Puppet Master

Puppetmaster Andre Toulon (William Hickey) was hunted by Nazis and shot himself at the Bodega Bay Inn 50 years ago. Present day Neil Gallagher invites his psychic friends Alex Whitaker, Dana Hadley, Frank Forrester and Carissa Stamford to the Bodega Bay Inn but they find Neil had already killed himself.

It's too bad that the great William Hickey is dead in the first 10 minutes. This movie badly needs great actors. The acting in this is stiff and uncompelling. The production value never rises above B-movie level. The best thing about the entire movie is the great campy puppets. They are amazzzing.

"Puppet Master" is a wonderful, good-hearted slice of old-fashioned horror nonsense from the imagination of Charles Band. Whilst short on plot, it features a variety of pretty unusual characters, some fiendishly good stop-motion and stunt puppets and a few excellent set-pieces with just enough of the red stuff thrown in for good measure.

There are some fun performances from the cast which includes the rather sexy Irene Miracle ("Inferno") and an appearance from William Hickey ("National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation", "Prizzi's Honour", etc.).

It's one of those few feel-good horror movies, ideal for Christmas viewing!

Being a fan of b-flicks and cultmovies, I was aware of this movie's reputation. So, why not give it a chance? Was I appointed? No, not really ... but was I excited?! Neither! This movie has an original storyline, is shot on a nice location and the special effects are OK (they look sometimes a bit silly, but in movies like this, there's one golden rule: how sillier, how much more fun!) But, in general, this is a rather slow and boring movie. It has some great (and sick) scenes ... but that doesn't cover up for the rest of the movie. This movie constantly repeats itself. I really had the feeling that the director had problems to fill his 90 minutes. So ... is it a waste of time?! No, you'll have fun with it. Just don't expect too much of this 'cultclassic'

PS: Just like Child's Play, this movie is about dolls and puppets ... but that doesn't mean it's suitable for young children. A wise advice to all you babysitters out there!

This flick has developed quite a reputation as being a minor "cult classic", but actually it's not very good. Not very good at all. The story is shallow (I hear that it's further developed in the sequels, but that doesn't mean much for the viewers of this particular film), the characters are mostly uninteresting or unlikable, and the special effects, though cleverly conceived at times, show their age (already). There is also not much gore and not much suspense. (*1/2)

Bad acting, awful hair, horrible plot, cheesy action, hokey characters.

Still reading? Good. My brother picked this movie up for me on DVD, because he knows of my love of horror movies. My first thoughts as I inserted the disc was that it'd be a cheesy, laughable pile of 80's horror rubbish. So I was in for a pleasant surprise. If you can get past the initial presentation of the movie (it feels every bit as low-budget as it is), you'll find it to be creepy, intriguing, and above all, great fun. The puppets themselves could have been a whole lot worse. The effects are hardly Lord Of The Rings, but through a strange combination of live-action and extremely well-animated stop-motion, the puppets don't make you cringe every time they show up on screen. They're probably better actors than some of the live actors even, it's difficult to tell who's more wooden. But it's hardly a character-driven story. It's an unusual story nontheless, and it definitely interested me enough to watch it right through - and then pick up the first sequel!

If you ever saw the movie Child's Play, with which comparisons are inevitable, you'll know already whether you can suspend your disbelief enough to enjoy a movie about killer puppets. If you can, and don't mind horrific 80's haircuts, I'd strongly suggest giving this one a rental, you could do a lot worse.