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."
