The front cover of my DVD for Demonic Toys (Film 2000 Shock Horror Collection) states that 'special effects wizard David Allen brings Toulon's killer puppets magically to life'. In reality, Allen's FX contribution is fairly negligible and Toulon (from the Puppetmaster series) has jack all to do with this particular movie.

Similarly misleading is the one (mis)quote on the sleeve from roberthood.net (no, me neither),which describes Demonic Toys as boasting 'breast-focused nudity', which it doesn't really: there's a two second shot of a topless woman—hardly what you would call Russ Meyer/Andy Sidaris territory.

Despite the distributor clearly feeling the need to deceive people into buying the film, Demonic Toys isn't all that awful; in fact, as trashy low-budget B-movie horrors go, this one is actually pretty entertaining, with a reasonable amount of invention (the script written by David S. Goyer of Batman Begins and Dark City fame),some marvellously shonky puppet-style monsters, and a fair amount of gratuitous gore (including plucked eyeballs and a decapitation).

It's all incredibly silly, of course, with people trapped in a toy warehouse, terrorised by a demonic jack-in-the-box, a deadly doll called Oopsie Daisy, and a giant killer teddy bear (controlled by an evil spirit who wants to be reborn as a human),but not so bad that it didn't deserve a respectable DVD release with a more representative sleeve.

5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

A police bust goes awry, resulting in the death of a police officer. His partner (Tracy Scoggins) chases the killers to a warehouse full of toys, but she doesn't know that tonight the toys will awaken and be filled with diabolic spirits. Along with a fast food delivery driver and a bumbling security guard, can she defeat the toys and Satan or will the demon achieve his highest goal -- being born into a human host?

Full Moon films aren't really known for being awesome, and this film is no exception. It's slow, focuses too little on the toys and returns to a dream sequence more times than is really necessary. Focusing on the toys more may not be a wise idea, though, because with one or two exceptions, John Buechler's creations are little more than well-crafted hand puppets. Two drunk kids with the proper equipment could have made this film, and probably have done better. (The only toy that was cool was Baby Oopsie Daisy.)

The cast was alright, even though the acting was more or less worthless. The male police officer was played by an atrocious actor, so his untimely death was a welcome addition to the film. And the hairstyles of the early 1990s pretty much guaranteed that none of the cast involved was attractive to look at. Sure, Miss July (Kristine Rose) was respectably hot, but I wasn't convinced. And I thought the homeless girl (Ellen Dunning) had a very Mandy Mooresque voice and face, which kept my heart beating rapidly. But still not good enough.

I'd like to say it's a good film by Full Moon standards and by the fact that this was the director's first picture. But that's no excuse and really not true. Full Moon pumps out sludge better than this all the time... although after seeing "Gingerdead Man", I can assure you they also make much worse.

There's no good reason to rent or buy this film. If you're trying to bring back memories of your childhood, you're probably better off just sticking to the memories. This film will crush them and leave you crying and soulless. Just because "Puppet Master" is possibly a winner (see separate review) and "Child's Play" is a winner, combining the two doesn't ensure a winner if it's handled by no-talent hacks.

An evil 66-year-old boy spirit (a creepy portrayal by Daniel Cerny) with the power to bring toys to life gets awakened and searches for a new body to inhabit. Tough lady cop Judith Gray (a pleasingly feisty performance by the stunning Tracy Scoggins) and several others find themselves trapped in a warehouse with the pernicious brat. Director Peter Manoogian, working from a compact and engrossing script by David S. Goyer, relates the absorbing story at a steady pace, stages the action and attack set pieces with real skill and aplomb, treats the absurd premise with admirable seriousness, delivers a handy helping of graphic gore, and further spruces things up with a very nasty sense of wickedly amusing black humor. The solid acting by the competent cast helps a lot, with especially praiseworthy work from Bentley Mitchum as sarcastic slacker fast food delivery guy Mark Wayne, Michael Russo as ruthless scumbag criminal Lincoln, Ellen Dunning as scrappy teenage runaway Anne, and Peter Schrum as grumpy security guard Charnetski. The nifty array of killer toys adds immensely to the twisted entertainment value: a giant teddy bear (!),a robot, a jack in the box, and a foul-mouthed baby doll. Busty blonde babe Kristine Rose provides some skin as hot pin-up Miss July. Adlfo Bartoli's impressively polished cinematography makes fine use of a smoothly gliding Steadicam, boasts lots of cool tilted camera angles, and even offers a little stylized slow motion. Richard Band's shivery score does the spine-tingling trick. A really fun piece of blithely trashy junk.