Demonic Toys (1992) Review

“I can walk, I can talk, I can even shit my pants. Can you shit your pants?”

  Back in the day, Friday nights were my favorite. I either went to the cinema to see a new movie or my father and I stopped at the local video rental shop. This was before the take off of Internet and cellular phones were as big as a suitcase. Remember beepers anyone? So if you wanted to rent a good movie (that you haven’t seen before) you either had to ask the workers at the shop who were most likely movie enthusiasts or you simply went off by the cover art. This is how I found Charles Band’s Empire Pictures and Full Moon films. B-movies with fantastic covers for the most part. There were the Puppet Master films, Trancers, Subspecies, and Demonic Toys. The cover alone for Demonic Toys made me love the film. 

    I love films where toys or inanimate objects come to life and begin killing every person they come in contact with. The person who probably loves killer toys more than me is Charles Band. He’s reutilized the idea of killer inanimate objects over and over for his films. There’s Dolls (1987), Puppet Master (1989-now), Demonic Toys (1992), Ragdoll (1999), Blood Dolls (1999), Doll Graveyard (2005), and so many more films. You have to respect the man for that. He really wanted to make “killer toys” a sub-genre for horror. He succeeded I’d like to think.

   Demonic Toys is a rip-off of Band’s Dolls and Puppet Master with a mix of Child’s Play. The film is exactly what you’d think it would be like. A sting operation goes terribly wrong. A group of people get locked in a warehouse and this leads to a sixty-six year old demon bringing toys to life to do his bidding. The demon is looking for a new body to take a physical form on earth. Fortunately for him, the policewoman is pregnant. The toys start taking out everyone in the group one by one. It’s a pretty typical Full Moon Features film.

   There’s a killer stuffed bear, a robot that shoots lasers, a crazy looking Jack-in-the-box that loves to bite, and my favorite Baby Oopsy Daisy the foul mouthed doll that loves to go stabby stab. They don’t get as much screen time in the film as I would have liked. I was shocked how good the gore was. The effects are quite good considering it’s a Full Moon Features film, which means thirty dollars for the production and a Full Moon shirt for the people involved in the film.

   Charles Band is credited with the “original idea” for the film, but the script was written by none other than the man who has us nerds split, we either hate him or love him, yep you guessed it David S. Goyer. He’s credited for the Dark Knight trilogy, Blade trilogy, Man of Steel, Jumper, and the worst entry of the Terminator franchise Terminator: Dark Fate. He’s even directed the worst entry in the Blade trilogy. He’s been involved with television, comics, and video games. It’s nice to see him start with a Full Moon Features film.

    Demonic Toys is a fun film and in a way it’s sort of self-aware. It has a lot of campy charm. It’s one of those hidden gems I’m glad I got to enjoy when I was younger, now if you’re lucky it’s one of those hidden gems that you’d find in the bargain bins. The film definitely isn’t for everyone. It’s the type of film you’d watch with buddies while you eat some extremely cheesy pizza. A good time if you shut off your brain for a bit.

3 out of 5

Nostalgic factor 5 out of 5