Horror finds itself in a unique place with its content. Sure, the spooky stories are enough when you’re a kid, but once you get older, the gore becomes more excessive, and the adult situations doubly so. In 1992, an independent film capitalised on the status quo, by mixing grown-up situations, blood-curdling horror, and a tonne of comedy, in Evil Toons.

A collection of college-age cohorts gets driven to an old house; they must renovate the place by Monday to receive $100 each. The house has a history, but while it sends shivers down some of their spines, the women get set in for a long weekend of work, that is work and partying. Deep into the night after the gang receive a parcel containing a mysterious tome, written in a language only one of them can even grasp; they do the logical thing and recite the text. These incantations spawn a rather animated monster, one that has a taste for flesh, and a talent for possession. Can they survive the weekend? Or will the nightmarish cartoon dog have its day?

Evil Toons certainly starts strong, with a fun animated title sequence, going directly to a sequence showing our stars arriving, immediately getting their characters across, and providing an ample number of laughs, or at least smirks. Evil Toons’ raison d’être is to provide a spooky house filled with scantily clad college students practically waiting for something terrible to happen. While clothing is somewhat optional, the film does manage to ramp up the tongue-in-cheek humour of its situation and characters. That is until the aforementioned Evil Toon enters the picture, the bloodthirsty monster, one who has a taste for young women.

A varied collection of stars from the wide spectrum of the entertainment industry makes an appearance. Bookish Megan is an interesting character played by Penthouse Playmate Monique Gabrielle, she is joined by the likes of Madison Stone and Barbara Dare as fellow victims to the Evil Toon. Dick Miller also shows up as Burt and keeping true to his track record manages to elevate anything he is in. His lecherous and cheap boss character is home for much hilarity, although his role is countered with the likes of David Carradine who manages to add a layer of mysterious energy to his character Gideon Fisk who has more than a link with the tome that the heroines receive, and desperate to try to stop it.

Risqué and raunchy, Evil Toons doesn’t hold back on what its audiences want, nor does it have any problems with the excesses that come with the territory. Miller and Carradine both manage to transcend the potential of this independent film, which is a wickedly fun homage of the genre. If you want to get straight to the point, Evil Toons lives up to its name in more ways than one.

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