Tom Devlin's Teddy Told Me To

Cody reviews FX artist Tom Devlin's slasher movie Teddy Told Me To.

Tom Devlin has been working in the entertainment industry for over twenty years, doing special effects work on well over a hundred different projects, from major studio productions like Daredevil, Red Dragon, and Club Dread to Full Moon classics like Killer Eye: Halloween Haunt and multiple entries in the Puppet Master franchise. He has even helped out on some adult film productions that needed FX work, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer XXX, Ten Inch Mutant Ninja Turtles, and A Wet Dream on Elm Street. Recently, Devlin opened up an art gallery called Tom Devlin’s Monster Museum – and if you own a location like that, why not use it as a filming location as well? That’s what Devlin has cleverly done, making his feature directorial debut with the slasher Teddy Told Me To, which was filmed at Tom Devlin’s Monster Museum in Boulder City, Nevada.

For the purposes of the movie, the Monster Museum is presented as being an abandoned haunted attraction called The Spook House, which has been closed down for several years. In the opening scene, a YouTuber ventures into the old building and appears to be murdered... but not even the archived live video of the YouTuber’s Spook House exploration is enough to deter young couple Danny (Topher Hansson) and Zoe (Kamarra Cole) from buying The Spook House so they can fix it up and re-open it.

A good portion of Teddy Told Me To’s 79 minute running time is dedicated to showing Danny and Zoe’s efforts to get The Spook House running again, including a sequence where they’re audition potential haunt workers, a sequence that allows for cameos from the likes of professional wrestler Papa Shango, Puppet Master’s Tunneler (sort of), and adult film star Kiki D’Aire. Along the way, we learn that writers Vincent Cusimano and Lola Devlin – who also have acting roles in the movie as people who are hired to work at The Spook House – have crafted a classic slasher movie story here. The Spook House is basically like Camp Crystal Lake in the original Friday the 13th. A place that has a tragic, violent past. It has been closed for a while, but now someone is attempting to re-open it. And that just leads to more violence and tragedy.

The slasher in Teddy Me Told Me To is (as you might have guessed) called Teddy, and he’s a madman who wears a bear mask while stalking his prey. As we learn in a campfire scene reminiscent of a popular scene in Friday the 13th Part 2, Teddy was the son of an unhappy couple – played in flashback by Trent Haaga and Sleepaway Camp’s Felissa Rose. When Teddy’s father cheated on his mother with a woman played by Tabitha Stevens – whose many XXX credits include parodies of Friday the 13th, Halloween, and Psycho – the confrontation over the infidelity turned deadly. After that, Teddy got a job working at The Spook House, scaring guests while wearing his bear mask... and when he saw his father’s mistress come through the haunt one night, he snapped. His actions that night got The Spook House closed down. And got him sent away to a mental institution.

But now, it seems that Teddy is back. When Danny and Zoe open their new haunted attraction, the bear-masked killer starts hacking and slashing his way through their employees and guests, with potential victims being played by Daisy Ducati, Drew Marvick, Eric Hart Jr., Matt Osborn, DevHorror Dark, Lily Devlin, Josh Cornell, Becky Larson, Chris Arredondo, and more. The Spook House is up and running around the midway point of the movie, and the second half is a total bloodbath, featuring decapitations, disembowelments, bludgeoning, chainsaw action (something I always appreciate), and more. Teddy Told Me To really benefits from having an FX artist at the helm, as Devlin goes wild with the gore and makes the death scenes a blast to watch.

Boasting a strong cast and a good sense of humor, this movie is a really entertaining way to spend 79 minutes. It’s a fun little slasher with some great kills, and I enjoyed seeing all of the cameos. I didn’t even mention some of the genre stars who pop up along the way, like Lisa Wilcox from A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 and 5, CJ Graham from Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI, and Warrington Gillette from Friday the 13th Part 2. If you’re a slasher fan, it’s highly recommended that you check out Teddy Told Me To – because Tom Devlin is clearly a fan of slashers himself, and with this movie he set out to make a bloody, amusing, crowd-pleasing addition to the sub-genre. This slasher fan had a good time with it, and there will definitely be more viewings of Teddy Told Me To in my future.

Devlin recently took Teddy Me Told Me To on a roadshow tour, and is now seeking a distributor that will bring the film to a wider audience.