Puppet Master: Axis of Evil

Well I'm not just talking about the humans in this (although some have the emotional range of puppets). So have a plot where our good guys are trying to overcome the bad guys. There is a Japanese character in here and also a Ninja puppet. If that already made your day and you are easily satisfied you will have a lot of fun.

Actually as always good puppetry, although not as impressive as it once was. Technology has advanced and all that. And this also marks the first part of a trilogy that is connected. So Part 9-11 is like a big movie ... sort of.

As if people back during WW2 did not have it bad enough, they have to deal with Puppets too. On a more serious note though, while I guess it was up to the viewer to decide in some of the previous entries if the Puppets had good or bad intentions (appointing them a moral label/compass so to speak). A theme that was a subject in Part 8 which obviously was more a best of thing.

Whatever the case, it's Puppets against Nazis and it's a trilogy and the acting is really bad, but it's also sort of fun. Especially if you watched a few of them and don't mind all the plot holes and the inconsistencies (I didn't care and didn't notice most of them until I watched a Youtube Video named Horror Timelines) ... so there you go, and if you are a completionist like me, you'll watch it too no matter what.

In a Stateside hotel during the height of World War II, young Danny Coogan (Levi Fiehler) dreams of joining the war effort.

This film, coming in at barely 80 minutes, reused footage from previous films. So that makes this a total of 60 minutes, maybe? I cannot blame them. They needed to use a dead actor, so the footage had to be old, and it ties the story together more fluidly.

What is up with the young Nazis? Is it just me, or does the idea of two young (under 30) Nazis being the only force to infiltrate the American war effort seem silly? Jenna Gallagher was decent as Beth, and fairly attractive. The real mystery is why Full Moon regular Robin Sydney did not get the part (or any part) in this movie. She never fails to entertain and it would be nice to see her in this series.

But the real issue with this film is the anachronisms: the movie takes place in 1939, but the U.S. did not enter WWII until the Japanese attack on December 7th, 1941. So why are we fighting in France and Japan already? The concentration camp Auschwitz is mentioned, but the camp was build two years after the events depicted in this movie. The female Japanese agent mentions Kamikaze attacks, but no Kamikaze units existed until 1944.

The USA flag hanging on the wall in Danny's room has 50 stars on it, but the USA only had 48 states so there would only have been 48 stars on it (1 for each state). It was not until August 21, 1959 when Hawaii became the 50th state that 50 stars appeared on the flag.

This film needs work!

I remember watching the first Puppet Master film in my teens and thinking it was a pretty good. I remember watching the second and thinking it was pretty poor. I remember watching the third and thinking that, whilst low budget, it was a good film.

I say remember as I'm 31 now and it was quite a while a go. But being the film fanatic that I am, I still remember the puppets and their names.

Even though more Puppet Master films were made, I didn't follow the series after the third one....until I noticed that a new film had been released and that the story would take place early Toulon days - like the third film, which worked - so I thought I'd jump back in and see where the series was up to.

Unfortunately, by the 10th instalment filming is on a micro budget and it shows! I liked the story and thought it was engaging enough. I looked past some of the shoddy acting and poor performances.....but the thing I just couldn't forgive was the lack of budget given towards the puppets! It was poor and disgraceful. At no point did you feel that Blade (my favourite since the first) and co. were alive. There wasn't the slightest effort made at all. If you were to make a home movie about puppets that are alive, the best you'd be able to do to make it look convincing is move the puppet with your hand so the camera can not see - this is exactly what happened in this film. No attempt at animatronics or stop motion capture.

The original Puppet Master was made in 1989 - all these years later, it still outclasses this instalment in every department.

The good thing that did come out of this film is that my interest is rekindled and I've obtained Puppet Master 1-9 which I'm going to watch!

EDIT - Just watch 1-4 as the series goes down hill from 5 onwards :)

It's a B Movie, probably even less. It has some funny moments, but it is boring. Music was OK. About the sound effects, I realized that some were from the Computer game Gothic 1 or 2, especially that one scream sound was just stolen from the game - which somehow speaks for itself. The story was incredibly lame. The villains were strange and incapable of anything. The acting was so bad that it hurt my ears, especially the Japanese woman was capable of doing this... I had trouble taking the Nazis seriously - it was all in all more of a comedy. I liked the puppets, nice and mysterious but even those couldn't help this movie out of the horrible script. Most of the situations and almost the whole plot didn't make that much sense. I'm sorry to tell you this but it is not a movie to appreciate. It was simply ridiculous at all. After watching it I had a big question mark standing on my head: Why Nazis? They didn't do anything Nazi-like, besides hailing each other about 2 times in the whole movie - that's all and they still name it "Axis of Evil" ... At least it had some kind of atmosphere that let me watch it until the end.

David DeCoteau is a talented microbudget horror director and he's directed some of the better, more artful Puppet Master films. Parts 3, 6 and 7 are some of the most competently directed, serious and beautifully shot Full Moon films. "Axis of Evil" fits in with them, but its the weakest of his efforts through no fault of his own.

The problem with Pt 9 (since Charles Band disgustingly counts a "Best of" tape as Pt 8) is that its a much, much cheaper rehash of 7 which was a rehash of 3. The plot follows a young man fighting the Nazis in a dark urban setting, losing his loved ones and then getting revenge. Pt 3 is a good film but remaking it twice is twice too many. Worst of all is that the puppets have less to do with the story and they look shabbier in each film. Lets face it: the puppets are the stars.

Its gorgeously shot, directed as well as a fast and cheap horror film can be and you have to admire the craftsmanship of a movie filmed for peanuts, but its not entertaining or original enough. This is the 1st of a trilogy and so you don't receive any closure but you do feel a rage at the cynical money-grubbing quality of Full Moon's lesser films. What a waste of DeCoteau and a modest Puppet Master premise.