Puppet Master 5 (1994) The Final Chapter... Not



The final chapter… ah where have I heard this before? "Sorry your reservation has just been cancelled!" Well we know that's definitely not the case, as Full Moon's killer doll franchise is still kicking on. Chapter 5 pretty much follows on from the fourth film (as they were virtually shot back-to-back by director Jeff Burr with the same cast and crew) and I found it a little more enjoyable than previous instalment. After recapping what had already occurred, again the new puppet master Rick Myers must face up against the ancient Egyptian God Sutek who wants to destroy any sort of evidence about its reanimated ancient magic that Toulon had stolen and also cope with an interfering scientist played with devious glee by Ian Ogilvy.

The outlandish story layout is simply as before, repeating what happened in the fourth chapter (even with a storm brewing) but the pacing is a lot better and energy much more spruce with the Gothic seaside hotel having a little more of an impression. The thing was that the sequences involving Sutek just didn't seem to work (with its unconvincing voice reciting ridiculous dialogues and the dramatic body movements). It looked good it detail, but I preferred when it wasn't focusing on that demon. Director Jeff Burr ably constructs some atmospheric set-pieces, creating more a nightmarish tone like a very odd, but jarring dream sequence that was just as darkly unpleasant as any of the scenes from the original. Quite uneven in mood, due to its unbalanced material of humour and horror, but at times the goofiness does take away from it. Like some of the attack / death set-ups follow a formula; run, fall on ground, begin crawling and wrestle than die a bloody death. Not much else to it.

The illuminating special effects are just as potent as before with it colourful optical work and masterful puppet creations. The creativity shows in the puppet work forming their own characteristics, from the animation and the effective movements of the puppets. All the iconic puppets return, also with the new creation Decapitron that's inhabitant by the spirit Andre Toulon when resurrected by electricity. Modest acting by returning leads Gordon Currie and Chandra West. Teresa Hill returns in a lesser part and Guy Rolfe. Ian Ogilvy is great and Clu Gulager makes a cameo appearance. There's good support by Nicholas Guest, Willard E. Pugh and Duane Whitaker.

Rating...
4/10

Puppet Master 4 (1993) The fourth installment

Rick Myers is a boy wonder in the position of caretaker at the old Bodega Bay hotel. Even though puppet-related shenanigans have gone on at the place before, nobody remembers and Rick is left in solitude with his two stupid robots, free to play laser tag, research his A.I. project, and complain about robot stupidity all he wants.

His superiors Dr. Baker and Dr. Piper are content in the boring position of watching robotic arms perform the most mundane of tasks and writing down artificial intelligence-related notes. That is, until a couple of Totems are FedExed direct from the underworld to bust some balls, and stop their evil master Sutek's secret of life from being discovered. They kill Baker and Piper.

Meanwhile, puppet Blade is the only one still active in the Bodega Bay Inn. He spends most of his time sitting around uselessly and waiting for Rick to rediscover his buddies in the trunk of Andre Toulon. Eventually Rick gets that point with a little help from his friends, loosens the sucker up with acid, and rediscovers the rest of the puppets.

Rick has a look at Toulon's diary and discovers the secret to waking puppets up, and he's more than happy to do so, injecting the whole lot of them with brain juice. They hit it off with Rick immediately, but don't take kindly to the much geekier-looking Cameron. I symphasize with him.

Suffering from a severe case of puppet envy, Cameron and Lauren use Toulon's Ouija board and inadvertantly pull the Totems that knocked off Baker and Piper out of it. The two are joined by another Totem sent to the hotel, and proceed to kill Cameron as he tries to make his getaway with Lauren. The Totems spend the rest of the film jumping on the humans and demonstrating their poor hand-to-tiny-hand combat skills, falling quickly to good ol' fashioned puppet might. A Totem still manages to frighten Lauren into submission, but is caught in the act of life force-stealing by Susie, who covers the little S.O.B. in acid.

This Totem is more powerful though, giving the puppets an excuse to wake up the incomplete, electrified Decapitron to zap him into oblivion.

The film ends with as much finality as the first two LOTR movies.

Is this film any good? Well, the villian, Sutek, looks like he was pulled straight out of the Power Rangers, which may mean something different to you than it did to me(I snorted in derision). Decapitron is sort of cool-looking, and ridiculously overpowered. You get to see the puppets in a few more action sequences, fighting enemies on their scale. Seeing Tunneler put a big hole in a Totem with appropriate sound effects is sort of fun, as is Six-Shooter staging an impromptu electrocution, cowboy-style.

Making the puppets the heroes seems like a shot at making them more marketable(and it probably is). Even though they weren't the bad guys in part III, they were morally ambiguous and did more exciting things, like shooting and bursting out of Nazis. The Totems are just not cool. They look like an awkward fusion between Red Pyramid and an armed, flightless bat. They don't create as much memorable carnage as the puppets do either, unless seeing a bunch of geeks get scratched to death is your thing.

The plot has a sci-fi bent this time around, and is so ambitious, not one movie can hold it. Yes, this is followed closely after by part 5. On a technical level, this is probably one of the best in the series. The little guys have never looked or sounded better. For a more interesting fusion of cheese and gore, however, you probably should have a look at the other installments.

Rating...

6/10

Puppet Master 3 (1991) Another great entry into the series

     I first watched this movie when my aunt and uncle rented this movie for me when I went to visit them in ohio.  I thought it was a great movie and was really beginning to enjoy cinema. 

    A lot of people say that this is too much plot for a puppet master movie, but I say nay.  I think Charles band turns out reasonably good movies for not being high budget entries. 

   Taking place in 1941, when Andre Toulon (Guy Rolfe) first started bringing his puppets to life with his wife Elsa (Sarah Douglas) and how he entertained kids back in World War II in Germany.
A scientist at a morgue named Dr. Hess (Ian Abercrombie) who has invented a top secret formula that brings his attendents to life discovers that Andre and Elsa are using it to bring their puppets to life so a NAZI named Gestapo kidnaps Andre along with his nasty leader Major Krauss (Richard Lynch) in which he kills Elsa and is then whisked away by one of the NAZI's named Gestapo.
However, along the way Gestapo is killed by the puppets as they take action to protect their master and they all escape.
     Suddenly Andre creates a new puppet of his own named Six Shooter to seek revenge on the murder of his wife along with using Elsa's essence into a new puppet he made for her named Leech Woman.  Meanwhile, Krauss tries to hunt Toulon down since he knows the formula in which he uses to create more of his puppets to kill his cult since they have already done away with many of his men including the sleazy NAZI General Mueller (Walter Gottell) prevented by Six Shooter but he is in for a shocking surprise when he finds out what puppet is after him.



    My only complaint with this movie is the fact that the original puppet master starts with the death of Andre Toulon in 1939 two years before this movie is set.  I wonder how this plot hole was allowed to go through?

Rating...

6/10

Puppet Master 2 (1991) My favorite of the series

      Puppet Master 2 is my favorite of the series.  This is actually one of the few horror movies that my dad sat down with me and watched. 

     

      This movie takes off exactly where Part 1 left off.  The puppets are back to take care of some unfinished business by resurrecting their master Andre Toulon (Steve Welles) from the grave and a new puppet joins them named Torch and gather the brain matter that keeps all of them alive and keep collecting brains.
Toulon however has a deadly plan of his own in which he returns to his castle by the ocean where he meets a new group of Paranormal Researchers residing there and Andre discovers a woman named Carolyn Bramwell (Elizabeth Mclellan) who looks just like his dead wife Elsa in which all hell breaks loose and wants to keep her for himself and to be resurrected into a puppet with her so they can live together eternally.

Rating...

8/10

Puppet Master 1 (1989) Start of a great series

     I just want to say that this is a great start to a wonderful series.  Puppet Master is directed by the genius Charles Band and is inspired by an earlier movie of his called Dolls, which by the way I have not seen. 

     A small group of psychics investigating an old hotel come under attack by a group of 5 killer Puppets left there in 1939 by an elderly puppet maker Andre Toulon whom committed suicide. As the puppets Drill, Hook & Strangle them to death, the remaining psychics tries to figure out how to deal with the problem. Only to find out that the puppets may be the least of their problems. First film in the Puppet Master series is a very entertaining horror film & the one that set Full Moon Pictures on the map. A horror hit, That should please horror fans & fans of killer doll movies like the Child's Play series (This film came in exactly one year after that film to capitalize on it's success). Great fun all the way. Followed by several sequels & prequels.

Rating...

6/10

Superman 4: Quest for Peace (1987) Lasting thoughts

     First and foremost I would like to say that this is probably my second favorite of the original four movies.  Superman 4 features the man of steel going up aginast a genetically empowered nuclear man who shares the DNA with the very own man of steel. 

    

    This movies really outshines three because of its very serious nature.  It came at a time when the world's attention was centered around nuclear weapons and their possible destructiveness.  

    Superman 4 has a little bit of everything; Suspense, drama, great fight scenes and the return of Gene Hackman has Lex Luthor.  So if you have somehow managed not to see this movie give it a spin and check it out.

Rating...

7/10  

The Lovely Bones (2009) Breathtaking yet something missing



First and foremost when I watched this movie I wanted it to tear me to pieces, to make me really feel somthing.  I was kinda disappointed with this one. The Lovely Bones directed by Peter Jackson and stars Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg, Saoirse Ronan, Stanley Tucci, and Susan Sarandon to name a few. I loved the visual aspects of the movie, which is also why I disliked the movie. I think Jackson relied to heavily on the C.G.I to tell the story instead of allowing the actors to do so. The story ended up being very PG 13thish . I think Peter Jackson was so in love with the story that he decided to tone it down quite a bit from the edgy exterior of the book to make it more movie-goer friendly. I thought that the movie lacked true grit which would allow the audience to connect more with the characters and none of the characters seemed to have any depth. In my opinion Jackson should stick to epic films such as Lord of the Rings or King Kong. Watch it if your really interested, otherwise read the book.

Rating...

7/10