Dollman Vs Demonic Toys: The Official Nerfed Llamas Review – The Incredible Shrinking Movie!
I have been building up to this review from the first week of my month long celebration of Full Moon Features. I started with a review of Bad Channels, a delightful sci-fi comedy about an Alien, a radio station, and miniaturized babes! Shortly thereafter I reviewed Dollman, about a cop from another planet that travels through a wormhole to our world to catch a nefarious villain, however the cop has a problem: on earth, he’s only 13 inches tall! Finally, I reviewed Demonic Toys, a flick about a Toy Warehouse that happens to be the home and prison for a demon that possesses murderous toys to bring him blood sacrifices so that he can be free! Independently, they are entertaining movies, however; by a strange twist of fate they were all put together to create the multi-franchise sequel: Dollman Vs Demonic Toys. Characters from all 3 franchises are mashed up together and alliances are made to combat the demonic forces of the toy warehouse one more time.
What is Dollman Vs Demonic Toys: Dollman Vs Demonic Toys is a multi-franchise sequel that pits characters from 3 separate movies into one. See the linked reviews above for Bad Channels, Dollman, and Demonic Toys for more information about each movie. In this sequel, Dollman seeks out one of the miniaturized women from Bad Channels in order to try and find a companion that will help him settle into life on a planet where he does not fit in. Meanwhile, Judith Grey, a police detective from Demonic Toys, has been investigating the toy warehouse again and has noticed some irregularities. When the situation becomes more than Judith can handle on her own, she recruits Dollman to help her fight the Demonic Toys. Written and directed by Charles Band (creator of Full Moon Features and most of their franchises), Dollman Vs Demonic Toys stars: Tim Thomerson (Trancers, Dollman), Tracy Scoggins (Demonic Toys, Dallas), Melissa Behr (Bad Channels, Me & Will), Phil Fondacaro (Meridian, Evil Bong), Frank Welker (Transformers, Scooby Doo), and Willie C. Carpenter (Men in Black, Hard Target).
What I Liked: Tim Thomerson, Tracy Scoggins, and Melissa Behr put in solid b-movie performances. Thomerson is right at home playing Brick Bardo again, the hard-boiled no-nonsense cop from another planet. The one liners and the ice cold demeanor are in full tilt as Bardo swaggers through each scene. Tracy Scoggins, playing the straight character to everyone else’s campy shtick, is believable as the only cop in the city that knows what is going on at the Arcadia toy warehouse. Mostly serious, she is also capable of adapting to each scene and playing mind games with characters to manipulate them to get the results that she is looking for. Melissa Behr is fun as the vain nurse turned sun tanning miniaturized gal, Ginger. Mostly there for comedic relief and because she is insanely attractive, she also proves to have good chemistry with Thomerson, making their scenes together all the more enjoyable.
The special effects, especially the scale effects, are exceptional when you consider the budget and how CGI was not an option at the time. A lot of care went into the making of over sized set items, such as kitchen utensils, radio, newspapers, and many more. The effect is believable and very effective in conveying the difference in how tiny Dollman and Ginger are in comparison to real world items and the people that they interact with.
It’s also worth mentioning that the Demonic Toys were a hoot to watch as well. Especially the motor mouthed Baby Oopsy Daisy, voiced by the legendary Frank Welker, who turns out to be quite the lecherous little baby doll. Jack Attack, Mr. Static, and Zombietoid are in the film as well, and as fiendishly evil as ever. If you are into bizarre deaths by possessed toys, than this film will have you covered.
What I Didn’t Like: The run time for Dollman Vs Demonic Toys is crazy short at 60 minutes. That’s hardly feature length, and when you consider that 20 minutes of the movie is tied up on credits or flashback footage from the previous 3 movies, there is actually only about 40 minutes of new footage to be viewed. Now, the 40 minutes that are there are wonderfully entertaining with plenty of action, one liners and evil toy violence to delight fans of the series, but it does feel as if there should be more movie with this package. When mashing up 3 movies, you would expect the sequel to be longer than the preceding films, not shorter.
Bottom Line: Dollman Vs Demonic Toys is a fun, albeit short, film that successfully marries 3 previous movies into one new super sequel. Although I wished that it would have been a solid 30 minutes longer, it still delivers the good with its meager 60 minute running time. Sight gags, screaming victims, and classic Thomerson one liners are the bread and better in Dollman Vs Demonic Toys and they alone are worth the price of admission. I recommend this film, especially if you are a fan of any of 3 movies that came before it. Dollman Vs Demonic Toys is available on Blu-Ray, DVD, and via Full Moon’s streaming service.
Check out the trailer for Dollman Vs Demonic Toys and see if this is one toy warehouse you’d like to explore again:
