Evil Toons DVD REVIEW

[Paul0889]

I had first accidentally stumbled upon this movie several years ago late one night on Showtime. Within an instant, I fell in love with it's atrocious acting, crappy dialogue, and sleazy nudity. EVIL TOONS is truly, as far as I'm concerned, a modern classic in cult/trash cinema. Thus, it seemed only appropriate to own this title on DVD.


IMAGE 2.5/5
The transfer is presented non-anamorphic at 1.85:1 and is rather disappointing. Given the fact that the budget was very low, there is moderate grain throughout the film and it is very soft. There are tons on speckles and scratches that pop up a lot and some heavy edge enhancement. The whole image itself is somewhat a little too dark and their is some noise throughout. Black levels and colors are still a little pale, but are a bit more refined than the old laserdisc. Finally, comparing stills with identical ones in Dave's LD review, it's apparent that this is a full screen transfer that is matted to widescreen. We lose a great deal of information on the top and bottom of the screen.

AUDIO 2.5/5
I don't mean to be so harsh but the audio hear is also pretty disappointing. It's presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 and throughout the entire film there is a hissing sound and also a few pops from time to time. The dialogue is a little to low and has to be turned up if you want to hear it clearly.

EXTRAS 3/5
Here we get the film's trailer, along with two other films, a documentary on the making of the film with one funny outtake, a still slideshow, and Nite Owl Theater which is a little short on Fred Olen Ray.

[wizzer]

that sucks about the matted fullscreen. i've been looking forward to watching this movie scince i read daves review and i didn't even know there was a dvd for this. i got excited but now i'm not. thanks for the info

[Paul0889]

yea the image is a little better than the LD but not that much. Also, i don't think the dvd is avaliable anymore to buy. I got this 3 years ago and just watched it recently.

What about the movie, itself? I know it is meant to be watched for the sleaze factor... but still - is it work like $20 to buy? It is still available to buy in Best Buy and Borders where I live, but I have been skeptical about the movie's worth

Personally, I couldn't stand the movie. I Pictured little monster cartoons running around killing people, but it was only one "toon" and it was in the movie for about 30 seconds.

[Paul0889]

i got it off best buy about 3 years ago. it still might be avaliable if you check around

[Katatonia]

I bought it a long time ago when it first came out on DVD. The good thing is that it's uncut and unrated, which was never seen before the DVD release. It is now out of print, but you can still order it from Retromedia who released it: http://www.retromedia.org/retroshop/

A lot of movies are presented "matted" however. That was the way many were shown in theaters originally. The later video and laserdisc releases were mostly "open matte" and that part of the picture wasn't meant to be seen. This goes for The Hills Have Eyes, Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original), Back To The Future, The Prowler, Shock Waves, Scanners, Stage Fright, etc...

If you look closely at many films shown in Full-Frame you can see a "boom mic" sometimes or other props that were supposed to be matted out of the frame.

i always loved this silly little film, being a huge fan of the pornstar Madison who stars in this movie certainly doesnt hurt. sometimes it can still be found on the best buy shelves for about 7.99, about 10 bucks less than what i originally paid for it.

[Shannafey]

If someone has something I want, I'll trade them my copy of it.

[wizzer]

i guess i wouldn't mind a properly matted image. i was thinking in my head that the LD was widescreen and the dvd was a pan and scan version of that that had then been matted. that would suck. bit if it's oar was 1.33:1 and then it was matted for showing and the LD is the original aspect ratio with the bars removed, then thats o.k.

[Paul0889]

if anyone wants me to post a couple screenshots of the dvd, just let me know and i'll do so

Please do.

Even I hated this movie. And everyone knows I like the leprechaun.

[Paul0889]

[Paul0889]