Dolly Dearest

Year: 1992
Director: Maria Lease
Writer: Maria Lease
Genre: Horror: Evil dolls

I have a real love/hate relationship with evil doll/toy/dummy movies. For whatever reason, the idea of those inanimate objects coming to life really scares me - especially dummies. I think in the case of dummies it is their weird mouths. Anyway, so because of that it took me a really long time to ever watch these kinds of films. Child's Play, for example, took me years to sit down and watch (and then I loved it). Magic and other films I basically had left untouched until really deciding to deal with this.

Dolly Dearest is the story about a doll possessed by the spirit of a demonic child. This is fine and good but the movie itself fails because the doll has no real presence. It's not a witty, wisecracking thing but it isn't completely mute and terrifying either. It was at the start though, but then became increasingly silly as the film went on. When it started talking I basically lost it and couldn't take things serious anymore.

To say the movie is without merit though would be wrong. It tries to be something different. Minus the whole "possession of doll" thing it doesn't attempt to crib heavily off other films. The idea of a family moving to Mexico to run a factory manufacturing dolls makes sense, I guess. It certainly added a flavor you usually don't get in horror films too. Although of course it did have the trope of a religious and/or superstitious native of the region who knew something was up.

Overall it wasn't that great but it wasn't a nightmare either. If you're really in need of doll movies you could do worse than watching this. I guess that's a compliment!

Pinocchio's Revenge

Year: 1996
Director: Kevin Tenney
Writer: Kevin Tenney
Genre: Horror: Evil dolls

If you think about it, Pinnochio's Revenge is a really funny name. The movie has nothing to do with the "real" character of Pinnochio or anything. So the name is basically just for a doll which apparently is having his revenge. Weirdly enough, although there is a backstory in the movie it is never truly discussed. Because of that, we don't know exactly what he is getting revenge for anyway.

Let's talk about the movie though. We've got a single mother and her daughter. The mother is a lawyer and seems caught defending a lot of people who won't win in court. Her latest case deals with a purported child murderer who only stopped after he killed his own son. Also buried with the son was the Pinnochio doll.

So while working on this case the doll somehow makes it to her car and then into the hands of her daughter for her birthday. It all seems good and fine until bad things start happening. Why you would let your child play with a piece of evidence in a murder is beyond me, but apparently it wasn't a big enough deal. So yeah, basically there is something mysterious and bad about the toy. Or maybe there isn't. You've got to watch to find out!

Whenever I start to watch an evil doll/toy/puppet/whatever movie I worry that it'll be a rehash of Child's Play. Thankfully this is not the case. It kind of reminds me of the movie Magic which also featured a puppet in a creative manner. The movie isn't incredible by any stretch but it's decent. When you're low on puppet-related horror this should take of things.

Child's Play 3

Year: 1991
Director: Jack Bender
Writer: Don Mancini
Genre: Horror: Evil doll

Child's Play 3 is a pretty fun movie. I didn't expect by the 3rd time around that there would still be much left for Chucky to do, but there was! The movie is meant to take place 8 years after the events of the last. By this time, Andy has just been sent off to military school due to a screwed up life (thank you Chucky).

Somehow our favorite doll has come back yet again and still urges to find him. However, he ends up just wanting to kill the kid at this point. During this film things took on a more Hollywood action movie flair. Most moments of tension that used to exist are long gone. By now we are all familiar with Chucky and his antics... but not enough so that he's worn out his welcome just yet.

I'm curious what happens between this and the later films. I know at some point a woman gets pregnant by Chucky but I can't even begin to guess how that works out. Either way, it seems like everything devolves into a full-on comedy with murderous tendencies.

Child's Play 1 to 3 are pretty nice though as they are. If you've only got time for one then just watch the first, but there's something fun enough about each to watch them all.

Child's Play 2

Year: 1990
Director: John Lafia
Writer: Don Mancini
Genre: Horror: Evil doll

For most of my young life I was terrified of Chucky. I'd never even seen a movie but the idea and look of the character creeped me out more than anything. One time I remember the first film coming up on tv one night and my family watching it... Though I wasn't in the same room I heard some of it and it didn't help one bit! I used to be legitimately scared that Chucky would come into my bathroom and get me (kind of a mix of Psycho thrown in there lol).

So only last year did I finally watch Child's Play. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I guess after the first few movies when they became subtitled with Chucky's name that things took on a more humorous tone. That's really all I was exposed to from friends so I expected all the films to be kind of dumb humorous horror. While there is some fun to be had I still really just enjoyed it.

Anyway, so I watched Child's Play 2 and it was pretty good. I liked how they kept it directly connected to the first. It made enough sense how Chucky was able to come back after the end of the first. However, at the end of this movie I'm not sure how they are going to bring him back yet again. It seemed pretty final. Of course, that could be said of all sorts of horror icons. They're never truly dead!

It was still a very enjoyable movie although less so than the first. It's not as scary because this time around you know just what to expect from Chucky. In the first movie it was surprising and super creepy to see Chucky's face turn angry for the first time. Still, it was a nice romp and I especially enjoyed the multiple attempts to end the evil doll's life.

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.

Curse of the Puppet Master

Year: 1998
Director: David DeCoteau
Writer: Benjamin Carr
Genre: Horror: Evil Dolls

So here were are after the supposed end of Puppet Master. As I predicted, the story has been restarted in a way with new characters. The puppets are still the same though, and unfortunately Leech Girl is back. At the very least though, she had absolutely no use in the film other than to look scary at a few points so thank goodness.

As or the movie itself, I'm not sure where it's supposed to take place in the timeline. The characters apparently got the puppets at auction some years ago but it doesn't make sense that the last owners would have sold them. That is, unless they died or something. It couldn't come before the last two Puppet Masters because the puppets were still in their Bodega Bay Inn home at that point and not shipped across country and back due to auctions. Really then, I can only assume this film is supposed to happen 20 years after the last two or something of the sort. I doubt it really matters.

So you've got a man and his daughter who operate a puppet show and have various other novelties. The father invites a young gas station attendant to work for him as he apparently is really good at whittling. He wants the young man to build a new puppet for him that lives. Of course, the father has to say something ominous and predictable like "you have to put your soul into it...". Seeing nothing wrong with this picture, the guy happily takes on the job.

The puppets seem to quite like the arrangement and are generally well-behaved through most of the movie. Only during the climax do they really get back to old form. Strangely, the acting of the puppets is even more wooden than it has ever been before. They were barely animated at all and were rarely shot in full (so that hands could manipulate them from the lower half in shots). It's really weird that the production values would shoot down so much from the last film to now. I suppose Full Moon began to tire of their star series and may have been working on other projects. I'll have to look into them more to see what else they had going on at the same time.

Overall, this film was actually a lot better than I thought it'd be. There is one glaring issue though and that is the end of a film. If you thought The Blair Witch Project had a sudden ending try this one on for size. It cuts off immediately in the middle of a climactic scene! It's as if you were watching something on TV to have it cut off for a test of the emergency broadcast system. Except, apparently, this is the way they wanted it to end. I'm not sure if the next film will be a continuation of this one, but it sure looks like that's what they wanted to do.

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.

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.