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Dismissed upon release as a "porn movie without the sex," 1972's Toys Are Not for Children certainly matches that description often enough, built around shag carpet, noisy wallpaper and painted ladies. Shot on the cheap, director Stanley H. Brassloff's film isn't pretty to look at; but that ugliness is a good match for the psychological baggage carried around by its main character, Jamie, whose childhood fixation on her absent father has left her a frigid mess, unable to consummate her marriage and obsessed with the toys of her youth. As the twisted melodrama careens towards a tragic conclusion, Jamie's friendship with a prostitute pushes her naively into the same career, turning tricks for men who see her daddy issues as nothing more than a kinky turn-on. But Jamie's emotional issues run deep, and Brassloff's film isn't afraid to go where you think it shouldn't. The sexual component, however, is never overt. And Toys is obviousl...

Beating Friday the 13th 's disfigured-man-child-stalking-the-woods routine by a good three years (depending on who you ask) 1980's The Prey has all the conceits of a routine slasher. But creative team Edwin and Summer Brown, whose previous experience was confined to pornographic features, deliver something decidedly left of center. Following three couples on an overnight camping trip who stumble into the hunting grounds of a monstrous gypsy burned in a forest fire, the film pads its short running time (in the theatrical cut) with Nat Geo-style nature footage of birds, raccoons and insects. Combine that with an often improvisational feel from the cast and The Prey sets an unusually soothing tone for a movie with the tagline "It's not human....and it has an axe!" It's a sleeper in more way than one. Fans raised on the more intense pace of '80s slashers are in for a snooze. But there's something so unique and likeable about this little-known k...