Puppet Master: The Legacy

Year: 2003
Director: Charles Band
Writer: C. Courtney Joyner
Genre: Horror: Evil Dolls

This installment of Puppet Master is not even a movie. Well, it is 70 minutes long which I guess counts as a film but it's nothing but a recap of the previous 7 films. The recap isn't even that great as it mostly focuses on the death scenes from each film.

There's also some sort o reason for the recap. Some Lara Croft-ish woman has come to find how to kill the puppets. I'm not sure why but that's the plot device. She ambushes this man who was the little boy apprentice to Andre in the 3rd film. She learns from him of the past and they both somehow know the entire detailed death history of the puppet victims.

It's boring. It's not even a good way to know what happened if you're too lazy to watch the first 7 films. Basically, either watch them or don't watch any at all but avoid The Legacy at all costs.

Retro Puppet Master

Year: 1999
Director: David DeCoteau
Writer: Charles Band, Benjamin Carr
Genre: Horror: Evil Dolls

After the last film, I was expecting this to be Puppet Master 6.5 or something. However, instead of picking up on the obvious cliffhanger of the last film it went in a totally different direction. This version takes us further back to Andre's story. Instead of being in Nazi Germany though this is back when he was a young man and was learning about the puppets from someone else.

Whoever the teacher was he of course got the secrets in Egypt and taught them to his one apprentice - Andre. Back at this point the puppets were different too, although they were mostly analogous to the ones in the rest of the series. What I'm curious about is what happened to these original puppets because they were never shown getting completely destroyed or anything. Unless I was too busy eating my sandwich when it happened.

So anyway, somehow they once again managed to make a Puppet Master movie interesting. In a way, it feels like an Indiana Jones adventure which is pretty awesome considering the goofy subject matter. In fact, it is right up there as one of my favorites of the series. For the 7th film in a series to do that is excellent indeed. I can only expect though that the rest of the films are not nearly as exciting.

There's not much I can say about the movie otherwise... The set pieces and outfits were nice. The acting was a little stilted and funny in the beginning but after a while it goes away. I kind of wish the puppets were more active, but it was also nice to see the story play out with more human interaction.

Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge

Year: 1991
Director: David DeCoteau
Writer: C. Courtney Joyner, Charles Band
Genre: Horror: Evil Dolls

Somehow within the same year of the release of the 2nd film, Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge also came out. Usually this spells doom for any series in question, but this was not the case at all here. In fact, it seems the 3rd film is the most ingenious and professional of them all thus far.

Puppet Master III takes us back to when Andre Toulon was alive and performing puppet shows with his special puppets. There is a bit of plot inconsistency between it and the first, because in the first movie Toulon would have committed suicide before the 40s. For this film however, Toulon is alive during World War II and in Nazi Germany - only to presumably commit suicide after the events of this film.

This film manages to clear up a lot of confusing points that arose in the first two films. It also manages to make you care very much for the character of Toulon which was never the case before. It shows him as a regular person and not the maniacal freak he would apparently become after his initial death. It also shows the how and why of the puppets which still manages to leave a bit up to "ancient Egyptian magic". The idea that the puppets can live because they were infused with human desire to live is interesting, and a slight take off of how the dolls in Dolls operated. However, it seems rather creepy and more in line with "voodoo magic" that once the spirit is infused into the puppet that it basically becomes psychopathic.

Something really surprising about this film is that it was cocky enough to attempt to pull off a good-looking Nazi Germany set and set pieces. It works very well though. It's almost shocking to me that Full Moon had the money for such high production values. Overall, this was a very solid production and I'm not sure if the remaining features will be able to reach these same heights.

Puppet Master II

Year: 1991
Director: Dave Allen
Writer: Charles Band, David Pabian, David Schmoeller
Genre: Horror: Evil Dolls

The second of 10 films in a series and so far things are working out. This appears to be a direct sequel to Puppet Master although it seems a very odd premise. After the events of the first film, the puppets attempt to resurrect their old Puppet Master, Andre Toulon, the way he brought them to life.

The question is why would they do this? The climax of the first film was of the puppets turning against Andre as he showed his true, vile colors. After the treatment he gave them it seems crazy they would go dig his body up and bring him back to life so he could continue with his plans. But, the puppets went and did it anyway.

The new cast of characters aren't nearly as creative as before, but at least they all have some sort of life infused into them. The lead of the first was a horribly droll man. The effects are about on the same level as the first and the puppets seem a little less deadly. I say this because unimportant characters are able to kill them which is rather unheard of. But, at the very least there is a new puppet in the ranks who is pretty neat.

For the climax of this film, we are once again shown the puppets are a bit more autonomous then they seem. Still, the reasons for what they did this entire film are unclear. I've heard that later movies clear up the confusion so I hope that is the case. I'd like to get into the story more but it seems it is put together in an unorthodox (or simply unskilled) manner.

Puppet Master

Year: 1989
Director: David Schmoeller
Writer: Charles Band, Kenneth J. Hall, David Schmoeller
Genre: Horror: Evil Dolls

Apparently, this movie is meant to play off the popularity of Child's Play as well as take from the ideas presented in Dolls. Now, Dolls is a much better film than I had ever though it would be, and of course Child's Play is a personal favorite of mine so I was expecting this movie to be better than what IMDB was saying. Generally I ignore IMDB anyway since their 2-5 star films can end up being some of my personal favorites ever. Anyways, I like movies about toys and things coming to life so this was right on the money, or so I thought.

The movie is actually pretty dull. There's a few interesting things here and there but overall the story isn't giving us much new to think over. There's a "Puppet Master" from the 1920s or 30s and he commits suicide before the police can find him. I'm not sure what they were after him for, aside from his use of ancient Egyptian magic to bring life into inanimate objects (puppets!). How would they have even discovered him? Either way, after the little history lesson you're brought up to the current day where a man has just passed away...

For some reason the people who are there for his funeral are all physics of some kind. As expected, the dead man isn't quite dead either and is using puppets to kill off those psychics. Why? Well, there is a reason but most of the movie is left without one making it seem like an awkward slasher film. I did appreciate that the puppets are not purely evil though, although they are still quite fond of killing.

The movie isn't that great but it's a cult hit with certain people. This also happens to be the first film I've seen from Full Moon Pictures. I think that's pretty cool in and of itself since I've been a fan of their wacky trailers for years. After I'm done with this series (if I can bear it) I'm thinking of hitting up some other horror movie series' like Hellraiser, Silent Night Deadly Night, and Child's Play since I only ever saw the first. I'm hoping these damn Puppet Master films get better and not worse, or else I might not make it through.