Demonic Toys: Personal Demons

Although if you don't, we won't have a movie now ... right? Also there is whole bunch of these. And I don't just mean killer toys, but as in Demonic Toys. It spawned a lot of "sequels" - or is it prequels? Spinoffs? Haven't seen them so no idea.

So while there may be an story overall that connects them, I don't know about it. I made the effort and watched all Puppet Master movies - I think that's enough of one of that series! There's no need at least at the moment to go through with this one too. Especially because there are so many other movies I have to get to ... What this is about you ask? Well what do you think? A bunch of people in a "castle" being hunted by toys ... it sounds ridiculous you say? Sure, but it can be also fun if you are into the joke. Decently made overall

Arriving at an ancient Italian castle, a professor and his staff attempting to document the findings with a group of antiquities experts finds they have released a series of dolls possessed by an evil, demonic energy and must race to find a way out alive.

This here was a decent enough if slightly flawed effort. One of the main elements going for this one is the fact that there's quite a large amount of Gothic atmosphere found here in the main location as this one really lets the castle location come through quite nicely. This features all the usual grand set-pieces and designs that come about here through the location taking place here, from the scenes of them wandering about the castle going for the various rooms and settings featured here while taking full advantage of material that can be attempted here with the elaborate, ornate decorations, candelabra- lit rooms, secret passageways and much more that makes this one quite a bit more fun than it really should be putting the Gothic set-pieces into the hunting grounds for the toys. With the discovery of the different rooms featured within here, especially the torture chamber and the exorcism vault that are found here, they make for a great place here which gives the dolls a spectacular place to hunt, generating the great stalking scenes in the basement where they take out the cheating couple or in the big bedroom against the one unaware loner who gets tormented beforehand with all the various sights and sounds of them appearing before the final kill which is quite impressive and enjoyable. Once they finally reveal themselves here which comes at the end of the big seance sequence which itself is a fantastic highlight offering with the flashing lights, demonic voices and the overall resolution of the main plot line being revealed to them, this one readily picks up the action and becomes a thrilling, suspenseful series of chasing through the bowels of the castle trying to fight them off in order to get away which makes for a fine finish here. These here make this one quite fun and enjoyable, though it does have a few quite detrimental issues. The main one here is the fact that the film's rather long periods of time here without the dolls being a part of the film, letting the exploration of the castle and their eccentricities take over the large portion of time here in the first half so they don't get really unleashed to knock people off until the later half. That it all for the better here, with the doll effects being quite substandard and really silly looking, barely featuring enough here to look like they're committing the crimes and just making it very obvious they're dolls. It's the biggest thing that holds this one back, alongside the bland pacing.

Rated R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.

I'm a big Full Moon fan! I loved just about everything Band put out in the 90's ..especially Demonic Toys. Don't get me wrong I hold a very special place in my heart for the Puppet Master series, but I've always felt that Demonic Toys just had that edgy, risky, guilty pleasure feel to it. This particular installment to the series, which I could not wait to see, simply enough falls short of its predecessor in a number of ways...I mean I could pick at a movie's flaws all day, but being a hard core fan of the original I'll try to be brief...

There are some people out there that say the story line was a little weak, but I'm not going to judge a low budget horror film sequel too hard...I mean it's called "Demonic Toys 2" ..I can only hope that you rent this movie knowing that it's not going to be up for any awards. A bigger problem I had with the movie was that it didn't really try to be unique away from the original...they only play the theme song from the original about every second of the movie and it just gets ruined and annoying. The acting in the movie is OK...the characters themselves leave a little more to be desired. There is a lot of computer generated blood which really detracts from the movie.....the first movie had blood, guts, and eye balls out the yin yang....just get some corn syrup and goop it up 90's style. My biggest complaint about this movie is the puppets. The baby doll and jack attack are all well and good, but what about Mr. Static and Grizzly??? Fans would have gone even more crazy about this movie if they were included. No...instead we're given some new old toy called Divoletto...and in my opinion he really does nothing in this movie.

I did find it to be entertaining, but that might be me being bias because I love the demonic toys. This could have been a great addition to the franchise, but it just tried to sell off of the success and popularity of the original. What a shame...all it needed was a few more puppets ...a couple gallons of blood ...and a little more care.

Demonic Toys 2 (2010) is available for free on Tubi. The storyline focuses on some world explorers investigating an Italian castle that unleashed a spirit who brings the demonic toys back to life. This movie is directed by William Butler (Gingerbread Man 3, Furnace and Power Rangers) and stars Alli Kinzel (Criminal Minds), Lane Compton (NCIS) and Selene Luna (My Bloody Valentine). The storyline was okay and kind of had a throwback feel to it (like Ghoulies) but the script wasn't as good as most Demonic Toys movie. Usually there's some solid comedic content but this falls short of the previous three pictures. The kill scenes are just okay and the entertainment value is ehh. This is worth seeing if you're a fan of the series but a below average addition to the genre. I'd give it a 3.5/10.

I don't understand why Full Moon Entertainment and Charles Brand waited so long to bring out the sequels. I also cannot comprehend that there have been eighteen years between the first story and this one and still the film is atrocious. Eighteen years to write a script, raise a budget, develop a cast, and hire a director. Though the finished project looks like it was cobbled together in a couple of weeks.

The story concept is a worthy effort and would have made a great story had it been handled better. Though the writer, William Butler, interjects plenty of characters, no matter how stereotypical, he fails to give them personalities the audience can relate to. Since he even directs this travesty he had ample chance to make the individuals and their persona's visually interesting at least... and fails.

But, it's not just with the human cast he fails. In the original flick, there was more than a spattering of dark humour. This was nicely carried by the Baby Oopsie Daisy - who is now called Baby Whoopsie. There's about as much dark humour in this film as there are atmosphere and characterisations... oh, that's right, there's none of them either.

There was one bright light in this darkness and that was the great Leslie Jordan as Butterfield. Granted he usually plays the same character in most of his appearances and does here. However, if this is a great character and adds to the film and story then I can live with it. In this case, I thank him for lifting this film out of the muck and mire it was wallowing in, even if it was for his scenes only.

So if you're a Leslie Jordan fan then... STAY AWAY from this film. Even his presence doesn't make this worth watching. Not even once. Go check out my Absolute Horror list and pick a better film to watch, there are plenty.