Much like the movie business, the toy business is a fickle one, and things don’t always go as planned. Over the years, many different horror movie toys have been shown off on the internet and at conventions like Toy Fair, never making it past that prototype stage and never finding their way onto our shelves.
There’s truly nothing more depressing than an awesome horror movie toy that was supposed to enter our lives but for whatever reason did not, and today I invite you to get depressed with me as we take a look at 10 of the coolest horror movie toys that we can see but may never actually be able to touch and hold in our own two hands.
If the 10 pictures below ruin your day and leave your toy collection feeling sad and incomplete…
…don’t say I didn’t warn you!!
Many companies over the years have put out various different Leatherface action figures, depicting him as he was seen in most of the films in both the original and reboot franchises. And yet, we’ve never gotten a Leatherface toy based on one of my personal favorite installments; the highly underrated and underappreciated Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3. Not only do I love the movie, but I also really dig the look of Leatherface in the second sequel, and that rockstar-style chainsaw he wields in it is totally badass. Even sadder than the fact that we’ve never gotten a Chainsaw 3 Leatherface toy is the fact that we came so close to getting our hands on one, with Mezco showing off this awesome figure at the 2010 Toy Fair. Unfortunately, he found himself stuck in the dreaded Toy Fair Hell.
Can you believe that we’ve never gotten a single Herbert West toy after all these years? Considering West is such an iconic character, it’s actually quite shocking. Back in 2009, Executive Replicas whipped up this 12″ version of West, which was to be sold exclusively by distributor Amok Time and released that same year. It was set to be a limited edition piece with only 1,000 made and a price tag of around $80. First the figure was pushed back to early 2010, and then it fell off the toy radar completely, reportedly due to a lack of interest in the prototype images. Thankfully, Amok Time is currently hard at work on the world’s first ever Herbert West toy, but for now the good doctor remains off of our shelves.
It was way back in 2005 that news broke of NECA’s plan to release an action figure based on the remake of The Ring, with concept art showing off an incredible box set that left all fans of the movie salivating. The set was to feature a figure of Samara along with two different display bases: a TV set and a well, the two things that Samara can most often be found emerging from. Coolest of all, the figure was going to come apart at the waist, allowing us to either display her in front of the well or split her in half and have her coming out of the TV. The hair was even going to be flexible, allowing those two different poses to really come to life. From what I’ve heard, NECA was unable to acquire the proper licensing to actually release the box set, and that spelled the end of this awesome toy of everyone’s favorite well-dweller.
When we’re talking about unreleased horror toys, it’s impossible not to mention Series 4 of SOTA Toys’ Now Playing line, the most infamous of all the horror toys that were never made. Founded by FX artist Jerry Macaluso, SOTA turned its attention to horror and cult movie toys with the Now Playing line, which was comprised of three series and featured all sorts of unique toys, including a Nazi demon from An American Werewolf in London and Citizen Toxie himself, the Toxic Avenger. It was at the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con where the fourth series of the line debuted, an entire series that died along with the death of the line.
Why is this so depressing? Because Now Playing Series 4 was comprised of some of the coolest horror toys of all time. First up we’ve got that lovable little Leprechaun, which would’ve been his first and only toy to date. In addition to the base seen in the picture above, this Leprechaun figure was also going to come with an alternate head, with half of ole Lep’s face melted off into a green goo. SOTA also showed off a Leprechaun bust at the ’06 Comic-Con, another awesome item that never saw release.
Series 3 of the Now Playing line included an incredible box set in tribute to John Carpenter’s The Thing, which saw MacReady poised with a gun and ready to blow away that demon dog creature. Series 4 was going to include this very similar box set, only based on Tremors and with Burt Gummer poised and ready to take out a giant Graboid. This set was also shown off at the 2006 Comic-Con but interestingly enough was gone from the line at the following year’s event, replaced with a totally different but equally awesome box set…
Yep, we were this close to actually having toys of both David, in werewolf form, and a dead and torn-up Jack from An American Werewolf In London. Though SOTA Toys did previously release the aforementioned Nazi demon and also a bust of the titular werewolf, these two toys didn’t make it out of the Now Playing Series 4 implosion alive and were never again seen after this picture was taken.
We round out the Now Playing Series 4 travesty with Herbert West’s second appearance on this list – another toy that was included in the line when it was shown off at the 2006 Comic-Con but had disappeared when it was again shown the following year. This smaller scale version of West than the previously mentioned one was going to include Dr. Hill’s head in a tray and even the infamous zombie cat, a real treat for Re-Animator fans that will forever taunt us with its beauty. 0-2 on the toy front, Dr. West!
SOTA Toys is still around today, but there are sadly no plans to ever resurrect the Now Playing line, which was also set to include a different Killer Klown than the ones they had previously released. Thankfully for us, Amok Time has recently been producing their own Killer Klowns toys, taking over where SOTA left off. As for that aforementioned Herbert West figure they’re working on, I’m happy to report that it’s going to look a whole lot like SOTA’s was going to!
Though NECA’s line of toys based on Hellraiser only lasted three series, the original plan was to have it continue long beyond that and include figures of pretty much every Cenobite and creature seen in each movie in the franchise. This prototype sculpt of The Engineer from the first film is all that remains of a planned box set that was to also include Kirsty Cotton, a character that ended up never getting released in any form by NECA, or any other company for that matter. Just as planned future series of the Hellraiser line never came to fruition, neither did the Engineer/Kirsty box set, which would’ve likely been the coolest Hellraiser figures that NECA ever released. Sigh.
Speaking of NECA, they made a couple different Shaun of the Dead toys around the time of the film’s release, giving both Shaun and his best friend Ed the plastic treatment. Ed was packaged in a two-pack with Shaun, and the plan was to subsequently release Ed on his own, in zombie form, as part of Series 2 of their Cult Classics Hall of Fame line. The series ended up coming out, but Zombie Ed was not included. Oddly enough, a quick search on eBay turns up a bunch of these unproduced toys, Chinese knockoffs that look pretty damn close to the way the prototype above does. Not sure what the story is with that, but they’re there if ya want them!
We finish things off by going old school, all the way back to the glorious 1980s. LJN made all sorts of fun horror toys in the 80s, including a Freddy squirt head and Freddy and Jason squirt balls, the latter of which also included squirt balls of two of their victims. In 1987 they planned on continuing the theme of turning vicious killers into kid-friendly squirt toys with these Freddy and Jason water guns. Dubbed the “Monster Squirt” assortment, Freddy made it to the prototype stage, while only concept art for the Jason gun was produced. From the looks of the vendor catalog image above, it appears as if Freddy’s gun was supposed to shoot water from his mouth, while pushing down on Jason’s arms would unleash a torrent of water from the head of his trusty axe. You’ve just gotta love the ’80s!
Which of these toys would you most like to own? And do you know of any other awesome toys that were never produced? Drop a comment below and let us know!