O Mestre dos Brinquedos

I thought this would be very low-grade horror and dumb with poor special- effects, but I was surprised: it was good.....very entertaining. It inspired me to see the sequels, too, and they - most notably the third one - were good, too.

It's a little slow to start with, but once the puppets begin their attack story gets interesting, concluding with a gruesome ending. William Hickey gets decent billing in here but he's only in the film for a short time in the beginning. After that, it's just Paul LeMat and a bunch of unknown actors.

In all, not super but more-than-decent entertainment for an hour-and-a-half.

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 1 is one of the better FULL MOON / Charles Band productions. Its strength is in its weirdness. While the human actors, including Paul Le Mat, William Hickey, and Barbara Crampton in a fun cameo, are all solid enough, it's the vicious, oddly endearing puppets themselves that steal the show.

We get: #1- Blade with his knife / hook combo! #2- Leech Woman and her mouth full of bloodsuckers! #3- Tunneler's drill-head! #4- Pinhead with his super strength and mega-fists!

As absurd as this all sounds, it works!

Alex (Le Mat) and a group of fellow psychics have their collective hands full against these tiny terrors. Director David Schmoeller makes the best of the material. Yes, it's fairly silly, but it's also enjoyable and different...

You'd figure the thirtieth or fortieth movie about dolls that "live" would get stale, but "Puppet Master" has yet more to show you. They're not dolls in this movie, but rather five special puppets, crafted with love to be the companions of an old, lonely man. Jester, the quiet puppet, and last to be created, who sits back and watches is by far the most interesting. It's cool to watch his head spin around (it's made up of three distinct sections) when he changes his facial expressions.

These puppets have been "lost" for nearly fifty years when the story begins, and a bunch of psychics come to investigate the hotel. The death scenes in this movie are unique -- no one can commit gruesome murder quite like tiny little people. But even though they're rampaging the hotel, these toys aren't evil. They set a standard followed in "Puppet Master II" (a movie that, while tolerable, is no where near as good as the original) in that the puppets have no choice but to follow their master, who will eventually reap what he sows.

It's a fabulous movie, from the scenery of the old bed and breakfast at the Bodega Bay house, to the almost sweet-looking puppets (who just happen to like to murder people), and all told, I think I would have to give this movie an eight out of ten. Sure, there's simulated sex, but it's not all that bad. The movie itself is pretty tame -- there's language, humor, gratuitous (and fairly strange) sex, and violence, but it's not marked by extreme gore (well, there's a questionable part right at the very end that is a little disgusting).

One of the best reasons for watching this movie is the cast, particularly Paul LeMat as Alex Whitaker. He's excellent as the peace-keeper in the movie, as well as the first of the psychics to have a really good clue what is going on in the household. Unfortunately, even he, in the end, jumps to the wrong conclusion.

Viewers who enjoy this movie will enjoy "Child's Play", "Dolls", "Demonic Toys", and "Dolly Dearest", among other horror films. Although "Puppet Master" isn't quite as demonic as the others mentioned, and has no aspects of Satan-worship, voodoo, or demonic culture, it's still another of those "inanimate objects come to life" movies. A definite hit!

"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!