Evil Toons

Director - Fred Olen Ray (Beverly Hills Vamp, Scalps)

Starring - Monique Gabrielle (Deathstalker II, Chained Heat), Suzanne Ager (Shock 'Em Dead, Camp Fear), and Madison (Vampirass, Scared Stiff)

Release Date - 1992

Genre - Comedy/Horror

Tagline - "This dude is rude"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

     When I was younger, maybe around middle school age, I would rent anything from the local video store.  I was already a fan of horror literature and television shows like Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark? was already shaping me into the horror fan I am today.  I remember renting so many videos from Dewey's Video that I can't remember actually renting them but sometimes around this time I watched Evil Toons for the first time.  I did acquire the DVD but I can't recall if my first viewing was the DVD I had or one of the Fred Olen Ray movies I had already rented.  Regardless, when I saw that Makeflix had the blu of this one in stock I quickly jumped on it to upgrade it for my collection.  After watching Hauting Fear I decided to continue having a Ray marathon and revisited this one.  

     The film follows four beautiful young women who are hired to clean a home with a sorted past.  They agree and set out to clean the basement first when they uncover a strange trunk with a skull and dagger.  The decide to call it a night and return up stairs when they receive a knock at the door.  A strange man (David Carradine) gives them an old book and leaves.  Before long they open it up to see a strange creature drawn on the pages.  When they decide to call it a night they leave the book unattended and thats when the evil toon leaves the pages of the book to hunt down the gorgeous ladies one by one.

     Evil Toons has no right being as good as it is.  It was a rushed production with a haunted house story that is poorly mixed with an animated angle but it works.  It's cheap but extremely fun.  The acting in this one is far from perfect but I would be doing a great injustice if I didn't mention how fucking sexy these four ladies are.  Aside from legends like Dick Miller and Arte Johnson, the cast was clearly picked for their bodies and no on screen presence.  What they lacked in acting prowess they more than made up for by looking good on camera.  With that being said, they really do work well with the humor that was written into the film.  The story for this one is, at it's heart, a haunted house story but we get the undead David Carradine, an evil cartoon that possesses people, and Dick Miller watching Dick Miller. It's a fucking weird story but the setting, characters, and story really does come together to make a movie that is surprisingly fun.  It's a similar story to Nightmare Sisters but with an animated twist and way more humor.  With that being said, the humor in this one is not that consistent.  A good portion of the film has a serious tone but we get these random goofy moments that are funny but feels like it was added in last minute.    Finally, the film has some bloody moments but the kills we get are very underwhelming.  Plenty of blood, some fake teeth, and animated cells placed over the film and thats the extent of the effects in this one.  A little more imagination would have went a long way in the death scenes.  Overall, Evil Toons is a cheap and rushed production that somehow finds a way to be extremely fun.  I could see myself revisiting this one again soon and still enjoying it.  I highly recommend snagging the blu from makeflix.com to add to your collection.