part 1988’s “Heathers,” part 1986’s “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2,” Regan’s film is gleefully gory, vivaciously violent, proudly profane and savagely silly. In other words, it’s a Troma picture.

"Eating Miss Campbell" is the latest independent shocker to grace the SModcastle screen, following sold-out showings of films such as the underground sensation, New Jersey-shot "Terrifier" movies, and Smith's own anthology offering, "Killroy Was Here."

“I think there’s a dearth of movies that people want to see," Kaufman said, "and I think it’s just the right time for these kinds of very low-budget movies, but movies with vision and heart and soul and entertainment."

Regan is the latest Troma discovery, a long lineage that also includes DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn, who co-wrote 1997's "Tromeo and Juliet"; J.J. Abrams, who co-wrote the score to 1982's "Nightbeast"; and "South Park" and "Book of Mormon" masterminds Trey Parker and Matt Stone, whose mid-'90s Troma offering "Cannibal! The Musical" shares a bit of continuity with "Eating Miss Campbell."

“I make movies that nobody wants to see, but I’m very good at recognizing talent," said Kaufman.

Regan first met Kaufman in 2011, when he took an eight-hour bus trip to attend a masterclass taught by Kaufman at England's Oxford University. He then became part of the Troma family, working on the two volumes of "Return to Nuke 'Em High" released in 2013 and 2017, as well as Kaufman's parody of "The Tempest," 2020's "Shakespeare's Sh*tstorm." Regan's debut feature, "My Bloody Banjo," is now streaming on the studio's Troma NOW service.

“I think (Regan) is able to be more like James Gunn, where he can be kind of naughty but not as out there as I am, not as bitter and dark and digusting," said Kaufman. "So I think he’s going to make it. I think he’s got a great chance. He’s a very hard worker, totally obsessed with movies, loves movies, and is obsessed with Troma.”

Go: “Eating Miss Campbell,” 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11, SModcastle Cinemas, 82 First Ave., Atlantic Highlands, $15; smodcastlecinemas.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Kevin Smith brings Troma's vegan cannibal comedy to New Jersey