People Toys

On a snowy mountain pass in Lake Arrowhead, California, a van transporting children from a psychiatric hospital crashes, apparently killing most of its passengers, aside from a young nun, Sister Hannah, and four of the children: Susan, Moe, David, and Brian. The children and Sister Hannah travel on foot, seeking shelter. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Julie and her boyfriend Rick embark to Lake Arrowhead to visit her father, Doc, a real estate tycoon, at his lakeside chalet.

Julie and Rick arrive at the chalet, along with Doc's conniving business associate, Harvey Beckman and his wife, Ruth; Julie witnesses Doc's new young wife, Lovely, attempting to seduce the mentally-disabled house servant, Ralph, and sparks a fight. Meanwhile, the four children break into the wine cellar at Doc's chalet. Back at the crashed van, the children's physician, Dr. Brown, regains consciousness, and begins frantically searching for the children. He tracks them to the cellar, where the children murder him with Sister Hannah's assistance. They bury his corpse in the snow.

In the morning, the children surprise the residents of the chalet, and Doc agrees to let them stay one night. In conversation, David tells Harvey that he and the others were on their way to make a film in Hollywood when their van crashed. After dinner that night, David and Brian sneak into Ralph's cabin and disengage the generator. When Ralph goes to inspect it, he is caught in a booby trap that strangles him to death.

The next day, Rick finds Ralph's corpse hanging from a noose in front of the generator. Doc assumes Ralph committed suicide, but Rick suspects the children. He subsequently discovers that Doc's car has been tampered with and that the guns and knives in the house have gone missing; he fears the children are out to do them harm. David, who is adorning himself in makeup and a dress, overhears Rick vocalizing his suspicions. Shortly after, David hacks Harvey to death with an axe while he chops wood outside.

Sister Hannah drowns Lovely in a bathtub while Moe sets Doc's pet piranhas loose in the bathwater to devour her. When Doc witnesses the children dragging Lovely's body through the snow, he chases after them to Ralph's cabin, where he is killed with a knife in another rigged booby trap. Armed with the stolen guns, the children return to the chalet, first attacking Ruth, who begs Susan to let them go; the children douse Ruth in gasoline before Susan throws a lit match onto her, burning her alive. Rick and Julie flee, attempting to escape on a boat, but David forces them back to the chalet at gunpoint, and the two barricade themselves in a second-floor bedroom.

In the morning, David uses a ladder to reach the bedroom window, and impales Julie through the neck with a pole that he forces through the glass, killing her. Rick, now alone and desperate, witnesses the children gleefully throwing snowballs at Doc's corpse. This sparks rage in Rick, and he decides to confront the children outside, only to be caught in an animal trap. Sister Hannah slashes Rick's throat with a knife. With all the adults dead, the children drag their bodies into Ralph's cabin and seat them around a table, playing with them as though they are dolls. After a brief time, Susan and Brian declare that it is time to move on. Moe expresses that she wants to continue playing, to which Sister Hannah responds they will find new "toys."

Peopletoys was filmed in Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear Lake, California between February and April 1973.[1] The production was notably tense between director Sean McGregor and producer Michael Blowitz, with Blowitz recalling that at one point, McGregor punched Blowitz in the face, to which Blowitz responded by throwing McGregor through a plate glass window.[2]

Actor Tierre Turner recalled that, for himself and the other child actors, the shoot was "like a vacation…  we were having a great time"[3].

The film was released theatrically in the United States by Cinemation Industries.[1] According to the American Film Institute, no contemporary reviews confirm that the film was released under its original title, People Toys, though a 1974 edition of the film journal Screenworld reported the film to be due for a June 1974 release.[1] Newspaper showtime listings in the Austin American-Statesman indicate the film premiered in Austin, Texas under the title People Toys on May 17, 1974,[4] and in Abilene on May 24, 1974.[5] It subsequently screened under this title in Akron, Ohio.[6]

Another alternate title was The Horrible House on the Hill, for which an undated poster was produced by Cinemation.[1] In 1976, Seymour Borde & Associates purchased international distribution rights to the film, re-releasing it under the alternate title Devil Times Five.[1]

• Kord, T. S. (2016). Little Horrors: How Cinema's Evil Children Play on Our Guilt. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-1-476-62666-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• People Toys at AllMovie
• People Toys on IMDb
• People Toys is available for free download at the Internet Archive