Juguetes peligrosos

Low budget, but enjoyable Charles Band Full Moon production about a pregnant policewoman, Tracy Scoggins (I'd totally forgotten about her and remembered how I had a crush on her as Cat Grant on "Lois & Clark"), and a scrappy delivery boy, Bentley Mitchum (grandson of Robert Mitchum) are trapped in a haunted toy warehouse where, you guessed it, reside possessed murderous toys. This is one in a long string of Charles Band productions to feature small things terrorizing larger things (i.e. Puppet Master, Dollman, Gingerdead Man, Evil Bong, Shrunken Heads, etc.) and it's a formula that works surprisingly well. Despite the cheapness of the production (the film basically takes place entirely on one set), the creepy little toys doing terrible things is entertaining, Scoggins is attractive in the lead, and there's novelty value in the casting of Robert Mitchum's grandson in the type of bad boy role his grandfather was well known for. I really wish there had been more stop-motion animation in the film, though that would have cost more money, but what little stop-motion animation the film does have is excellent! "Demonic Toys" was an early script by David S. Goyer, who'd later go on to write some major Hollywood comic book adaptations including The Dark Knight films, the Blade series, and "Dark City." Although Goyer has his name on a number of quality films, his best films always had a strong director or were co-writen by other, so I've never been quite sure how much credit to give Goyer for his better films. For his films where he's received sole writing credit or were not helmed by strong directors, those films were often weaker (i.e. "Man of Steel" or Blade I and III) if not outright awful ("The Crow: City of Angels"). Much like his weaker bug budget films, this one suffers from a lack of character development, an over reliance on plot contrivances, and few original ideas. Still, producer Charles Band has reliably delivered entertaining low budget genre pictures since the late 1970s and has a track record that continues to hold strong to this day. I also won't fault the director too much, since it was directed by Peter Manoogian, who directed another one of my favorite Charles Band productions, the ridiculous, but enjoyable "Eliminators." Also worth noting is that the musical score by theunderrated composer Richard Band (brother of Charles) delivers another reliably good synthesizer heavy score.Band's pictures may not appeal to a wide audience and may not appeal even to all horror fans, but if you're a fan of Band and Full Moon Entertainment, this one is well worth watching, even if it's isn't exactly a classic on the level of "Trancers," "Re-Animator," or even "Subspecies."

A botched bust on a pair of arms dealers inadvertantly leads to the raising of a sixty-six-year-old demon with the power to bring toys to life as his personal minions. The demon is looking for a body to inhabit so he can increase his powers, and it just so happens that one of the police officers is pregnant with the ideal host. As the murderous toys close in on their victims, the officer must not only fight for her life, but for the soul of her unborn child. "demonic toys" is a very entertaining horror gem! The special effects and toys look quite creepy (I love oppsie daisies and the jack-in-the-box) and it has a good sense of (unintentional, most of the time)humor. Highest recommendations!

"Demonic Toys" is another wonderful, low-budget offering of horror hokum from Charles Band's Full Moon studio.

A combination of slightly over-the-top performances (Bentley Mitchum sounds like Bill Paxton's Hudson from "Aliens" when under pressure), some interesting special effects and a selection of simply wonderful "demonic toys" (the teddy bear and baby doll are inspired) result in 90 minutes of entertaining viewing. There's more of the red stuff than in most Full Moon features - gore-hounds won't be knocked out by the amount of blood and guts but there are enough scenes of surreal violence to prevent boredom setting in.

Fans of cheesy horror should enjoy this one. Its heart is in the right place and the film looks great - very dark and atmospheric.

The effective score by the always reliable Richard Band is the icing on the cake.

Full Moon entertainment was one of the main sources of new horror films during the early 90s. With low budgets and very creative minds, they put out some of the best horror movies of that decade, always walking in the fine line between horror & tongue-in-cheek comedy. Among those movies was "Demonic Toys", a very funny movie dealing with a demon possessing a group of toys.

Judith Gray (Tracy Scoggins) is a cop who, after a failed undercover operation where she lost her partner (& lover), gets trapped inside a warehouse while chasing for the criminals she was supposed to catch. One of the criminals gets hurt and his blood awakes an ancient demon. In the form of a kid (Daniel Cerny), the Demon will use his powers to transform the toys into killing machines, in order to posses & become Judith's unborn child. To survive, Judith will have to join forces with the people who by coincidence or fate, was in the warehouse at the same moment.

"Demonic Toys" is not a serious horror film, it is packed with a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor that makes a very entertaining movie. The plot is an interesting one, and while it could had worked as a serious film, it is quite good as this silly comedy. This is one of those movies where all the negative parts just increase the camp factor and become watchable.

The acting is good for a movie of this characteristics. Tracy Scoggins may not be a good actress, but she is a beautiful lady and gets the support of the underrated Bentley Mitchum, as a young delivery boy in a role reminiscent of Bruce Campbell's Ash of the "Evil Dead" series. Also, Daniel Cerny gives a remarkably good performance as the incarnation of the demon. He is definitely one of the most underrated child actors ever. The rest of the cast has good moments, but nothing really special.

The SFX are average for the most part of the film, but it also has well-done gore and specially a brilliant stop-motion animation in the end. While the dialogs are at times corny, the silliness makes the film better, as the toys are funny instead of scary. The "baby" is very good as comic relief and I would compare it to the humor of the recent sequels of "Child's Play".

Obviously, the film has big flaws, and most are caused by the low-budget. The lack of diverse locations make the film look always the same, and some of the SFX look really cheap. However, most of the times this just adds to the cheesy fun the film delivers.

This is definitely not a very good movie, but it is good material for a video night with friends. 6/10

"Demonic Toys" is a curious mixture of gore and cheesiness - in about equal measures. In fact, this film epitomizes cheesiness: stupid plot, uneven effects, mostly terrible acting (save for leading lady Tracy Scoggins, who is too awesome-looking for her acting to matter anyway), and dialogue laced with lame puns ("You messed up my make-up"!). But the gore is pretty extreme and over-the-top (the dolls rip off huge chunks of flesh from the faces of their victims). It's a bad film, but tolerable IF you're in the right mood.....(*1/2)