Pinocchio's Revenge (1996) Rated R Starring: Lewis Van Bergen, Brittany Alyse Smith, and Rosalind Allen Rating: out of

When defense attorney Jennifer Garrick (Rosalind Allen) brings home evidence in the form of a Pinocchio marionette created by convicted killer Vincent Gotto (Lewis Van Bergen), her daughter, Zoe (Brittany Alyse Smith), thinks it's her new birthday present. Zoe becomes very attached to the doll, at the expense of her other, formerly beloved, stuffed animals. Jennifer tries to explain that Pinocchio is only visiting, but Zoe refuses to give up the marionette. Zoe's behavior becomes a little strange and, suddenly, strange things begin happening around the house.

Jennifer's live-in nanny, Sophia (Candace McKenzie), finds the puppet watching her in the shower, providing some gratuitous nudity in the process. Sophia begins to suspect something is up, but events take a turn for the worse after Pinocchio appears to strike back against Zoe's enemies at school.

The film is directed and written by Kevin Tenney, who's responsible for such gems as Witchboard and Night of the Demons. Tenney attempts a pseudo-psychological approach to the slasher film that really falls flat on its face. When one's basically dealing with a Child's Play rip-off, there's little room for the games Tenney attempts to play with the viewer on who's actually responsible for the crimes at hand.

At first, the movie seems a bit more intelligent than its subject matter would make it appear to be. Unfortunately, by the third act, the movie deteriorates into standard slasher fare with the psychological aspect merely preventing the movie from becoming too carried away, which is exactly what it needed to do to become much more interesting.

The performances are surprisingly good for this type of film. Lewis Van Bergen, who some people may recognize from The Relic, is effective as Vincent Gotto, who takes the secret of Pinocchio to his grave. Brittany Alyse Smith's Zoe manages to be somewhat entertaining without being annoying. Rosalind Allen's Jennifer Garrick is adequate at showing the range of emotion necessary when discovering your daughter's playthings may be murdering the guests.

All in all, Pinocchio's Revenge is neither horrible or very good. It's seriousness, in spite of its subject matter, and lack of B-movie corniness prevent it from being a classic bad movie, but it just doesn't have the script to be a classic horror movie. It's merely a movie that strings you along, waiting for a pay-off that never comes.

Trivia: Rosalind Allen, who plays Jennifer Garrick, is visible in Mother, with Albert Brooks, as the woman at the gas station. (Source: The Internet Movie Database)