Puppet Master

Director - David Schmoeller (Tourist Trap, Crawlspace)
Starring - Paul Le Mat (American History X, The Twilight Zone), William Hickey (Mousehunt, The Jerky Boys), and Irene Miracle (Last Night on the Night Train, Inferno)
Release Date - 1989
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "Evil comes in all sizes"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

    Every independent horror production company has their trademark film.  That one film or series of films that brought them recognition and possibly funded future projects.  Troma has The Toxic Avenger.  Troma fans the world over know Toxie and love him.  This film has spawned several sequels, a children's television show, and ushered in revenue for other projects like Terror Firmer, Tromeo and Juliet, Class of Nuke 'Em High, and Poultrygiest.  Full Moon Features is no exception.  Charles Band was making a name for himself with Empire Pictures before the company went under.  After Empire Pictures Band created Full Moon Features and released Puppet Master.  The film was completed in 1989 and released in 1990 launching Band into the home of almost every horror fan and movie goer alike.  These killer puppets have became the face of Full Moon and spawned a series unlike the world has seen.  Recently, I was sent the Toulon's Puppet Master Trunk Set which houses all the Puppet Master films on blu with the exception of one.  I want to thank Full Moon for sending the set my way.
     The film begins with an aged Andre Toulon who is known the world over as The Puppet Master due to his ability to make the puppets look as if they are alive.  What most don't know is that the puppets are actually alive.  The Nazis want his secret and when they finally track him down Toulon kills himself after hiding the puppets in a wall.  We jump 50 years and the hotel Toulon was living in is now owned by a young lady who is about to bury her husband.  He had psychic abilities and left a will requesting a group of others that shared his gift come pay their respects before he is buried.  What they don't know is that he was aware of Toulon's puppets and plans on using their gifts to live forever.
     I have a confession to make.  Growing up I was an avid Full Moon fan but you have to consider the timeframe that I grew up in.  I was born in 86 and grew up with the 90s productions from Full Moon.  I had never seen the first Full Moon film but I had seen Curse and Retro Puppet Master.  I really enjoyed both films and I'm glad I was able to watch the series on blu in the proper order.  The acting in this one is solid.  The cast is far from perfect and won't be winning any awards anytime soon but they did a solid job.  The characters are easily forgettable but the cast does a good enough job to move the story along so the puppets can do what they do best.  The story for this one is fun and adds a unique spin on the killer doll/toy sub-genre of horror.  There has been so many killer doll flicks over the years and the late 80s was when they shined.  Sadly, they all used similar stories which involved the doll or toy being possessed in one fashion or another.  Throwing in the Egyptian ritual and Nazis made it bigger in scope which made for a solid film with endless possibilities.  Some of the scenes are slow moving but the story is intriguing enough that you don't mind.  Finally, the film has several kill scenes.  The deaths themselves fit the film and the puppet doing the killing but they are somewhat forgettable.  What makes the kills stand out is the puppets doing them and how they kill.  The puppets killing is what makes the film so enjoyable.  The puppets looks great and the effects are top notch.  Overall, Puppet Master is a fantastic film and deserves to be seen.  Fans of low budget horror and killer dolls needs to check this one out.