DEVIL'S JUNCTION: HANDY DANDY'S REVENGE (Film Review)

                             Starring: Bill Moseley, Bill Oberst Jr, Danni Spring

                                             Directed by: Jeff Broadstreet

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   I'm completely down for a killer doll film at any time - some of those little bastards can absolutely chill your soul to its ever-loving black core...then there are movies such as Devil's Junction which take the possession aspect to a whole new level. Now whether or not this "level" that I speak of is one of pure absurdity lies in the eyes of the viewer - I know what I thought of it, and I'm fairly sure that the masses who spend 90 minutes to watch this one will feel the same, so let's hop into the review, shall we?

  The film centers around an abandoned TV studio, which formerly was the home of the "Mr. Jolly and Handy-Dandy Show"- you see, Mr. Jolly (played by the exceptional Bill Oberst Jr) was not only the face of the kids' spectacle, but he was also a despicable child-killer as well - talk about multitalented! Anyhoo, after Mr. Jolly ended his cycle of life here on Planet Earth the studio closed its doors, but something managed to stay behind...and not for the sake of entertainment (cue ominous music). Flash-forward to present day and the studio has been snatched up by Steffan's (Jake Red) dad (Moseley), and his plan is to turn it into a series of condominiums - all Steffan has to do is have his close pals invest in HIS opportunity - that of a potential nightclub. How will he achieve such a feat, you ask? Well, once he sneaks them in at night, he can begin his sales-pitch - what could go wrong? How about a homicidal cluster of knee-high marionettes ready to slay all in the name of their former leader? Sounds good, huh? Well, hold onto your assessment until the movie has come to a complete stop.

  Bolstered by an assortment of stereotypical victims ready to be dispatched with pint-sized aggression, the film spirals into a dizzying array of gore and nudity, and not to say that the combination isn't a welcome one to the genre, it is overused and comes off as a bit lazy when involving direction. There's an extremely flaky subplot consisting of evil Masonic practices that just convolutes the storyline, and the lines of cohesive conveyance of the plot get muddled and it wasn't long before I was screaming for more skin and slashings. Moseley and Oberst are ALWAYS well-respected in this genre and their work speaks for itself, yet the two had an odd interaction in the film and their chemistry came off as farcical at best - sad to say but talent like this should have had better dialogue written for them. When the credits rolled I looked at the positives like this: decent kills, a few minor scares, and the fact that the film had the two Bills on display - my negatives were a completely preposterous plot, not nearly enough of the sadistic kills that I craves, and the notion that the two Bills' performances seemed hampered by lackluster script deficiencies.

  It all adds up to looking at Devil's Junction like this: while the premise seemed to come to life like a possessed dummy, the actual product remained lifeless and hollow - worth a watch only if reruns of the "Howdy Doody Show" aren't readily available...now that creeped the crap out of me. The film will be shown in a limited L.A. theatrical run on 10/18 & 10/19, then shuffling off to a DVD and On-Demand release on 11/5.

RATING: 2 out of 5