''Evil Toons'' is a 1992 American live-action/adult animated

comedy horror Comedy horror (also called horror comedy) is a literary, television and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as having three types: "black comedy, parody and spoof." Comedy horror can a ...

B movie A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second ...

written and directed by

Fred Olen Ray Fred Olen Ray (born September 10, 1954) is an American film producer, director and screenwriter of more than 200 low- to medium-quality feature films in many genres, including Horror film, horror, science fiction, action film, action/adventure f ...

. The film is a light spoof of traditional haunted-house films.

Plot

In the early 1930s, a man by the name of Gideon Fisk hangs himself in the basement of his suburban mansion home, seemingly to spite a possessed book made of human skin. In the present day, a quartet of beautiful female college students are hired to clean the now-vacant mansion over the weekend. Upon arrival, they clean the basement and find a strange dagger hidden in a chest. That night, the cursed spirit of Gideon delivers the book to them at his front door. The quartet then examine the book, finding it full of sketches of bizarre

monster A monster is a type of imaginary or fictional creature found in literature, folklore, mythology, fiction and religion. They are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive, with a strange or grotesque appearance that causes Anxiety, terror ...

s, some engaged in depraved sex acts. When an incantation in the book is read, one of the drawings emerges from the book and becomes a living

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...

. This thing stalks and attacks the sexually liberated Roxanne, taking on her physical form after killing her before doing the same to her arriving football player boyfriend, Biff Bullock. The demon then plans to collect the souls of everyone in the mansion so it can be freed from their imprisonment in the book, along with its fellow demons. After finding Biff's body, the remaining women call their boss, Burt, but before he can help upon his arrival, he is lured away and killed by the demon. The women eventually discover the demon, who then kills all of them except for the sexually inexperienced Megan. Gideon returns and aids Megan in defeating the demon, stabbing it with the strange dagger. Before the demon can return to the safety of the book, Megan throws the book into the fireplace, incinerating it and erasing the demon from existence. After explaining to Megan that he needed another mortal's corporeal strength to destroy the book and end his decades-long curse, Gideon ascends to the afterlife. All of the demon's victims are revived the next morning, only remembering their encounters with it as nightmares and Megan screams in terror when Mr. Hinchlow, a neighbor, comes over with his portable television set so that the group can watch

Saturday-morning cartoon "Saturday-morning cartoon" is a colloquial term for the original animated series and live-action programming that was typically scheduled on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the United States on the "Big Three" television networks. The genre was a ...

s, where she sees the demon on the screen promising her that he will get her in the movie sequel.

Cast

David Carradine David Carradine ( ; born John Arthur Carradine Jr.; December 8, 1936 – June 3, 2009) was an American actor, director, and producer, whose career included over 200 major and minor roles in film, television and on stage. He was widely known ...

as Gideon Fisk * Monique Gabrielle as Megan * Madison Stone as Roxanne * Barbara Dare (credited as Stacey Nix) as Jan *

Arte Johnson Arthur Stanton Eric Johnson (January 20, 1929 – July 3, 2019) was an American actor and comedian who was best known for his work as a regular on television's ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In''. Biography Early life Johnson was born January 20, 19 ...

as Mr. Hinchlow *

Dick Miller Richard Miller (December 25, 1928 – January 30, 2019) was an American character actor who appeared in more than 180 films, including many produced by Roger Corman. He later appeared in the films of directors who began their careers with Corm ...

as Burt * Suzanne Ager as Terry * Don Dowe as Biff Bullock * Michelle Bauer as Burt's Wife *

as The Voice of The Animated Demon

Production

The film was shot in eight days. Due to the low budget of the film, combined with the high cost of animation, the animated demon is only on screen for approximately 90 seconds in the film. Director Fred Olen Ray says that mainstream Hollywood executives would not finance the film, citing risk due to the premise. He was quoted saying "Even

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (April 5, 1926 – May 9, 2024) was an American film director, producer, and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he w ...

turned us down" and "He said it was too risky... so we did it ourselves." The film has subtle connections to the universe of H.P. Lovecraft. Roxanne mentions

Miskatonic University Arkham () is a fictional city situated in Massachusetts, United States. An integral part of the Lovecraft Country setting created by H. P. Lovecraft, Arkham is featured in many of his stories and those of other Cthulhu Mythos writers. Arkham ...

and the book which summons the demon into the mortal world resembles the Necronomicon.

Release

On May 4, 2010, Infinity Entertainment Group released the 20th Anniversary Edition on DVD.

Reception

The film has received a number of negative reviews.

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reports a score of 29% based on 7 reviews, with an average rating of 3.29/10. Critics were negative about the acting in the film, the dialogue, as well as the animation quality in addition to how sparsely it appears in the film. The 2000 book horror movie encyclopedia ''Creature Feature'' gave the movie two out of 5 stars, stating that it was a sorry excuse for a movie, wasting the talents of Carradine and Miller.Stanley, J. (2000) Creature Feature: 3rd Edition

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Evil Toons 1992 animated films 1992 comedy horror films 1992 LGBTQ-related films 1992 films 1990s monster movies 1990s ghost films American comedy horror films American fantasy films American films with live action and animation American LGBTQ-related films American satirical films 1990s English-language films Erotic fantasy films Films directed by Fred Olen Ray American independent films Lesbian-related films LGBTQ-related comedy horror films LGBTQ-related animated films American sex comedy films American monster movies American sexploitation films American supernatural horror films Supernatural comedy films Supernatural fantasy films American erotic horror films 1990s American animated films 1990s sex comedy films 1991 films Films set in country houses 1991 science fiction films English-language comedy horror films English-language science fiction horror films English-language sex comedy films