Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker (1991)

Well, there is no attempt to forcibly include Ricky in this one. But it still only has a fleeting connection- if any- to the original trilogy. Although, it does retain some connections to the weirdness that was Silent Night, Deadly Night 4 (ie the centipede toy; and cameos from the two main actors). Likely a result of Yuzna acting as Executive Producer on this one...which has a sort of Puppetmaster vibe, with a Pinocchio twist.It also sort of turns things on their heads, as the young boy in this film has aspects of a protagonist, instead of just being another victim and/or ending up as the antagonist.At least this one explicitly takes place at Christmas, and has a Santa Claus killer, of sorts. Though, it must be noted, that there is a bizarre, awkward and hilarious twist at the end...that gives SNDN 4 a run for it's money (of which, I'm quite certain, there isn't much).This one basically tells the story of a young boy, who is left a mysterious present, which ends up being a toy that goes on to murder his father, right before his eyes.You are led to suspect the local toy store owner and his creepy son. And it is them, but with an odd sci-fi themed twist, that arises unexpectedly.Most of the film, however, is just people being attacked and killed by a variety of toys...that utilize really poor special effects (up until the end, at least...the end is pretty sweet, and likely took up the bulk of their effects budget.Weirdness aside, this one is really kind of "meh". Missable, but watchable Christmas horror fun.4.5 out of 10.

After the horrible BETTER WATCH OUT! and INITIATION, to say I had no expectations for SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 5: THE TOY MAKER is an understatement. But, surprisingly enough, the fifth entry of the Christmas-themed franchise is actually a good amount of fun.It follows child Derek, who sees his father brutally murdered by a toy that mysteriously appeared on their front porch a few nights before Christmas. For some reason, the police do nothing about it, and Derek and his mother are left alone. But presents are still appearing on their porch, people are breaking into their house, and there's an ex-military man that follows them everywhere! What's going on? Does it have anything to do with the titular toy maker (played by Mickey Rooney!)? The film drags at times, and the acting isn't even bad enough to draw that many laughs. But where THE TOY MAKER shines is its inventive death scenes, which involve a bunch of killer toys. Obviously, PUPPET MASTER, DOLLS and the like have covered this territory before, but gruesome murder-set-pieces designed by Screaming Mad George keep this from being a complete waste of time. There's killer roller skates, army men and larvae, all of which are pretty damn fun.The whole thing looks like a TV movie, a lot of it is dull as dirt and we've seen the same plot myriads of times before, but there are enough awesome moments here (including a head-scratching ending featuring robot dry-humping) to justify a recommendation for trash fanatics. At the very least, it's a better waste of your time than SNDN 3 and 4.

Young Derek Quinn (William Thorne) sees his father killed by a killer toy that someone left on their doorstep. Two weeks later, his mom has completely recovered from her husband's death but Derek is taking it hard, refusing to speak. She thinks the best way to cheer him up is take him to a toy store run by Joe Petto (Mickey Rooney) and his son Pino (Brian Bremer). But Mr. Petto has some evil up his sleeve as he just might be the one responsible for making these deadly toys. Also, some handsome stranger (Tracy Fraim, yes, he's a dude with that name) is poking around the Quinn household.Producer Brian (RE-ANIMATOR) Yuzna directed the fourth entry in this series and produced here. Both sequels tried to keep the Xmas horror theme but move away from the killer Santa angle. With the killer toy angle here, this is the HALLOWEEN III of the SNDN series and you would suspect to see Charles Band's name somewhere in the credits. Alas, he wasn't involved but I'm sure he enjoyed this though. Of course, how can you not enjoy a movie that features Mickey Rooney drunk on Jack Daniels and smashing the bottle over his son's head? There are some great FX in here from Screaming Mad George with the killer toys being Larry the Larva, a car with saw blades, a strangling Santa ball and the required Army men who fire real bullets. What no killer teddy bear? Charles Band shakes his head in shame. The acting is fine by everyone and the little kid actually gives one of the better child performances I've seen (maybe because he has no dialog?). Yuzna gets extra points for having a guy in line with his son to see Santa wearing a RE-ANIMATOR shirt and a girl on Santa's lap asking for clothes, make-up, sunglasses and a tape of BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR. Clint Howard has a small role as a shopping mall Santa.

Warped take on the Pinocchio theme, and set during the Christmas season(..after the previous entry abandoned ties to Christmas) has booby-trapped toys sent to murder a child(..yet through this, other victims are accidentally harmed in the process)perhaps by a toy maker's "son". Screaming Mad George was responsible for the killer toys(..including a larvae which enters a victim's mouth and out his eye, another where soldier toys actually shoot real bullets at a babysitter after her boyfriend was practically strangled by a severed hand toy, operating from a remote control). The little target is a mute child named Derek(William Thorne)whose stepdad was murdered by a red ball with extending arms that ensnare his face, causing him to land on a fireplace poker. Mother Sarah(Jane Higginson)worries about her son's mental state, figuring his reluctance towards opening presents or, more importantly, talking, derives from watching her husband's horrific murder. Derek's real father, Noah(Tracy Fraim)fears for his son't safety, and informs, reluctantly, his ex-girlfriend Sarah that the local toymaker, Joe Petto(Mickey Rooney)once was arrested for setting traps in toys to harm kids due to the loss of an unborn child when his wife was killed in a car crash..kind of a retaliation in saying that if he couldn't have a son, then others shouldn't either. Still quite a heavy drinker(..often seen swigging Jack), Petto seems to have set aside his feelings towards kids, but his creepy son Pino(Brian Bremer)hasn't and Derek he harbors angst towards. Why? You'll soon understand.Pretty disappointing special effects and rather goofy premise. Rooney's name adds an allure to the film, gaining it a notoriety, but his histrionics can only help so much. Attractive lead actress Higginson(Slaughterhouse)and Fraim as the man who re-enters her life aren't so bad, but the lame plot that develops is hard to take seriously. I'm guessing that's the point, but Rooney has no reason to be in such a film as this..he has no room to bring any personality to his toymaker other than rage and desperation, quite volatile, barely holding himself together as he explodes in anger towards Pino, when not downing liquor. Bremer is appropriately weird and "robotic" as Pino, longing to have Sarah as his mama. The practical effects used during the attacks on victims are rather unconvincing..Screaming Mad George's work with Savage Steve Holland was far more effective than what we see in this film. The sex everyone talks about isn't as gratuitous as many would have you believe(..I can't even recall any nudity). Probably the best of the numerous sequels greenlighted, but that's not exactly an endorsement. I'm pretty sure written on paper, this was an entertaining concept, the idea of spoofing Pinocchio using horror elements, but the result doesn't exactly blow you away.