Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter

Year: 1994
Director: Jeff Burr
Writer: Steven E. Carr, Jo Duffy
Genre: Horror: Evil Dolls

So here we are at the supposed "final chapter". Obviously it isn't though as there are 5 more films to go. I guess Full Moon believed this was the end though, or at least the end of this storyline. I'm not really sure but maybe things will become clearer once I watch the 6th film.

Puppet Master 5 is better than 4 because more things happen. It feels once more like a movie even if the "horror" tag is getting lesser and lesser as time goes on. Once again, some ancient Egyptian evil is sending out a little demonic child to take care of things here on regular Earth. This is a super demonic baby though as there's only one of it and it manages to be a definite threat all on its own.

For the regular team of puppets, they're still all good. Interestingly, it seems like between this and the last film they got rid of the female puppet. I'm not sure why, since they seemed so happy to use her in the previous films. In fact, she was an important character for the 3rd. Either way, I'm glad they got rid of her because she was a disturbing and annoying creature... She'd moan and choke as leeches slowly squirmed out of her gaping mouth. Yuck.

So, this time around the science kid is convicted of murdering people from the last film. Obviously he didn't but how do you prove to the police that small demonic monsters did it? And that puppets helped you? So the bulk of the film focuses around a small squad of people investigating and attempting to steal the puppets - to learn about their technology. Things don't go as planned. It's an okay movie but nothing to write home about.

Puppet Master 4

Year: 1993
Director: Jeff Burr
Writer: Douglas Aarniokoski, Stephen E. Carr
Genre: Horror: Evil Dolls

After the surprisingly good time I had with the last movie I wasn't sure what to expect here. Unfortunately, Puppet Master 4 falls back into 80s horror tropes for the most part and doesn't cover much new territory. Basically, this is fresh start back to the modern world.

Ancient Egyptian mystical beings are still alive and worry that our modern society is about to discover how to reanimate life. Because of this, they send out their demonic children to take out scientists involved in the project. For no good reason other than setting up the plot, the brains behind the scientific endeavor lives at the Bodega Bay Inn. This Inn is where all the events of the first and second film took place. The puppets are, of course, all still in there and ready to come to life when needed.

So for whatever reason the scientists visit their friend at the Inn. An evil Egyptian demon thing gets delivered to their house and everyone flips out, but not before bringing the puppets to life. Unlike the other films, the puppets do not rely on their initial kill instinct. Instead, they play a rousing game of laser tag. The tagline of this film is "when bad puppets turn good" and that's pretty much exactly what it is. Why they "turn good" is never really disclosed but apparently it's because their dead master crowns the geeky scientist kid the new Puppet Master.

Really though, the entire movie felt like a drawn-out episode of a TV show. Not even a good TV show either. It was dull, goofy, and didn't add anything to the world of Puppet Master. Well, aside from granting us a new, and much less fearsome master.