Evil Toons
Poster
Directed byFred Olen Ray
Written byFred Olen Ray
Produced byFred Olen Ray
Victoria Till
StarringDavid Carradine
Monique Gabrielle
Madison Stone
Stacey Nix
Dick Miller
CinematographyGary Graver
Edited byGreg Shorer
Music byChuck Cirino
Production
companies
American Independent Productions
Curb/Esquire Films
Distributed byPrism Entertainment Corporation
Release dates
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
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]

Plot

In the past, Gideon Fisk hangs himself in the basement of a mansion, seemingly to spite a possessed book made of human skin. The film then moves to the present day where a quartet of young women are hired to clean the now old, decaying mansion over a weekend. Upon arrival, they clean the basement and find a strange dagger hidden in a chest. That night, the ghost of Gideon delivers the cursed book to their door. The four examine the book, finding it full of sketches of bizarre monsters 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. The cartoon mutt stalks and attacks the sexually liberated Roxanne, taking on her physical form after killing her. Roxanne's football player boyfriend arrives and is killed by the monster. The demon plans to damn the souls of everyone in the house to hell so they can bring back their other monster friends from the book prison. After finding Biff's body, the other three women call their boss, Burt (Dick Miller). Burt arrives, but before he can help he is lured away by Roxanne. She seduces then kills him. The monster goes on to kill two more women, leaving only the sexually inexperienced Megan alive.

The ghost of Gideon returns and aids Megan in defeating the monster, stabbing it with the strange dagger. Before the monster can return to the safety of the book, Megan throws the book into the fireplace, incinerating it and erasing the monster from existence. Gideon explains that he needed Megan's corporeal strength to help him kill the demon and ascends to the afterlife. All of the monster's victims are revived the next morning, remembering only a bad dream. Mr. Hinchlow, a neighbor, stops by and brings his portable television set so that the young people can watch Saturday-morning cartoons, leaving Megan screaming in terror.

Cast

Production

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 cartoons into the world resembles the Necronomicon.

Release

On May 4, 2010, Infinity Entertainment Group released the 20th Anniversary Edition on DVD.[6]

Reception

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]

References

  1. ↑ "Evil Toons DVD Review Kritik | GruselSeite.com". Archived from the original on 2010-10-17. Retrieved 2010-05-27.
  2. ↑ Barton, Steve (2012-09-24). "New Trailer and Full Synopsis for BBC America's Bedlam Season 2". Dread Central. Retrieved 2022-10-29.
  3. ↑ Topel, Fred (27 October 2014). "After Midnight: Fred Olen Ray on Strip Clubs & Chainsaw Hookers". Crave Online. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  4. 1 2 McInally, Mike (January 17, 1992). "Video Report: A Weekly Look at what's New on Tape". The Missoulian. Missoula, Montana.
  5. ↑ Liebenson, Donald (January 28, 1992). "Buried Pleasures". Chicago Tribune.
  6. ↑ "Evil Toons - 20th Anniversary Edition". Amazon. Archived from the original on 2017-03-05. Retrieved 2017-03-04.
  7. ↑ Evil Toons at Rotten Tomatoes
  8. ↑ Stanley, J. (2000) Creature Feature: 3rd Edition
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