Roboraptor

Designed by WowWee Robotics, the Roboraptor is a remote controlled robot dinosaur toy that is about 30" long- Coincidentally, about the same size as the Puppetoys T-Rex. The Roboraptor has been used in two of my films: Dinosaur Attack 2 (2012), and Dinosaur Attack 3 (2015). Although I've found it to be a fun movie prop, it is above all else meant for play. So how good is it really at that? Not so good, in my experience. It walks painfully slow, and requires the smoothest of surfaces to move properly. Also, it seems to have a mind of its own half the time, and pretty much moves however it feels like. You have to be lucky to get it to move right, although I've found that it may have something to do with it sensing motion in front of it, which seems to trigger some sort of "hunting mode".

Slappy the Dummy

This prop is an actual working ventriloquist dummy by throwthings.com, based on the Slappy character from the Goosebumps series. It comes in  a few different versions, some with more functions than others. The one I got was the cheapest version, which only has the moving mouth as a function. The mouth is activated by pulling a string on the back of the head, and boy has it been difficult to control this thing in the movies while keeping my hand concealed. The head and hands are plastic, and all the rest is stuffed. The dummy stands about 30" in height, I'd say. It's a pretty creepy figure, and the glow in the dark eyes add a nice touch. The tricks I've used to give it life are tying strings to its limbs, as well as controlling it normally while concealing my arm from the shot. This of course means that full body shots are impossible.

Halloween Masks

These can be acquired pretty easily from stores like Spirit or Halloween City, and they're not too expensive either. These are just your typical Halloween costume masks, and are made from fairly soft plastic material. These things can pretty much fit onto any sized head, from children to adults. If you stick your hand inside of it, you can even puppeteer the mouth for some cool closeup shots (a method I use). I don't have much to complain about here, although the zombie one is kinda tight and hard to put on, and both can get hot after a while. But this is only to be expected when it comes to masks like these. So if you're looking to have a scary villain in your movie, then Halloween masks may be a great place to look.