The Toy Box (3½ Stars)

This is a film that's screaming for a remake. It has so many good ideas in it, but it's let down by the poor production quality. It was made in 1970 when the technical possibilities didn't exist that we have today. The script should be reused for a big budget horror film.

Donna works for her uncle, who is the ultimate voyeur. He pays people to come to his castle for sex parties, so that he can sit and watch them. Donna's boyfriend Ralph travels all over the world to find people of different races and skin colours to take part. They are extravagant parties, with role-playing scenes such as Roman gladiatorial fights, but they always end as mass orgies.

Donna and Ralph don't usually take part in the parties, but this is a special occasion. The uncle has died, and his last wish is that for his wake there should be one last orgy around his corpse. The party begins as normal, but then strange things begin to happen. Guests are murdered and decapitated. Random men and women become possessed by an unseen force and kill their sex partners. Ralph and Donna try to escape, but the doors are locked.

I have mixed feelings about the film. The combination of sex and horror works well, but the horror scenes are let down by poor special effects. Some of the ideas can only have come from a very twisted mind, such as the possessed bed sheets which rape and kill a woman. Then there's the butcher who keeps dead women on meat hooks. He unhooks a woman so that he can have sex with her decaying corpse, but while he's in the act she comes back to life as a zombie and kills him. It's all very fascinating, but it could have been done better. The film should be remade.