Hello Everyone

Well...here it is. A movie series that I honestly dont know how to put into words. I will not lie, I had to drink some booze while watching some of the more terrible sequels of this movie. Before anyone complains to me about why watch them then, its because this movie has a huge cult following and somehow spanned 13 movies with another movie coming in 2020, so I believed it had to do something right. And to a degree in some of the sequels it does, it does do something right. But then, it makes you rethink your life choices with a horrible sequel. This movie was distributed by Full Moon Features, which is responsible for movies like Demonic Toys and the Gingerdead Man, so you can assume the kind of quality your getting with these movies. It was also released a year after Childs Play, but funny enough was not inspired by that movie. It was, instead inspired by the 1987 movie Dolls. So, without further delay, or rant, lets take a look at David Schmoeller's 1989 "Puppet Master".


Basic Plot: Andre Toulon is a puppet maker, and the best there is at it. One day however, after a show he is given an old Egyptian formula that creates life, and decides to use it on his puppets. However, once the Nazi's discover Andre's secret they seek to take it from him, and in a final act of defiance Toulon Kills himself. Many years pass before Four Psychics are on the trail of a former colleague of theirs who, like Toulon, has committed suicide. They all decide to Investigate the mansion he killed himself in, in the hopes that answers will present themselves. Along with his grieving widow, they uncover the secrets Toulan left behind, and the horror that is the Puppet Master.

What it does right: Despite my dislike of some of this film series, I will admit that this first film does a some things right. Certain shots from the Puppets Perspective genuinely are unsettling, as well as the designs of the puppets themselves being genuinely a mix of creepy and funny looking. You could believe that yes these were puppets intended to preform in shows. There is also some pretty good gross out moments, like the Leech woman spitting out huge leech's onto the body of an unsuspecting victim.
The movie itself also has a habit of keeping you guessing on who is truly behind the Puppets resurrection and why they are playing with the bodies they create. There are actually pretty decent performance's from some of the psychics, and comedic moments when the puppets struggle to either climb a bed do to their height, or finish the job of killing someone because once again they have been thrown across a room. Adding to that is the fact all the puppets have a unique design which comes with a unique personality(despite the fact they dont talk).

What the Movie does Wrong: Where do I begin? First off none of the characters are likeable. I mean they are either bland and usually boring to watch, dumb, or just outright unlikable people. This makes it so hard to root for them throughout the movie because there isnt much to like about them other than they all hate each other in some way, and honestly you can see why they do.
Some of the characters do stupid things that honestly dont make sense to me, and that really annoyed me. And yes this is a horror film, and yes usually the characters in horror films do not use common sense, but I think anyone would notice the difference between a real hand on your chest and a puppets hand (LEGIT SCENE IN THIS MOVIE).
There is another aspect of this movie that irked me, and that was the fact that the Puppets always seem to come second in this film as antagonists, despite being the more enjoyable part of this movie. In later movies we see more of Toulan and his relationship with the puppets, which I enjoyed, but here we just see them as tools as opposed to the individuals they are. I dont even recall if they are given names in this movie. For the sake of that, and the fact we get additions and subtractions from the puppet line up I will be adding this next category to these movies reviews.

The Puppets:

Blade:

Pinhead :

Leech Woman:

The Tunneler :

The Jester:

As I said before the Puppets unique designs are kind pretty great, with each looking menacing but also like harmless dolls were you to see them at a shop on sale (well most of them do. Blade and Leech woman probably not).

Kills: Despite my stance on this film, I will admit some of the kills were pretty good. Not exactly mindblowing, but creative. The image above of Leech woman is a particular scene I found both gross and entertaining. The kills are kept to a minimum and when they shine they shine well, and when they dont....well....they dont. A lot of the kills are different to the average slasher flick, including two where the puppets have to team up to take two separate people down.

Personal Opinion: I know I have stated I dont like this film as is, but with a 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes I can see people do. I can get the charm about the film, and how interesting the puppets look and act, as well as the ending. But I just didnt enjoy this film very much and my bias is shown, but it is not a terrible film at least by Full Moon's status. It falls under the category of So bad its good, but honestly I didnt much see a lot of good in it besides the design of the puppets and some of the kills. I found enjoyment in a few of its sequels however, but we will look at them another time. Its one of those movies that are divisive, in which you will either love it for its campy story and interesting puppet designs or hate it due to a lack of real character development and hard to like characters.

Overall Score: 5/10

I honestly have to give it a pass, just due to the fact that this movie shined in some places and fell short in others. Its not something you need to think about, and as the first movie of a series can be forgiven for trying to find its feet. If you wanna turn off your brain and enjoy some decent enough scenes with puppets killing psychics who should have seen it coming (I WENT THROUGH THE WHOLE REVIEW NOT MAKING THAT JOKE, IM MAKING IT NOW, AND I AM NOT SORRY!), then maybe you will find enjoyment in this movie that I missed out on. Like everything, movies are subjective and my opinion is just one of many.