Teddiscare (2024)

Teddiscare Review

On the radio, Teddiscare begins with a news report of a worker falling into machinery at a toy factory and parts of his body being stuffed into hundreds of teddy bears. Meanwhile, a farmer is looking for the bear that killed all her chickens.

In town, Duncan hurries to the hospital to see his dying father. He shuffles off this mortal coil, but not before making him promise never to go back to the playground in the woods of his youth. Daddy did something there he’ll have to answer for on the other side and now it’s not safe there.

Of course, the old man is barely in the ground than Duncan does just that. But as he’s picking up stuffed animals he left behind as a child and talking like he’s 8 years old again, something hiding in the forest is watching him.

Mark Polonia wrote and directed “Teddiscare” (Jurassic Shark 3: Seavenge, Splatter Beach), so you know there are lots of shots of woods and shots from between them and shots from overhanging branches while poor Mr. Trenton (Michael Korotitsch) gets attacked while Duncan is talking to lawyer Mr. Mallory (Jeff Kirkendall), who has his own interest in the woods.

Most disturbing might be scenes of a grown man acting like an 8-year-old boy with stuffed animals. Taking them for rides in a wagon. “Roasting” marshmallows for them to eat, etc. Unfortunately they stage one of these when we know Duncan couldn’t have done it instead of leaving open that maybe his madness isn’t exactly harmless.

Speaking of which, Teddiscare’s killer bear obviously an actor inside some sort of mascot costume borrowed from some local sports team looks more like a stuffed bear come to life than the guy in mask and overalls from “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” and its sequel. The effects are mostly digital blood and a less-than-convincing headless body.

Teddiscare is more talk than walk. It has been a little while since Mark Polonia put out something I liked, so for what it’s worth, this is one of the better things he’s done recently. Duncan and his stuffed friends have some genuinely creepy moments and there aren’t many scenes in which the filmmakers’ reach exceeds their grasp, as they say.

Overall, I would not recommend watching this with fans of “mainstream” movies I thought it was much better than either of the two films in my “Poohniverse” series but those who know what they’re getting into should be satisfied. It’s not one of Polonia’s best, but it’s certainly far from his worst.

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