In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.

Thursday 27 October 2011

Puppet Master (1989)

This popular series by imaginative low-budget label Full Moon Entertainment spawned a crapload of sequels but I'll primarily be focusing on the ones produced during the heyday of their brief direct-to-video reign.

Kindly old magician Andre Toulan (William Hickey, recalling to mind Vincent Price in Edward Scissorhands) brings his troupe of puppets to life in 1940s Germany and quickly ends himself when confronted by Nazi spies. Cut to present day where his trunk has been unearthed and a group of psychics are summoned to learn about them firsthand. Lots of weird imagery and fun puppet effects going on; most of the movie remains enshrouded in mystery, but I found it satisfying and intelligent in spite of the subject matter. The puppets themselves don't get a whole lot of exposure in this one, but that's what the sequels are for.

3.5 Blades out of 5

5 comments:

cuckoo said...

That's a lot of Puppet movies. XD

I don't envy you. :p

I'd rather go through all 7 Saws then go through these films. Caught about 30 minutes of this one on AMC the other night and opted for doing the dishes instead.

Spec7ral said...

I own the box set.

Dr Faustus said...

I've seen the first three, over the course of one weekend. Can't remember much about them. It was one of "those" weekends.

Marceline said...

For some reason I really loved the Puppet Master vs. Demonic Toys movie the sci-fi channel did a couple years back. Just one of those b-movies I genuinely enjoyed in spite of its badness. I blame Corey Feldman.

budarc said...

I was originally planning to cover the entire Full Moon library, but time got away from me. I would have liked to have seen all of the crossovers, too. Somehow watching these movies the rest of the year doesn't feel right to me...