Oh dear Lord, here it is: the 15th installment of the Puppetmaster franchise...and it is just as terrible as you'd expect, but were still hoping it wouldn't be.
Truthfully, the original wasn't very good-with the exception of William Hickey's sweet cameo-but at least there was some attempt at coherent storytelling, honest scares and the fascinating introduction of weird, killer puppets. But this latest, cheap, balding retread can only afford one puppet-Blade-who spends the majority of the movie inanimate and the rest attacking people from over their shoulders as if (and I'm pretty darn sure this was the case) someone had a Blade puppet on their hand like a Muppet with no arms.
The story doesn't really matter because it's stupid. The acting is second-rate, the script is purile and it has the cheap look of a made for SyFy Channel movie. The only reason I gave it an extra star was because at least the nudity was pleasant.
I, like many horror fans, have a soft spot for Puppetmaster. Just that great theme music alone is a nice memory-and they even butchered that up. And as long as they can keep squeezing a buck out of fans who keep hoping for that original feeling of affection-much like those people who keep thinking if they can only get Doug Bradley to come back then Hellraiser will be awesome again-the movie studios will continue beating a dead horse no matter how inhumane and tragic. Please, put the puppets away and find a new toy.
