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Remembering McFarlane’s Movie Maniacs Toy Line

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There’s a good chance that the first action figure you ever bought of your favorite horror movie icon came courtesy of Todd McFarlane and his once-mega-popular Movie Maniacs line. Long before companies like NECA, Mezco, and Sideshow Collectibles came along and gave more love to the horror genre than any other toy companies in history, McFarlane Toys was not just the dominant player in the game but, well, the ONLY player in the game.

Not to bore you with historical facts, but the basis genesis of McFarlane Toys is that the company was born out of Todd McFarlane’s dissatisfaction with Mattel. Once upon a time, McFarlane was working with Mattel to create action figures of his comic book characters like Spawn, and when that whole deal just didn’t work out for him, Todd took matters into his hands and launched a toy division of his own. That was back in the mid ’90s, and it was in the late ’90s that the Movie Maniacs line was born.

In the wake of putting his own spin on iconic movie monsters from the distant past, McFarlane began acquiring popular modern horror licenses for the Movie Maniacs line, launched in 1998. The first series, which revolutionized the toy game by bringing highly detailed action figures of beloved horror movie characters to the toy shelf for the first time, included Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, Freddy Krueger, and both Eve and Patrick from Species 2 – firmly establishing that the line was devoted exclusively to horror and science fiction villains. There were even “rated R” variants of Leatherface, Jason, and Eve; Leatherface and Jason were covered in blood, while Eve’s nipples, unlike the regular version of the toy, were on full display.

Nobody ever said these were for kids. In fact, it’s cause they weren’t that they were so awesome.

Movie Maniacs Series 2, released in 1999, added Chucky, Ghost Face, Norman Bates, Michael Myers, and Pumpkinhead to the mix, and they were joined by The Crow‘s Eric Draven. Granted, Draven isn’t exactly a “Movie Maniac,” but the second series took the line down a path that it continued on until it eventually came to an end. Essentially, any character from a horror, sci-fi, cult or fantasy film was eligible, though the primary target audience always remained us horror fans.

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In Series 3, Ash Williams, Edward Scissorhands, Shaft, Snake Plissken, Brundle Fly, and The Thing‘s Norris Creature (joined by Spider-Head) and Blair Monster were immortalized as Movie Maniacs. Series 4 brought the first and only Candyman toy into the world, along with Evil Ash, a new figure of Freddy Krueger, Terminator 2‘s T-800 and T-1000, and most notably, two different versions of the titular Blair Witch: “Tree Witch” and “Dread Witch.” Of course, the character was never actually seen in the original film, or its sequel, leading to much confusion among fans. Long story short, McFarlane was given free rein to design the unseen character.

For the fifth series, McFarlane and his team brought horror villains like Wishmaster‘s Djinn, the Tooth Fairy from Darkness Falls (open-mouthed and closed-mouth versions were released) and even Jason X‘s iteration of Jason Voorhees to the table, along with the Lord of Darkness from Legend, a few different versions of Sarah Conner, and the T-800 Endoskeleton. Series 6 was all about the Alien and Predator franchises, and it included Alien 3‘s Dog Alien and Alien: Resurrection‘s Warrior Alien, as well as Predator 2‘s standard Predator and Predator Hunter. Due to high demand, Lord of Darkness was also re-released in Series 6, and the figure this time around included a detailed collector’s base.

The Movie Maniacs line met its end in 2004, with the seventh series being its final hurrah. Corporal Hicks from Aliens made it into the line along with, finally, Robocop, but the last series was mostly devoted to the 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Leatherface, Erin, Old Monty and Sheriff Hoyt made the cut, each of them packaged with dioramas and bases.

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In addition to the standard wave of Movie Maniacs, various other collectibles were released under the umbrella. Deluxe figures of Ash, Freddy, Chucky, Michael Myers and Leatherface upgraded the movie icons to 12″ and 18″ sizes, and box sets paid tribute to movies like Freddy vs. Jason (long before the movie was actually made), Bride of Chucky, King Kong, Aliens and Jaws. There were also various exclusive figures, including Army of Darkness-inspired “Ash vs. Pit Witch” and “Ash vs. Evil Ash” two-packs.

One could argue that horror toys are better than ever in the present, and you damn sure won’t find me disputing that claim, but you never forget your first. And for most of us fans, McFarlane Toys’ Movie Maniacs line allowed us to collect our favorite monsters and madmen for the very first time. Eighteen years later, many of the villains that filled out the line have still never been given any love by other companies, and it’s for this reason that we will forever cherish what Todd and his team gifted us with back in the late ’90s and early 2000s.

Today, McFarlane Toys is focused more on The Walking Dead than anything else, but without their Movie Maniacs, who’s to say that horror toys would even be as popular as they are right now? Without Movie Maniacs, companies like NECA may not even exist.

Behind every great thing is a pioneer that made it all possible, and in the world of horror movie toys, McFarlane’s Movie Maniacs was unquestionably that pioneer.

Check out some of our favorite Movie Maniacs toys below!

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Writer in the horror community since 2008. Editor in Chief of Bloody Disgusting. Owns Eli Roth's prop corpse from Piranha 3D. Has four awesome cats. Still plays with toys.

Editorials

‘The Company of Wolves’ at 40: One of the Most Underrated Werewolf Movies Ever Made

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There’s a compelling idea in anthropology that many ancient werewolf legends are derived from our species’ need to rationalize the more animalistic side of humanity – which is why lycanthropy has historically been used to explain everything from medieval serial killers to cannibalism. While I personally think there’s a lot more to unpack when it comes to tales of wolfmen and women, this is still a great example of why so many of our most enduring fairy tales involve big bad wolves.

And in the world of film, I think there’s only one feature that really nails the folkloric origins of werewolf stories, namely Neil Jordan’s 1984 fairy-tale horror classic, The Company of Wolves. Even four decades later, there’s no other genre flick that comes close to capturing the dreamlike ambience behind this strange anthology, and that’s why I’d like to take this opportunity to look back on one of the most underrated werewolf flicks ever made.

The Company of Wolves was originally a short story contained in the 1979 anthology The Bloody Chamber, a collection of deconstructed fairy-tales intended for mature readers penned by English author Angela Carter. With the book quickly becoming a hit as readers became fascinated with its subversion of classic folk stories and (then) controversial feminist undertones, it was soon transformed into a duology of BBC radio-dramas which adapted both The Company of Wolves and Carter’s reimagining of Puss-in-Boots.

These radio-dramas soon attracted the attention of then up-and-coming Irish filmmaker Neil Jordan, who decided to meet with Carter to discuss expanding on her stories and bringing them to life on the big screen. The duo soon realized that a single short story wasn’t enough material for a feature-length film, so they decided to adapt all of Carter’s werewolf tales into a single anthology.

With a completed script and a $2.3 million budget, Jordan decided to tackle the project like a hybrid between a theatrical period drama and a schlocky monster movie. Effects-heavy creature features were a hot commodity back in the ’80s, with films like The Howling and An American Werewolf in London proving that there was an audience for horrific lycanthrope transformations, so the director soon recruited a team that could turn this odd collection of feminist folk stories into something commercially viable.

Not exactly a great pick for family movie night.

Shooting would eventually take place almost entirely within the England-based Shepperton Studios, with notable production designer Anton Furst (who would later be known for his work on Tim Burton’s Batman films) helping to bring Jordan’s vision of a darkly romantic fairy-tale world to life. Appropriately enough, production would also involve a real pack of trained wolves (as well as a collection of dyed dogs), though extensive puppetry and animatronics were also used to flesh out the more gruesome parts of the flick.

After a grueling nine-week shoot where budgetary constraints led to corners being cut on props and costumes, The Company of Wolves was finally released in September of 1984 – just in time for spooky season. In the finished film, we follow the strange dreams of a sulky teenage girl named Rosaleen (first-time actress Sarah Patterson) as the film unravels an Arabian-Nights-inspired tapestry of both familiar and not-so-familiar stories about big bad wolves.

From sexually charged cautionary tales to parables about female empowerment, this surreal collection of deranged bedtime stories is much more than the creature feature that the marketing initially suggested. Like a more horror-oriented version of Jim Henson’s Labyrinth, The Company of Wolves exudes that same kind of hormonal teenage energy that transports us back to a time when the world was both scary and exciting in equal measure.

That’s not to say that this is an entirely pleasant experience, however, and I’m not just talking about the film’s horror elements. A big portion of the flick’s overtly sexual moments involve the then 13-year-old Patterson coming to grips with her blossoming womanhood and the dangers of predatory men (usually marked with a humorous unibrow), something that naturally makes for some intentionally uncomfortable viewing – especially in the year of our lord 2024.

Obviously, I don’t think it’s my place to dissect (or even judge) the effectiveness of the film’s commentaries on being a young woman, but even as a man I can still appreciate the thought and care that went into crafting this Jungian cocktail of serious themes in a genre-movie package that almost certainly went on to inspire future werewolf movies like Ginger Snaps.

Not the worst wedding I’ve been to.

That being said, what really keeps me coming back to the film is the absurd amount of memorable imagery. From a wedding party being taken over by canines to lonely treks through snowy groves, this is exactly the gloomy world I imagined as a child when reading Grimms’ Fairy Tales – and the dreamy atmosphere is only enhanced by the movie’s overall theatricality.

This also extends to the effects, as it’s easy to forgive decapitated dummy heads and ripped rubber skin when everything is happening in a magical hyper-reality, with a great example of this is being the scene where Grandma’s head unexpectedly explodes like a porcelain doll when it’s knocked off by a wolfman. That’s not to say that the effects are bad, as several of these transformations are downright grisly and likely influenced future lycanthrope effects like those in Underworld and even Trick ‘r Treat (even if the wolf-dogs here often look more cute than scary).

Of course, these aren’t the only things that The Company of Wolves has going for it, as the main trio of Patterson, Micha Bergese and the late, great Angela Lansbury exceptionally bring these exaggerated caricatures to life and the orchestral score is an absolute delight. I also really get a kick out of that bizarre ending implying that the dangers of adult life have literally come crashing into Rosaleen’s bedroom.

The Company of Wolves may not be a perfect film, suffering from some wonky pacing and the classic anthology problem where some stories are clearly much more enjoyable than others, but I’d argue that the flick’s iconic visuals and powerful thematic throughline more than make up for any minor flaws. And while we’ve seen bigger and better werewolf films since then, when it comes to adult-oriented fairy-tales, this is one psycho-sexual journey that is still worth revisiting 40 years down the line.

The Company of Wolves

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