It's easy to see a movie set as a giant toybox, from which the director picks out what he or she needs for their elaborate game. Therefore it stands to reason, like an action figure on a diorama, that toys form an interesting and creative part of modern cinema, as essential a prop or plot device as Indiana Jones' whip or American Pie's... pie. Over the decades toys have been used to delight and frighten audiences, from the main attraction in a family feature to the cruel addition to a gut-wrenching horror. People feel good around toys - they are part of our earliest memories, and can be utilized in a comforting or disturbing fashion as a result. With a bit of wit and imagination - Toy Story, or The Lego Movie for example - they're the stars of the show. Get it wrong however and you leave a nasty taste in the mouth of savvy multiplexers - Masters Of The Universe and Dunegons & Dragons being a case in point. Let's open the brightly-coloured box and see what it has in store for us today...
I am a journalist and comedian who enjoys American movies of the 70s, Amicus horror compendiums, Doctor Who, Twin Peaks, Naomi Watts and sitting down. My short fiction has been published as part of the Iris Wildthyme range from Obverse Books.
