| Evil Toons | |
|---|---|
Poster
| |
| Directed by | Fred Olen Ray |
| Written by | Fred Olen Ray |
| Produced by | Fred Olen Ray Victoria Till |
| Starring | David Carradine Monique Gabrielle Madison Stone Barbara Dare Dick Miller |
| Cinematography | Gary Graver |
| Edited by | Greg Shorer |
| Music by | Chuck Cirino |
Production |
American Independent Productions |
| Distributed by | Prism Entertainment Corporation |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $140,000 |
Evil Toons is a 1992 American live-action/adult animated comedy horror B movie written and directed by Fred Olen Ray.[1] The film is a light spoof of traditional haunted-house films.[2]
In the early 1930s, a man by the name of Gideon Fisk hangs himself in the basement of his suburban mansion home, seemingly to spite a possessed book made of human skin. In the present day, a quartet of beautiful female college students are hired to clean the now-vacant mansion over the weekend. Upon arrival, they clean the basement and find a strange dagger hidden in a chest. That night, the cursed spirit of Gideon delivers the book to them at his front door. The quartet then examine the book, finding it full of sketches of bizarre monsters, some engaged in depraved sex acts.
When an incantation in the book is read, one of the drawings emerges from the book and becomes a living cartoon. This thing stalks and attacks the sexually liberated Roxanne, taking on her physical form after killing her before doing the same to her arriving football player boyfriend, Biff Bullock. The demon then plans to collect the souls of everyone in the mansion so it can be freed from their imprisonment in the book, along with its fellow demons. After finding Biff's body, the remaining women call their boss, Burt, but before he can help upon his arrival, he is lured away and killed by the demon. The women eventually discover the demon, who then kills all of them except for the sexually inexperienced Megan.
Gideon returns and aids Megan in defeating the demon, stabbing it with the strange dagger. Before the demon can return to the safety of the book, Megan throws the book into the fireplace, incinerating it and erasing the demon from existence. After explaining to Megan that he needed another mortal's corporeal strength to destroy the book and end his decades-long curse, Gideon ascends to the afterlife. All of the demon's victims are revived the next morning, only remembering their encounters with it as nightmares. Mr. Hinchlow, a neighbor, stops by and brings his portable television set so that the group can watch Saturday-morning cartoons, prompting Megan to scream in terror.
The film was shot in eight days.[3] Due to the low budget of the film, combined with the high cost of animation, the animated demon is only on screen for approximately 90 seconds in the film.[4] Director Fred Olen Ray says that mainstream Hollywood executives would not finance the film, citing risk due to the premise. He was quoted saying "Even Roger Corman turned us down" and "He said it was too risky... so we did it ourselves."[5]
The film has subtle connections to the universe of H.P. Lovecraft. Roxanne mentions Miskatonic University and the book which summons the demon into the mortal world resembles the Necronomicon.
On May 4, 2010, Infinity Entertainment Group released the 20th Anniversary Edition on DVD.[6]
The film has received a number of negative reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reports a score of 29% based on 7 reviews, with an average rating of 3.29/10.[7] Critics were negative about the acting in the film, the dialogue, as well as the animation quality in addition to how sparsely it appears in the film.[4]
The 2000 book horror movie encyclopedia Creature Feature gave the movie two out of 5 stars, stating that it was a sorry excuse for a movie, wasting the talents of Carradine and Miller.[8]
