Curse of the Puppet Master

Curse of the Puppet Master (1998)

** (out of 4)

Four years after the previous film, Charles Band and Full Moon decided to bring their puppets back and this sixth installment tries to be its own picture and not just connect to the previous. This time out Dr. Magrew (George Peck) and his daughter (Emily Harrison) hire a slow-witted man (Josh Green) to help them build our beloved puppets. The doctor has been able to give them partial life but he needs help giving them their own souls and of course it doesn't take long for our puppets to harm anyone who goes after their friends. CURSE OF THE PUPPET MASTER is considered by fans of the series to be the absolute worst but perhaps since I'm not a fan I could see it differently. Yes, this is an ultra low-budget film that doesn't have too much action in it and yes it's clear that the attempt to try and take the series into a new direction didn't work all that great but I thought it was rather refreshing seeing something different and not just a stretch of the storyline that was the first five films. I mean, is what we see here really worse than the puppets battling a Demon God? It's clear that Full Moon was working with no money because the film doesn't even have any stop motion. The puppets, for the most part, are just being pulled by strings or other devices and this is certainly a first for the series. The visual look of them isn't all that impressive and this also means that there's more "story" than action but I'll admit to being a sucker by getting caught up in that story. I thought there were some major flaws in the film but mostly character development. The slow-wit for some reason turns smart and into a ladies man without any explanation. The doctor has some bad motives that come out of no where and I think the twist doesn't work that well. You have a bully local who beats up the slow-wit, sexually attacks the daughter and then breaks into her home yet I guess it never dawned on anyone to call the police. The love story aspect doesn't work either. With all of that said, I still got caught up with the characters because the three leads are actually pretty good in their roles. The puppets might be lacking in terms of special effects but they do get back their killer personalities and we get a couple death scenes that add on some extra gore. The "Part 6" was dropped from the title and I'm guessing this was done to try and sell the movie as something new and original, which it pretty much is. I know fans were outraged that their beloved puppets were put in a new format but I still think it was a good decision and especially after the last two flicks.

Despite the film's logline, his intentions are not clear until the very end. The entire film we see the scientist (George Peck) have Robert (Josh Green) cut and carve little wood blocks, but we actually never see the end result.

This is the film that rebooted the franchise, which still continues to this day. This installment is not so much about the puppets, but instead more about the 'dummy boy' Robert, who steals the show. The plot is more solid than the other Puppet Master films, and I enjoyed this film more than the previous installments. In fact, this would hold pretty well as a film on its own and not part of the franchise, especially also since it is a completely new storyline. George Peck was also rather good as the scientist.

Pity the film had such an abrupt ending...

After not being terribly impressed by the last two additions to the franchise, I wasn't expecting all that much from "Curse" and this was a blessing disguise. I found David DeCoteau's sequel somewhat a step-down in quality (which at times looked very second-rate), but probably a little more enjoyable if a tad creative in its story (despite a silly script, unintentionally humorous plotting and an abrupt ending). While still being one of the weakest, it skipped that childish feel of the recent ventures… to only deliver on the nasty and gory quota with its nightmarish details (resembling the tone of the original features), but while the jolts and cruelty is there it seemed to meander on its characters interactions and the constant mystery surrounding a disappearance, which is rather predictable to figure out. The puppets have always been the stars and that's nothing new here, as the creations are well-used despite some obvious stock footage from other features. The uncanny appearances and personalities come through, although some are underused; The Jester and especially Leech woman. However there are plenty of images of the puppets cementing how they are best of pals. DeCoteau's practical direction is raw and threadbare, but there's a lyrical guidance that shows in some atmospheric visuals. Most of the performances are particularly lousy and over-enthusiastic, but Emily Harrison seems to be an exception to the trend.

Curse of the Puppet Master, the sixth film in the long running horror franchise, sees Toulon's tiny terrors in the possession of Dr. Magrew (George Peck ), owner of The House of Marvels, a small-town roadside attraction that he runs with the help of his pretty daughter Jane (Emily Harrison). When Magrew meets gas station attendant Robert 'Tank' Winsley (Josh Green), who likes to carve with wood, he offers him a job at his place, creating the many parts for a new living puppet, into which he secretly plans to transfer Robert's soul.

Director David DeCoteau (as Victoria Sloan) starts things off well enough, introducing his characters and setting up a few deserving victims along the way: a gang of local bullies, led by Joey Carp (Michael Guerin), and a nasty sheriff (Robert Donavan). So far, so good, but then it all goes pear-shaped: there's too much use of archival footage of the puppets, the boom mic makes an appearance, very little effort is made to make the puppets move as though they're alive, the gore is disappointing (just some blood splashed around), DeCoteau provides lots of shots of shirtless hunks (no surprises there) but no T&A from Harrison, there is an overuse of lightning and smoke to the point where it is distracting, and worse of all, the ending is ridiculously abrupt. The film simply stops mid-action, leaving the viewer to ponder whether they fell asleep and missed something. We should be so lucky.

3.5/10, rounded up to 4 for IMDb.

Based totally on the interesting looking cover I saw, I decided to see this movie. I had not seen any of the previous sequels, so I started from scratch. It starts out strange as a man is burning something and tells whatever it is that he was sorry. This man turns out to be Dr. Magrew, an old tinkering man that appears to be a scientist or something. There are these dolls, strange looking ones that move by themselves. One with a knife, a top's head, pinhead, and a cowboy with six arms. I assumed that they were evil, but they only seemed to kill humans that seemingly deserved to die. Two sheriffs and a bully were the victims. The most evil of the beings turns out to be Dr. Magrew who is turning an innocent man named "Tank" into some puppet. Jane Magrew is also innocent and for some reason loves the "Pinhead" doll. This doll loves her more than the human Tank whom she falls in love with. A very strange ending as Tank's anger gets the best of him with Dr. Magrew receiving his wrath. Poor Jane just survives but with many questions to answer with all the dead bodies laying around her house. If you like strange then this film is for you.