Review of Demonic Toys

"Demonic Toys" didn't really entertain this viewer all that much, but it should prove to be a passable diversion for most B movie lovers. We don't see the titular characters all THAT often, but whenever they're on screen they make this reasonably amusing. They've come to life because of a demon that has been awakened from its long slumber; said demon makes life just miserable for a determined lady detective (foxy Tracy Scoggins), a surly fast food joint employee (Bentley Mitchum, son of Chris Mitchum and grandson of Robert Mitchum), a runaway (Ellen Dunning), and a lowlife criminal (Michael Russo). Director Peter Manoogian does what he can with the screenplay by David S. Goyer, giving it a comic sensibility at times and giving this production more profanity and gore than usual for a Full Moon offering. None of the acting is exactly that good, but Scoggins certainly tries her best; her character has a little more going on than the others because she's pregnant with her partners' baby; it just so happens that what the demon wants most is to be born again via her child. Mitchum is enough of a coward / complainer at times that he may indeed remind viewers of Bill Paxton in "Aliens". Of course, whether that's a good or bad thing is up to the individual viewer. Making this worthwhile are the demonic toys themselves: a laser shooting robot, a hideously ugly jack-in-the-box clown, a ferocious teddy bear, and the talking baby Oopsy Daisy, who has the best lines and basically steals the show. The damn thing even puts a genre spin on the famous last line for the title character in the gangster classic "Little Caesar". The special effects, courtesy of John Buechlers' Magical Media Industries company, are reasonably impressive. Genre fans will note the visual quoting of an image from the Stuart Gordon fantasy / horror flick "Dolls", which was produced by Charles Bands' pre-Full Moon company Empire Pictures. Other than the toys, the best component is undoubtedly the music score by Bands' brother Richard; it's quite effective. The movie isn't without atmosphere, or nudity (courtesy of luscious Kristine Rose), and has some priceless moments, but it fails to really catch fire. It just wasn't that much fun. Five out of 10.