Demonic Toys (film series)

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Demonic Toys
Directed byPeter Manoogian
Charles Band
Ted Nicolaou
William Butler
Written byDavid S. Goyer
Charles Band
C. Courtney Joyner
William Butler
Produced byCharles Band
Anne Kelly
Production
company
Full Moon Features
Release date
1992 - current
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Demonic Toys is a series of films that center on a collection of seemingly harmless playthings that are in reality the avatars of powerful demons from hell who seek to cause havoc in the mortal world.

Produced through Full Moon Features, the first film in the series, Demonic Toys, was released direct-to-video in 1992. It was followed by three additional films, all of which have crossovers with other Full Moon properties. The series has also led to a comic book series that was released through Full Moon Pictures and Eternity Comics, as well as other merchandise.[1]

Development[]

Full Moon Features, then Full Moon Entertainment, released the first film in the series, Demonic Toys, direct-to-video in 1992.[2] Directed by Peter Manoogian, the script was written by David S. Goyer and featured a score by the composer, Richard Band. His brother, Charles Band served as one of the film's producers.[3]

The following year, Full Moon Features released a follow-up, Dollman vs. Demonic Toys, which crosses over with the films Bad Channels and Dollman. Footage from the first Demonic Toys, as well as from Dollman and Bad Channels, were used in the creation of the movie.[4]

In 2004, Full Moon Features released a third film, Puppet Master vs. Demonic Toys, which is a crossover with the Puppet Master series. The film was created as a made-for-TV movie for the SyFy Channel as a Christmas horror special.[5] Filming took place in Bugaria and had a limited budget.[6]

In 2010, a direct sequel to the first film was released titled Demonic Toys: Personal Demons. Screenwriter and director William Butler has stated that the first rendition of the movie's script used Los Angeles, California as a setting. This was re-written to utilize Charles Band's castle in Italy and also include a character from Band's 1997 film Hideous!, Dr. Lorca. Most of the filming was completed in Italy and the remainder was shot in the United States, using a cavern set used in the television series, Weeds.[7][8]

A fifth film in the series, Baby Oopsie, released on August 6, 2021 on the Full Moon Features App, and on Amazon Prime Video on August 16, 2021, it is a spin-off and semi-sequel of Demonic Toys 2.[9]

Films[]

Film Date Director Writer(s) Producer(s)
Demonic Toys 1992 Peter Manoogian David S. Goyer Charles Band & Anne Kelly
Dollman vs. Demonic Toys 1993 Charles Band Charles Band Charles Band
Puppet Master vs Demonic Toys 2004 Ted Nicolaou C. Courtney Joyner Bob Perkis and Jörg Westerkamp
Demonic Toys 2 2010 William Butler William Butler Charles Band
Baby Oopsie 2021 William Butler William Butler Charles Band

Characters[]

  • Baby Oopsie Daisy - The foul-mouthed, perverted doll in a similar manner to a Cabbage Patch Kid or other "baby" doll and leader of the toys.
  • Jack Attack - The evil jack-in-the-box with a grotesque killer-clown face attached to it.
  • Grizzly Teddy - The monstrous teddy bear.
  • Mr. Static - The demonic toy robot with real shooting lasers and fire like a flamethrower.
  • Zombietoid, or Zomb.i.e Joe - The blond-haired GI Joe action figure that makes a loud scream and kills people with his machete.
  • Divoletto - The smiling, cloaked ancient toy doll that makes a robotic ticking noise whenever he moves. He also makes a giggling sound now and then.

Comic book series[]

Demonic Toys: Play at Your Own Risk!
Collection of all four issues
Publication information
PublisherEternity Comics
FormatLimited series
GenreHorror
No. of issues4
Main character(s)Jack Attack
Baby Oopsie Daisy
Grizzly Teddy
Mr. Static
Jack Norton/"The Kid"
Creative team
Written byDoug Campbell

Demonic Toys: Play at Your Own Risk! is a 1993 limited horror comic book series by Eternity Comics, based on the 1992 film of the same name.

A teaser poster for Demonic Toys was made with Grizzly Teddy and Jack Attack on it. The Jack Attack and Grizzly Teddy on the poster resembles the ones that appear in the comics The comics take place 8 years after the first film; the Toys have drastically changed in appearance, Jack Attack is the most significant, he now has arms. The Toy Soldier is also aligned with the Toys.

Issues[]

  • Play at Your Own Risk #1 (January 1993): Eight years after Officer Judith Grey survived the toy massacre at the Toyland Warehouse, the demon child known as "The Kid" attempts another birth through a human infant.
  • Play at Your Own Risk #2 (February 1993): "Toyland" is changed to "Arcadia Toy Company", and now run by Jack Norton and assistant Mr. Horse. The factory is torn down and replaced with a high-tech skyscraper. But evil still exists beneath them. Mr. Horse hires some thugs while Jack unveils the new skyscraper.
  • Play at Your Own Risk #3 (April 1993): While out, Jack discovers Baby Oopsie Daisy, who kills him. His body is taken over by The Kid, who tries to dictate a policy for the largest toy producing company in the world. But Grey's son, Matthew, now 8 years old, has suspicions about Jack.
  • Play at Your Own Risk #4 (August 1993): Arcadia employee Dapne meets Jack, who, when he discovers her pregnancy, decides to keep her for it.

Popular culture[]

  • Demonic Toys: Play At Your Own Risk #2 is seen in Full Moon movie Shrunken Heads on the shelves of Mr. Sumatra's comic book shop.
  • Also in Shrunken Heads at the part where Booger and Podowski confront Mr. Sumatra about collecting money, Podowski picks up Demonic Toys: Play At Your Own Risk #4 comic book and looks through it, (you gotta play it in slow-motion to get a good look at it).

Reception[]

The first film in the series, Demonic Toys, received a predominantly negative reception upon release. A reviewer for TV Guide criticized it as "a rehash of the company's PUPPETMASTER series".[10]

The second film, Dollman vs. Demonic Toys, was panned by Dennis Fischer in his book covering science fiction directors as "one of Band's worst missteps".[11] A reviewer for Billboard was more favorable, writing that "Good-humored viewers will enjoy this silly but fast-moving quickie."[12]

Critic Scott Weinberg wrote a negative review for the third film on DVD Talk, writing that it was "not funny, it's not scary, and it's certainly not a worthwhile way to spend 90 minutes of the time you're given on this planet."[13] Director Ted Nicolaou was critical of Puppet Master vs. Demonic Toys in a 2017 interview with Video Fugue, as he felt that it was "kind of a big mistake, I think, in a lot of ways".[6]

Dread Central reviewed Demonic Toys 2, stating that "While I find myself neither enjoying nor hating the return of the Demonic Toys, it was the film’s irritating, repetitive score that soured me more than anything else."[14]

Releases[]

The Demonic Toys series has been predominantly released direct-to-video with the exception of the 2004 Puppet Master vs. Demonic Toys, which premiered on the SyFy Channel in 2004 before it was released to DVD on January 17, 2006.[13][15][16][17]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Demonic Toys Jack-Attack Statue Pops Out of the Box This September". Dread Central. 2015-08-05. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  2. ^ Manoogian, Peter; Scoggins, Tracy (1991), Demonic toys, Hollywood, CA: Paramount, ISBN 978-0-7921-2230-2, OCLC 25576244, retrieved 2021-02-03
  3. ^ Goyer, David S; Kelly, Anne; Band, Charles; Manoogian, Peter; Scoggins, Tracy; Mitchum, Bentley; Cerny, Daniel; Russo, Michael; Weston, Jeff (2012), Demonic toys, Hollywood, Calif.: Full Moon Features, OCLC 886942330, retrieved 2021-02-03
  4. ^ Davies, Clive (2015-03-06). Spinegrinder: The Movies Most Critics Won't Write About. SCB Distributors. ISBN 978-1-909394-06-3.
  5. ^ "Puppet Master Full Franchise Timeline Explained (All 14 Movies)". ScreenRant. 2020-12-12. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  6. ^ a b FugueBurg (2017-09-01). "Ted Nicolaou on the Austin diaspora, Romanian vampires and TV terror visions". Video Fugue. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  7. ^ "EXCL: William Butler Talks Demonic Toys 2: Personal Demons". ComingSoon.net. 2009-11-21. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  8. ^ Vogl, Peter (2018-10-31). Das große Buch des kleinen Horrors: Eine Film-Enzyklopädie (in German). Mühlbeyer Filmbuchverlag. p. 126. ISBN 978-3-945378-52-6.
  9. ^ "FROM PIRANHA WOMEN TO BABY OOPSIE, FULL MOON FEATURES ANNOUNCES 2021 LINEUP OF NEW HORROR MOVIES". SyFy. 20 January 2021. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  10. ^ "Demonic Toys - Movie Reviews and Movie Ratings". TV Guide.com. TV Guide. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
  11. ^ Fischer, Dennis (2011-12-14). Science Fiction Film Directors, 1895-1998. McFarland. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-7864-8505-5.
  12. ^ Wheeler, Drew (September 4, 1993). "REVIEW: Marquee values -- Dollman Vs. Demonic Toys starring Tracy Scoggins and Tim Thomerson". Billboard.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ^ a b Weinberg, Scott. "Puppet Master vs. Demonic Toys". DVD Talk. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  14. ^ unclecreepy (2010-02-17). "Demonic Toys 2 (2010)". Dread Central. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  15. ^ "TV listings". The Tennessean. Newspapers.com. December 18, 2004.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. ^ "Halloween Harvest of Fear". Daily News. Newspapers.com. October 5, 1993.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. ^ "Demonic Toys 2: Personal Demons Trailer - ShockTillYouDrop.com". Archived from the original on 2012-10-08. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
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