American Independent Productions, 1992

starring: David Carradine, Monique Gabrielle, Barbara Dare, Madison Stone and Suzanne Anger

directed by: Fred Olen Ray

the plot: Four co-eds (Gabrielle, Dare, Stone and Anger) get dropped off at a creepy L.A. mansion with an assignment to clean the place up for the new owners, who will be moving in soon. What they don’t know is that occupants routinely disappear from the place and, at one time, a demonic presence did battle with crusty old Gideon Fisk (Carradine) for possession of an evil book. It comes as no surprise that the girls unwittingly release the evil spirit from the book and all hell breaks loose in the house. A cartoon wolf, the manifestation of the evil spirit, terrorizes and possesses a couple of the girls.

why it’s good: Director Fred Olen Ray is the living embodiment of this very column. His entire career is a celebration of sleaze, and “Evil Toons” was probably the absolute zenith of his efforts. If you’re reading this, then you come here to find out about some quality cheese to keep you entertained on a late night, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a cheesier, more sleazy flick than “Evil Toons.” The four female stars of the flick were cast for their obvious assets, and acting chops clearly never entered the equation (as a matter of fact, Stone and Dare were both porn stars at the time). This more or less follows suit with Ray’s movies. It’s a jiggle fest that uses near plagiarism from “The Evil Dead,” and the special effects, what few there are, are laughable. The 2-D animated evil wolf was a centerpiece of the film’s marketing. It’s as terrible as you might expect, in the best way possible, placing its setting in a world where all women hang out together in their lingerie in a casually Sapphic atmosphere.

why you should own it: “Evil Toons” is an artifact of a simpler time in the direct-to-video movie market. It’s an absolute must for cheesy movie fans and people who really ought to know better. The DVD is available from Retromedia, who make a habit out of releasing these old USA “Up All Night” favorites. The disc itself doesn’t offer much beyond the movie, but this is the sort of flick that fans of that old Rhonda Shear institution are going to love, with a particularly zany brand of madness that clearly communicates the idea that every scene is a cheap excuse for nudity. This is the sort of disc that people will ask about when they stumble across it in your collection, and you’ll reply with, “Yeah, ‘Exterminators of the Year 3000’ is pretty good, but have you ever seen THIS?”