Evil Toons (1992)

The wonderfully ridiculous plot of the film introduces us to four pretty girls who get the job of cleaning a haunted house for its new owners. The job will take all weekend, which, of course, requires them to spend the night. The girls include the pretty nerd Megan (Monique Gabrielle), the promiscuous sexpot Roxanne (former porn star Madison), blonde Jan (another porn star, Barbara Dare, here credited as "Stacey Nix"), and redhead Terry (Suzanne Ager). Over the course of the night, all four girls manage to undress for the camera, as well as read some inscriptions from an ancient, mystical book. (It looks a lot like the "Book of the Dead" from the Evil Dead movies.) This brings the cartoon beastie to life.

Meanwhile, Gideon Fisk (David Carradine), wearing a cloak and a wide-brimmed hat, lurks about, waiting until the right moment to help out (which, coincidentally, happens just at the "exciting" climax). A creepy neighbor (Arte Johnson) shows up, and the guy who hired the girls, Burt (Dick Miller), drinks a little and complains a lot. Another famed scream queen, Michelle Bauer, turns up in one scene -- and removes her top.

Ray (Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers) is delightfully aware of how much fun all this is, and every scene is played with a self-referential wink. There are even a few Scream-style in-jokes several years before Scream was ever conceived. (The girls wonder aloud why there's always thunder and lightning when spending the night in a haunted house.) In another scene, Dick Miller sits enraptured, watching Roger Corman's A Bucket of Blood on television, which stars Dick Miller. Interrupted, he switches the movie off and mutters, "Why didn't this guy ever win an Academy Award?" The film's pacing isn't quite as brisk as it could be, as Ray either tries to cram too much information into too few set-ups, or includes too many cutaways to pad the running time. But at 83 minutes, the overall package goes down easily and smoothly. And best of all, it's happy, unpretentious fun.

The DVD, from Infinity and Retromedia, comes with a lot of good stuff. There's a commentary track with Ray, a making-of featurette (mostly Ray talking to the camera), and a trailer. We get a snippet of the editor's original work print, and an excerpt from Chuck Cirino's score, plus Ray's introduction from "Night Owl Theater." The film is mastered for widescreen televisions.