Puppet Master vs Demonic Toys

Year: 2004
Director: Ted Nicolaou
Writer: C. Courtney Joyner
Genre: Horror: Evil Toys

By this point the series seems to have lost its "horror" tinge. It's all just a joke and this is readily made apparent in this crossover film. Apparently, Demonic Toys is a series all its own which ripped off Puppet Master. Because of that, it makes sense that this battle would have to take place at some point.

The two worlds mesh perfectly and it makes sense why the toys are there. The toy company was spying on this toy maker, who is Andre's great great nephew or something. They've got the blood in them though which means both he and his daughter are able to bring things to life. As a matter of fact, despite an other film taking the toys out of the original house and family, they are once again brought into family hands for this film. Whatever.

While this film really brings nothing great to the story, it does make for an entertaining watch. If nothing else, it's kind of hilarious to see the main character flirt awkwardly with a cop as he tries to convince her he's not crazy. It's also interesting to see the head of a huge toy company introduce virgin girls to her dungeonesque "playroom".

There's no real point to the story but it entertains for a good hour and a half. If you're interested in burning some brain cells I'd almost recommend it. It could be a good double feature alongside Jack Frost (not the family film) for the holidays.

PS: Corey Feldman plays the dad character. I was overjoyed.

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.

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.