Curse of the Puppet Master

Director - David DeCoteau (Dead Embrace, Dr. Alien)
Starring - Emily Harrison (Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, 7th Heaven), George Peck (Dawn of the Mummy, Death Trap), and Josh Green (Pearl Harbor, Spiders)
Release Date - 1998
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "...the human experiment"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I'm about halfway through the Puppet Master Toulon's trunk set and we have reached the point where I will watch and review the first Puppet Master film I had seen.  When I was in high school the Sci-Fi Channel, now Sy-Fy, showed two Puppet Master flicks in October.  I had my VCR ready and I recorded them both.  The first film I saw was the 1998 film Curse of the Puppet Master which was the sixth film in the series.  I wasn't as excited to review this film as the others mostly because I've seen it before and knowing the film I knew it wouldn't stack up to the other in the series.  It's far from bad but not on the same level as the other films.
   
     The film follows an old man and his daughter who own a roadside oddities museum.  Their most prized attraction in their living puppets, the puppets created by Toulon.  What the daughter doesn't know is that her father has secretly experimenting on humans to try and unlock the puppets secrets.  He gets a new assistant and tries to uncover their secrets...which he does but it backfires.  Now the man is an indestructible puppet and rallies the other puppets to turn on their new master.
     



     Curse of the Puppet Master was meant to revitalize the series and begin as a sort of reboot taking the focus from Toulon and the ancient Egyptian secret.  It wasn't a bad watch but that charm that people loved in the other Puppet Master films is missing.  The acting in this one is decent but some did outshine others.  My favorite performance belongs to George Peck.  His character went from being the lovable grandpa type to the evil scientist working out of his basement.  He was great and made the film a lot of fun.  The same can be said about the sexy Emily Harrison.  I loved her character and what she brought to the role.  Sadly, I can't say the same about Josh Green who portrays the assistant Tank.  His character is written to be simple minded but with a huge heart.  Instead, he is portrayed as a mentally disabled character you would find in a daytime soap opera.  He brought the film down drastically.  The story for this one could have been something fun and rather unique to the series but felt rushed in the second half.  I liked how the series tries to distance itself from Toulon and the ancient Egyptian evil that we saw in the other films.  It gives the viewer something new but is unable to follow through.  The second half of the film is rushed and left more questions than answers.  Finally, this one isn't as bloody as the others and the puppets are limited to their actions.  Overall, Curse of the Puppet Master feels rushed and not on the same level as previous installments.  The film is still fun to an extent but doesn't have any rewatch value.