Puppet Master Vs Demonic Toys (2004)

	Director: Ted Nicholau
	Starring: Corey Feldman, Vanessa Angel, Danielle Keaton, Silvia Suvadova
	Run Time: 88 mins
	Certificate: 18
	Rating:

Plot
Robert Toulon and his daughter unlock the secret formula of his grandfather Andre Toulon and set about bringing his puppets to life. Unfortunately their secret is stolen by toy manufacturer Erica Sharpe, who plans to use the formula to bring to life an army of evil toys on Christmas Day.

Review
The idea of pitting two film franchises' famous monsters against each other isn't a new concept. Universal did it back in the heyday of horror with Frankenstein Vs The Wolfman and such like. The Japanese had a fetish for throwing their famous giant monsters against each other and mixed up many crossovers like King Kong Vs Godzilla. Now modern day cinema has seen the likes of Freddy Vs Jason hit the screen with the two titans of terror going at it. So when really bad second rate horror series begin to do the same thing, you know it's been a hard day at the office. Who in their right mind ever thought of the idea to make Boa Vs Python? Well I guess the same morons thought of the same treatment for Puppet Master Vs Demonic Toys, pitting scores of little monsters against each in a fight to the death.

Or at least that was the plan. I don't mind the Puppet Master series (eight films to date and not including this one). The first few were alright but then they became silly and, as budgets were cut, so did the amount of time the puppets got and the overall interest I had in them. On the other hand the relatively new Demonic Toys series has only seen two films (at time of writing), and the second of those pitted them against Dollman. Throwing them against the puppets doesn't seem fair in my book considering we hardly know the Demonic Toys. It's not like they're an established franchise and we don't really know that much about them. They haven't had time to gain a fan base like the puppets have. So those expecting a fight frenzy will be sorely disappointed. The puppets are given a little more to do as they fend off some burglars early on but that's about it until the finale. The demonic toys are given even less to do. You'd be hard pressed to remember that they are in this as well. Even when the two groups fight each other at the finale, the scene lasts a little more than five minutes and the puppets pretty much kick ass. If you're going to build up a fight like this, at least make it a fair fight! The demonic toys don't really know what hits them. I'm guessing that they cut the action between them due to budgetary constraints because all of the little monsters look almost static at times and their range of movement is 'extremely limited' to say the least. It seems that the series has gotten worse with special effects. I feel grossly cheated by the title because there is little fighting to be had at all.

When not much is going on with the puppets, it's up to the human cast to try and maintain interest. So the last thing you want to see is Corey Feldman hamming it up really badly as Toulon or at least some relative of his. He's terrible in this but I could rant about him for hours. If it's not his attempts at physical comedy, it's his grating "old man" voice or the fact that he looks exactly the same as he did twenty years ago! I suppose the guy needs a pay cheque and everyone needs to eat at the end of the day. The plot is also little more than a cheap knock-off of Halloween III: Season of the Witch, only with Christmas Day replacing Halloween.

Verdict
Puppet Master Vs Demonic Toys will only appeal to those dozen or so who have actually watched both franchises, with their tongue-in-cheek it has to be said, and who expected to see a reasonable attempt to pit them off against each other. If you're one of those people, then avoid this because otherwise you'll feel like the Sci-Fi Channel just shoved a Jack-in-the-Box up your rear end for 88 minutes.