Demonic Toys 2

Dir: William Butler

2010

**

Demonic Toys 2 (aka Demonic Toys 2: Personal Demons) is the direct sequel to 1992’s Demonic Toys that also features Dr. Lorca, last seen in fellow Full Moon Productions film, Hideous! (1997) – although it certainly shouldn’t be treated as a joint sequel. The classic 1993, triple film sequel/mash-up (featuring characters from Demonic Toys, Dollman and Bad Channels) should also be disregarded as there is no connection, or so we are told, more's the pity. Dr. Lorca’s appearance does make sense as far as the story goes (although I’m pretty sure he got killed in Hideous!) but personally I would have rather of seen his assistant Sheila return, if I had had the choice, and I doubt I’m not the only one. Supposedly taking place very soon after the events of the original Demonic Toys (which actually happened eighteen years previous) and Hideous! (which happened three years previous), a mysterious stranger appears to fix the Demonic Toys after they were shot to pieces in a warehouse by a grieving police officer. Unfortunately for Demonic Toy fans (who knows how many people that is?) it is only Baby Oopsie daisy and Jack Attack who appear, being the more horrific looking and less toy-like of the group, who fit in with this altogether darker version of film. The toys are handed over for a suitcase of cash by a mysterious stranger and the film begins. Dr. Lorca, who is revealed as being the mysterious stranger within just a few minutes, arrives at a Castle somewhere in Italy, with his young lover, her stepson, their driver and a very small psychic woman. Historians Caitlin and Mr. Butterfield are waiting for Lorca as representatives of the castle’s current owner who are set to give the castle away to the Italian government to open to the public, selling what contents they can. Caitlin found a devil-like ancient toy buried in the dungeons of the castle and knew of Lorca’s love of the macabre, so she invited him to have a look, hoping for a quick sale. Dr. Lorca, and Lillith, the small psychic woman, suspect that it is more than just a toy and thankfully for bad horror film fans, they are correct. This new (very very old) toy on the block, called Divoletto, looks pretty menacing but much like in all the other Demonic Toys films, bad puppetry lets it down badly. Seriously, I know these films are essentially comedies, but I’m fairly confident that the odd scare here of there would be appreciated by all. Look at Army of darkness, genuinely scary in places and raucously funny. The puppetry doesn’t have to be of Jim Henson standards either. Look at Jigsaw from the Saw franchise, is movements are very simple and all the more scary for it. I just think by 2010 – and considering they got it right with the Puppetmanster films, that Full Moon Pictures and everyone else involved would have got the Toys themselves right. The Trolls from Trolls 2 were scarier, and they were badly made puppets nailed to planks of wood. The characters were fairly poor too. Mr. Butterfield fits into an uncomfortably camp stereotype and Dr. Lorca’s lover Lauraline is tiresomely over the top and her constantly referring to him as ‘Daddy’ started to grate ever so slightly. Everyone else was a cardboard cut-out and Dr. Lorca doesn’t come across as even half as intelligent as he did in Hideous!. There is a bit of possession here, a murder there and when the group are forced to stay the night in the castle (even though it’s in a city, where there are plenty of hotels) chaos reigns. It is about as predictable as it gets and unfortunately you won’t care either way as there is absolutely nothing interesting about the characters, whether good or evil. The deaths aren’t particularly inventive either, the film is clearly hoping to cash in on the name, like the original was ever that popular in the first place. This one is for completionists and those who like their bad horror movies cooked rare. It really is just a Hideous version of Demonic Toys.