Evil Toons (1992)
Evil Toons opens as a four-woman cleaning crew is dropped off at suburban home for a weekend-long deep cleaning engagement. The house was the site of multiple murders and is rumored to be haunted, but the women don’t mind staying there alone and unarmed because I don’t know why. Should you have any doubts as to what kind of cleaning crew this is, the four actresses are former adult film star and December 1982 Penthouse Pet of the Month Monique Gabrielle, AVN Hall of Fame member Madison Stone, fellow AVN Hall of Fame member and former Essex and Vivid film star Barbara Dare (billed here as Stacey Nix), and Suzanne Ager, whose single line biography reads “ex-girlfriend of director Fred Olen Ray.”
Shortly after the crew settles in (fighting the urge to immediately change into lingerie), a strange old man (played by strange old man David Carradine) drops off a copy of the Necronomicon. Later that evening (after one of the girls shows the others her sweet strip tease moves, as women often do), one of the ladies decides to read aloud from the ancient book (never a good idea) and ends up summoning a demon right out of the book. The demon turns out to be a cartoon wolf that seems too comical to be deadly, but that turns out not to be the case. And when I say “cartoon,” I’m being literal — this is a two-dimensional, hand drawn cartoon wolf. The wolf has his way with one of the women before killing and possessing her, who in turn attempts to kill all of the other girls, because that’s just what adult film stars who have been possessed by Satanic cartoon wolves do.
The cast (rounded out by Arte Johnson and Dick Miller) never take the material too seriously, and neither should viewers. The actors frequently call out horror movie tropes and make self-aware jokes to the audience. Aside from less than 30 seconds worth of hand-drawn animation, the film’s most expensive prop was a pair of plastic fangs (I’m guessing the ladies brought their own wardrobe). Parts of the film made me uncomfortable (the animated wolf is a little rapey, and David Carradine hanging himself was a bit on the nose), but for the most part this is horror comedy by adults for adults.
Directed by Fred Olen Ray, the man who brought you Beverly Hills Vamp, Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, Bad Girls from Mars, and Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfold.
Tags: halloween2020, horror