Thursday, October 24, 2013

Dollman vs. Demonic Toys (1993)

Director: Charles Band

Writers: Charles Band, Craig Hamann

Composers: Richard Band, Anthony Riparetti

Starring: Tim Thomerson, Tracy Scoggins, Melissa Behr, Phil Fondacaro, R.C. Bates, Willie C. Carpenter, Peter Chen, Frank Welker, Tim Domberg, David Greathouse, 'Evil' Ted Smith, Paul Salamoff, Phil Brock

More info: IMDb

Tagline: All is not well in Toyland.

Plot: The Demonic Toys are back, so policewoman Judith Grey seeks the help of 12 inch tall Dollman and his 12 inch tall girlfriend, Nurse Ginger. The Toys hole up in an evil deserted toy factory and it's up to Dollman to keep the Toys from summoning the powers of darkness to the Earth.



My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? Maybe.

You don't need to have seen any previous movie in the DOLLMAN or DEMONIC TOYS franchises to see this 60 minute movie as we are given the back stories of Brick 'Dollman' Bardo (Thomerson), the Toys and Nurse Ginger (Behr), whose character turned up in BAD CHANNELS (1992), one I haven't seen yet.  It's kind of neat how they brought three different movies together in a cross-over film.  DEMONIC TOYS had it's issues but what makes this one slightly better is the inclusion of Bardo and Ginger.  Thomerson is always a hoot to watch.  I love his style and delivery.  After blasting a certain toy, he says, "Pop goes the weasel." and it's hilarious.



Behr is fun as his Dollman-sized new-found friend (and yes, they get it on...wouldn't you?).  Because of her I've added BAD CHANNELS to my watch list. The problem this film has like the others is the pacing.  Scenes could be tighter, sometimes there are too many beats between dialogue exchanges and the synth score gets old and bland.  There's no stop motion animation in this one, just hand-controlled toys.  Sometimes it's fun but there's enough staleness to slow it down.  I'm a huge fan of Thomerson so if I do watch this again it's entirely because of him.

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