The final of the thirteen Full Moon movies I’m reviewing (for now), as next week we’ll start with something very Halloween-ish.
Here goes:
A botched bust on a pair of arms dealers inadvertently leads to the raising of a sixty 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 happens that one of the police officers, Judith Gray (Tracy Scoggins) 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.
I did not have high hopes for this movie going into it, and the opening scene referenced in the description with the botched bust did not make me feel any better about the upcoming movie. The movie started off feeling very much like it was going to be a Child’s Play rip-off. The wounded criminals making their way into a toy warehouse… but that turned out to very much not be the case.
First, the demonic toys exist separate from our criminals: they’re waiting already, so that is a big difference. Second, there are toys plural though they are directly controlled by a single demon. That demon is possibly the most creepy part of the movie when he appears as a child for something like 95% of his screen time. It is also one of the worst effects in the movie: his voice is clearly not his, which should be creepy but really comes across as cheap.
Some of the characters are clearly red-shirts from the start, and that would be a point against the movie because I didn’t care when any of them died — except, this is a B-movie horror film about demonic toys. That’s what we expect in these situations.
One thing I liked about this movie is the way it really didn’t choreograph which side would end: up until the finale it was entirely possible we were getting either the happy ending or the demon getting free. Some of that was because it didn’t seem to care which characters lived.
The effects were pretty decent for a movie about animated, demonic toys. They avoided a lot of gore which probably saved their effects budget a bit. The gun use was similarly pretty decent other than rampant shotgun misuse.
It’s a solid B-movie, but not one I particularly want to revisit: I’m glad I saw it, but… and that’s where I’ll leave it before the report card.
Running Time: One hour, twenty three minutes and change.
Acting: It varied from actor to actor, but average for a B-movie.
Effects: Pretty good for what the movie is.
Violence: Yes, mostly person versus doll.
Gun Use:: At points it seems pretty poor, but the female lead also at one point clearly runs out of ammo and clearly reloads, which puts it above par for Hollywood.
Gore: Not really, but borders it.
Creepy? Not really, though if you have a thing about possessed dolls… or demonic children…
Monster Type? A demon that is also inhabiting toys.
Funny? Absolutely.
Nudity: Yes. Gratuitous female topless-ness.
Pacing: Starts fast and really doesn’t slow down much.
