94 min listen
Demonic Toys (1992) vs Small Soldiers (1998)
FromSlashers
ratings:
Length:
89 minutes
Released:
Dec 30, 2019
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
One was a direct-to-video rehash of a fledgling studio's biggest success; the other, was a multimillion dollar behemoth that should have taken the world by storm. How do they compare? This is our first "VERSUS MODE" episode, and we plan to pit more comparable movies against each other in the future. Please let us know what you think!
Demonic Toys, released 1992, was shot on a shoestring budget with handpuppets. These puppets would go on to make cameo appearances in The Dollman vs. The Demonic Toys, The Puppet Master vs. The Demonic Toys, Devil Dolls, The Haunted Dollhouse, and Evil Bong and ultimately get their own sequel 18 years later in The Demonic Toys 2: Personal Demons. The puppets were actually referenced in Krampus, with very similar toys, with the same penchant for bloodshed.
The film was written by David S. Goyer (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Dark City, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Nick Fury: Agent of Shield, Blade, Blade II, Blade Trinity, Jumper, Ghostrider Spirit of Vengeance... are you seeing a theme here?). Goyer's story involves a demon, trapped in a nether realm, trying to possess the unborn, bastard child of a recently widowed police officer.
Charles Band, head of Full Moon Films, produced this film, as he had 304 others. If you compiled all the budgets to his films, you still might not even total the budget of its competitor on this episode: Small Soldiers. His brother, Richard Band, did the music. Totally appropriate name, right?
Now Small Soldiers had a budget of $40,000,000. It was directed by the prolific Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling). Stan Winston (Terminator, Predator, Alien) designed and made the titular Small Soldiers. It had the amazing orchestration of Jerry buttfucking Goldsmith (Star Trek, Jurassic Park, Rambo). The film also spawned a toy line and multiple video games.
The film pits the Commando Elite (basically G.I. Joes) against the Gorgonites (kinda think Masters of the Universe... oh, and Frank Langella who played Skeletor plays the Gorgonite leader, Archer!). Blah blah, technobabble, the animatronic toys actually go crazy in an imperialist quest to subjugate and destroy the monster toys, upheaving a suburban town.
Sadly, this was Phil Hartman's last film. Aside from being about 30 minutes too long, this was a decent sendoff to a comedy legend. Comedy powerhouses Jay Mohr, David Cross, and Denis Leary create a great backdrop to to a mosaic of special effects and mayhem.
As we contrast the two, we discuss special effects, plot/ story, cinematography, acting, directing, music, basically everything that makes a movie not suck.
If you ever have feedback or recommendations on future episodes, please let us know at slasherspod@gmail.com. You can always find us on our social media: Instagram, Twitter, Slasher App: @slasherspod Facebook: /slasherspod Reddit: u/slasherspod https://www.youtube.com/c/slasherspodcast
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/slasherspod/support
Demonic Toys, released 1992, was shot on a shoestring budget with handpuppets. These puppets would go on to make cameo appearances in The Dollman vs. The Demonic Toys, The Puppet Master vs. The Demonic Toys, Devil Dolls, The Haunted Dollhouse, and Evil Bong and ultimately get their own sequel 18 years later in The Demonic Toys 2: Personal Demons. The puppets were actually referenced in Krampus, with very similar toys, with the same penchant for bloodshed.
The film was written by David S. Goyer (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Dark City, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Nick Fury: Agent of Shield, Blade, Blade II, Blade Trinity, Jumper, Ghostrider Spirit of Vengeance... are you seeing a theme here?). Goyer's story involves a demon, trapped in a nether realm, trying to possess the unborn, bastard child of a recently widowed police officer.
Charles Band, head of Full Moon Films, produced this film, as he had 304 others. If you compiled all the budgets to his films, you still might not even total the budget of its competitor on this episode: Small Soldiers. His brother, Richard Band, did the music. Totally appropriate name, right?
Now Small Soldiers had a budget of $40,000,000. It was directed by the prolific Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling). Stan Winston (Terminator, Predator, Alien) designed and made the titular Small Soldiers. It had the amazing orchestration of Jerry buttfucking Goldsmith (Star Trek, Jurassic Park, Rambo). The film also spawned a toy line and multiple video games.
The film pits the Commando Elite (basically G.I. Joes) against the Gorgonites (kinda think Masters of the Universe... oh, and Frank Langella who played Skeletor plays the Gorgonite leader, Archer!). Blah blah, technobabble, the animatronic toys actually go crazy in an imperialist quest to subjugate and destroy the monster toys, upheaving a suburban town.
Sadly, this was Phil Hartman's last film. Aside from being about 30 minutes too long, this was a decent sendoff to a comedy legend. Comedy powerhouses Jay Mohr, David Cross, and Denis Leary create a great backdrop to to a mosaic of special effects and mayhem.
As we contrast the two, we discuss special effects, plot/ story, cinematography, acting, directing, music, basically everything that makes a movie not suck.
If you ever have feedback or recommendations on future episodes, please let us know at slasherspod@gmail.com. You can always find us on our social media: Instagram, Twitter, Slasher App: @slasherspod Facebook: /slasherspod Reddit: u/slasherspod https://www.youtube.com/c/slasherspodcast
---
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/slasherspod/support
Released:
Dec 30, 2019
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
Mimic (1997) by Slashers