HORROR DVD/BLU-RAY REVIEWS

A group of hot girls are hired to clean a house. They fight, they play, and an evil book and cartoon show up to ruin their good time.

Honestly, no need for a massive write up here. If you like boobs, bad acting, mild gore, and David Carradine, watch this. If not, skip it. Done.

Ok, ok. You need more. I get it. Well, 1990’s Evil Toons must’ve been shown on the old USA Up All Night back in the day. If not it should have. It’s that old school trash film with a mixture of cheese and tease that just isn’t made anymore. There’s no real effort to create something great here; it’s just an exercise in goofiness and hot chicks. And if you’re in the mood for it, this is highly entertaining. It’s just matter of understanding the content.

The most shocking element comes from the opening sequence, one I wasn’t prepared for as the recently departed David Carradine, dressed all in black and looking very ghost like, carries a book of the dead into a basement. He says nothing, as if the book leads him. He proceeds to a prepared hanging noose, wraps it around his neck, and does himself in. With his body hanging, the book comes alive and responds with a don’t “jump to conclusions” comment. Creepy. Of course, this wouldn’t be a big deal if the dude hadn’t just done that very thing. Minus the nakedness and the string around his junk. But point made.

Anyway, once I got pass the initial shock, the Up All Night vibe started in as four “co-eds” move into a haunted house to clean it up for the weekend. Carradine comes back from the dead to hand the girls his book of the dead, and surprise, surprise, some evil toons, horrifically drawn, show up. The toons, which there is only one of them, are cheap, and infect one girls. She turns vampire-like and starts ripping the shirts off the other girls. No great analysis needed. You like it or you don’t. I did. It was just trashy enough and early 90’s enough to hold my interest.

Video: A Widescreen presentation.

Audio: Presented with the power of 2.0 Dolby Surround.

Commentary: Enjoyable, trashy talk. Good insight into low budget filmmaking. Most interesting: Ray dealing with the Carradine's on-screen death. You can tell it bugged him. It did me too.

Making of Doc: A ten-minute feature with director Fred Olen Ray. Interesting, but I can’t help but think that the guy sounds like Ed Wood and looks a little like Dave Foley.

Nite Owl Segment: Makes me miss low rent cable and makes me hate reality TV even more. Why isn’t this type of thing on TV?

Who Framed Roger Rabbit, this ain’t. But no one is gonna watch for the quality of the work. No, no. This is strictly t and a. And a lot of it.