While not as popular as the Puppet Master series, Demonic Toys still proved to be a Full Moon hit. After the crossover, Dollman vs. Demonic Toys, the SciFi Channel released a loosely connected sequel, Puppet Master vs. Demonic Toys. In 2010, nearly 20 years after the original, Full Moon released Demonic Toys 2, written and directed by William Butler. However, it wouldn’t be until a decade later that the series got a soft reboot with a spin-off. In 2021, William Butler directed Baby Oopsie, which focused on the evil baby doll from the original movie. Initially released in parts as a mini-series, the film proved popular enough that two sequels were released the following year. During a Full Moon Universe video, Charles Band announced another spin-off focusing on the evil Jack-In-The-Box toy, Jack-Attack. Now comes the latest chapter in the killer puppet series, Demonic Toys: Jack-Attack!
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Synopsis
After witnessing the death of her foster mother, young Lily (Sofia Castellanos) is staying at an orphanage. CPS agent Audrey Haines (Mabel Thomas) informs the director, Mrs. Culver (Donna Steele), that Lily will be moving out. Despite Mrs. Culver’s warning about Lily’s arrested development, Audrey takes her to live with the Yost family. Tyler (Sean Ramey) and his wife Kate (Christine Brunner) welcome the mute Lily into their home with open arms. Lily soon meets her new siblings, Mike (Carson Polish) and Dewey (Taylor Abigail Rice), who’s a would-be influencer. Despite the warm welcome, Lily is still traumatized and keeps seeing images of an evil clown with a Jack-in-the-box. Unfortunately, the toy of her nightmares ends up at her new home, releasing the demonic toy, Jack Attack. As Audrey rushes to save her, Lily must learn to confront her fears and survive against the tiny terror.
Review
Admittedly, I didn’t know what to expect when I started playing the screener copy of Demonic Toys: Jack-Attack I received. Aside from the original film and the first crossover, I had yet to see the sequel or the Baby Oopsie spin-off. Unfortunately, this movie references the events of that film quite a bit, so you need to see it to understand. Considering the quality of most modern Full Moon movies, I was genuinely surprised at how much I liked this one. The cast performs well, with Sofia Castellanos and Mabel Thomas being the standouts. Admittedly, Taylor Abigail Rice is pretty annoying, but it feels like that’s how her character was written. Also, the film has some decent gore effects, and a few of the death scenes are surprisingly gruesome. Plus, at only an hour long, the movie goes by fast and never feels bogged down with unnecessary padding.
Sadly, the movie still has some of the same issues as most modern Full Moon films. For one, the overuse of stock music, stock footage, stock sound effects, and fake websites is distracting. Tonally, the movie feels like a Hallmark Channel original drama that has weird horror moments thrown in. This might be more of a technical problem, but there are some odd audio issues with balancing and echo. It doesn’t help that there is some obvious ADR added in post-production. While Jack Attack’s design looks close to how he initially looked, I’m not too fond of his new high-pitched laugh. Also, while I praised the practical effects, some noticeable CGI is sprinkled in. To give William Butler credit, there is some decent camera work and a good use of light and shadow. Overall, Demonic Toys: Jack-Attack has its issues, but it’s a decently entertaining killer doll movie.
Special thanks to Full Moon Features for providing me with an early screener copy for review. Be sure to check out Demonic Toys: Jack-Attack when it premieres on streaming starting September 1st!
