Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker (also known simply as The Toy Maker) is a 1991 American science fiction horror film directed by Martin Kitrosser and stars Mickey Rooney, who had previously condemned the original film.[1] It is the fifth film in the Silent Night, Deadly Night film series.
| Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster | |
| Directed by | Martin Kitrosser |
| Written by | Martin Kitrosser Brian Yuzna |
| Produced by | Richard N. Gladstein Brian Yuzna |
| Starring | William Thorne Mickey Rooney Jane Higginson Tracy Fraim Brian Bremer |
| Cinematography | James Mathers |
| Edited by | Norman Buckley |
| Music by | Matthew Morse |
| Distributed by | Still Silent Films Inc. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 87 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $250,000 (est.) |
Additionally, Neith Hunter, Clint Howard and Conan Yuzna, who played Kim, Ricky and Lonnie in the previous film, make cameo appearances.
Plot
editLate one night in December, a young boy named Derek Quinn finds a Christmas present addressed to him on the porch. His father Tom opens the gift and finds a musical orb shaped like Santa Claus; he activates it, causing it to strangle him with retractable cords. As Tom struggles, he slips and falls onto a fireplace poker, his impaled body being found by his wife Sarah a few moments later.
Two weeks later, Sarah takes Derek, who has been mute since his father's death, to a toy store owned by the elderly Joe Petto, a World War II veteran, and his odd son Pino, not realizing Noah Adams, a recently-discharged Army soldier, has followed them. After Derek rejects all the toys shown to him, Derek and his mother leave, prompting Joe to angrily yell at Pino, blaming him for the store's recent failures. While running from his father, Pino bumps into Noah, who buys some toys before leaving. At his home, Noah begins taking apart the toys when he is confronted by his landlord Harold. Late paying rent, Noah gives Harold a Larry the Larvae toy in exchange for a one-day extension. While driving home, Harold is killed when Larry the Larvae crawls into his mouth and bursts out his eye.
The next day, Derek finds another gift on his porch before his mother takes him to a mall Santa (portrayed by Noah, who had taken his friend's shift) Meanwhile, Pino sneaks into their house, but when Sarah and Derek get home early (due to Noah's odd behavior), Pino flees. Sarah confronts Joe about Pino's intrusion, and later decides to let Derek open the present dropped off earlier, but Derek refuses.
Sarah is visited by her friend Kim, and Derek sneaks outside and throws the present in a garbage while they talk. However, Kim's adopted son Lonnie opens the gift and finds roller skates in it. While using the skates, Lonnie is hit by a car and left hospitalized when rockets hidden within the skates cause him to lose control. In a drunken rage, Joe begins beating Pino, accidentally killing him by knocking him down some stairs.
Noah confronts Sarah at a parking garage and is revealed to be Sarah's old boyfriend and Derek's real father, and the two reconcile. At Sarah’s house, Derek’s babysitter Meridith and her boyfriend Buck have sex when Joe has a horde of toys attack them. Sarah and Noah arrive and find a bloody Meridith, who tells them Buck is dead and that Joe has abducted Derek, taking him to the toy store. Noah tells Sarah about Joe's past, saying he was arrested years earlier for booby-trapping toys he gave to children after his pregnant wife died in a car crash.
Sarah and Noah rush to the toy store. Joe attacks Noah with a remote control plane and an acid-squirting water pistol, knocking him out. Hearing the noise, Sarah goes downstairs, finds the toys, and demasks Joe, revealing robotic components underneath his “face” before replacing it with that of Pino. Pino explains to Sarah that Joe created him to replace his dead son, but he could never live up to his father's expectation, and was continually broken and rebuilt by Joe in his drunken rages. Pino says that he wants Sarah to be his mother (sending killer toys to try to kill Derek), then sexually assaults her while frantically screaming.
Sarah manages to stab Pino in the head with a screwdriver, causing him to malfunction. Grabbing a knife Sarah dropped earlier, Pino tries to stab Derek, whom he had placed in a large sack. Noah breaks into the room and starts fighting Pino, distracting him long enough for Sarah to chop him with an axe. Barely functioning, Pino cries for Sarah before grabbing her leg, causing her to stomp his head into pieces.
As Sarah, Derek, and Noah exit, the eyes of one of Joe's partially assembled robots spark ominously.
Cast
edit- William Thorne as Derek Quinn
- Jane Higginson as Sarah Quinn
- Van Quattro as Tom Quinn
- Tracy Fraim as Noah Adams
- Neith Hunter as Kim Levitt
- Conan Yuzna as Lonnie
- Mickey Rooney as Joe Petto
- Brian Bremer as Pino Petto
- Gerry Black as Harold
- Clint Howard as Ricky
- Thornton Simmons as Other Santa
- Catherine Schreiber as Mother
- Zoe Yuzna as Brandy
- Jennifer Pusheck as Elf
- Billy Oscar as Dad
- Cathy Yuzna as Stroller #1
- Gary Schmoeller as Stroller #2
- Amy L. Taylor as Merideth
- Eric Welch as Buck
- Richard N. Gladstein as Driver Dad
- Jan Linder as Nurse
Release
editThe film was released on VHS by Live Home Video in November 1991.
The film was released on DVD December 1, 2009 by Lionsgate in a box set with Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! and Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation.
On December 13, 2022, Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker was released in a Blu-ray box set with Silent Night, Dead Night 3: Better Watch Out! and Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation through Lionsgate's Vestron Video Collector's Series.[2]
The film was also once featured in an episode of Svengoolie.
Reception
editJoBlo.com and Flickering Myth both gave the film favorable reviews,[3] with Flickering Myth stating that while the film wasn't great, "The acting is of a level you’d expect, the story has some good twists and turns and it has an ending that will stay with you for a few days after the credits roll. To be honest, it’s worth watching just to see the ending".[4] Bloody Disgusting also praised The Toy Maker, commenting that the film's bizarre scenes made it "one of the most fun horror sequels of all time, and the film is quite frankly the embodiment of everything that’s great about the fusion of horror and the most joyful holiday of them all".[5]
In contrast, Tim Brayton of Antagony & Ecstasy wrote: "Junky direct-to-video pap, and only the fact that it does, for a brief spell, involve a murderous Santa Claus gives it any sort of leg up over the other films in its series".[6]
In 2023, the film was featured in a Christmas episode of Red Letter Media’s Best of the Worst. They called the film a “schlockfest” and noted that the plot is a sendup of The Terminator, as it follows a boy whose mother’s name is Sarah as he is hunted by a villainous android and an absent father who resembles Kyle Reese.[7]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Rouner, Jef (2013-12-20). "5 Best Scenes From Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker". Houston Press. Archived from the original on 2017-10-29. Retrieved 2016-05-09.
- ^ Squires, John (October 18, 2022). "'Silent Night, Deadly Night' Collection – New Release Brings the Underrated Sequels to Blu-ray!". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on December 14, 2022.
- ^ "Face Off: Silent Night, Deadly Night 4 vs. Silent Night, Deadly Night 5 - Horror Movie News". JoBlo.com/Arrow in the Head. 23 December 2015. Retrieved 2016-05-09.
- ^ "Anti-Christmas Movies – Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker (1991)". Flickering Myth. 2013-12-20. Retrieved 2016-05-09.
- ^ "30th Anniversary Silent Night, Deadly Night Retrospective: Part 3". Dread Central. 2014-12-24. Archived from the original on 2017-09-06. Retrieved 2016-05-09.
- ^ "Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toymaker". Rotten Tomatoes. 1991-06-01. Retrieved 2016-05-09.
- ^ "Best of the Worst: Christmas Plinketto". Red Letter Media. 2023-12-20. Retrieved 2023-12-20.