Retro Puppet Master

In 1989, writer Charles Band and director David Schmoeller created "Puppet Master", an inventive horror film about a group of puppets magically brought to life by its maker, Andre Toulon, and took to America during World War II. While the original film and its sequel were basically straightforward slashers, the third film made an important big change in the format, moving away from horror to fantasy and setting the movie in the WWII, explaining how Toulon escaped from the War and moved to America. The following three films in the series had the Puppets as heroes and took place in the present, returning the gore and violence to the series by walking the fine line between horror and fantasy. "Retro Puppet Master", the seventh chapter of the Puppets' saga, takes the series again further into fantasy, telling the story about the origins of Andre Toulon and the Puppet's first adventure.

In turn of the century Paris, young puppeteer Andre Toulon runs a small puppet theater where every night he and his crew make a living. One night after a show, he meets Ilsa, the Swiss Ambassador's daughter who secretly watched his act, however, the circumstances of their meeting are not nice as Ilsa found the body of the mysterious Afzel after he was brutally attacked by a pair of thugs. Andre takes care of the wounded Afzel, who claims to be a 3000 years old sorcerer, but while at first he believes the man is crazy, soon Andre begins to believe, as the dying Afzel tells him the secret that will put Andre in danger for the rest of his life: the ancient gods' secret of giving life to inanimate things.

Ever since it was released, "Retro Puppet Master" became quite a controversial movie among fans of the series, as the screenplay (by Benjamin Carr) is definitely more a fantasy adventure than a horror film, making it receive many critics due to the lack of gore and suspense. Personally, I think the move really helps to the story, as for the first time in years the focus of the film is not on the Puppets, but on the Puppetmaster himself, so the toning down of the horror is a reasonable change. The story is also about how he met his future wife Ilsa, so romance plays a very important part of the story (another difference with the previous installments).

Directed by a long time Full Moon regular, the notorious David DeCoteau, "Retro Puppet Master" is surprisingly a change of tone from the typical late 90s Full Moon releases. It's a lot subtler, and even classier than other DeCoteau films, and is probably his best film in a long time. While the cinematography looks like the average TV movie and the special effects are of a terribly bad quality (due to budgetary constrains), the movie looks very good considering its a period piece, and even the score (by John Massari) fits the new tone of the film as a glove.

Newcomer Greg Sesstero has a big challenge when playing the younger version of a character that basically was created by the great Guy Rolfe (who has a cameo), however, Sestero makes a terrific job and adds a lot of charm to the role. Brigitta Dau makes a good job as Ilsa, and like Sestero often make sup her lack of experience with her charming personality. Jack Donner does a terrific low-key performance as Afzel, but the efforts of these three actors get ruined by the average performance of basically everyone else in the film.

Worth to point out are the terribly bad performances of the three servants (the main villains of the movie), who easily are the worst part of the film. While some of this may not be entirely their fault (as their lines are also the less inspired part of the script), their lack of talent make a bad role atrocious, as it literally kills what could had been a good movie. While I praised Carr's original take on Band's idea, it's safe to point out that his work does not help the film to reach its true potential, as some lines of dialog are simply awful. Many has been written about the simplistic special effects, and while sadly they are not on the level of the previous films (they are of TV Series quality at best), at least there isn't an overuse of them through the movie.

"Retro Puppet Master" has received a lot of what I think is an undeserved bash through the years, however, it's safe to say that it's one of the best film sin the series. While it certainly could had been a lot better, it really shows that Band was concerned in saving his beloved franchise (he would do a better job in "Legacy"), and DeCoteau's direction is remarkably effective (almost reminiscent of his better earlier work). While many fans don't like the change to fantasy, I think it was what this particular chapter needed. Watch it with an open mind and low expectations, and you'll be rewarded.

6/10

This is where it was said that the Puppet Master series begins, but it has also been the last Puppet Master movie made before "Puppet Master: The Legacy", so in a way you can say that it acts as a beginning and an end to Full Moon's brilliant movie series. The puppets all have a new (or since this movie has the word "retro" in the title, I suppose it's an old) look to them, but not all of them do. The ones that were left out were Torch, Jester and Leech Woman (thank God). This movie relates mostly to the storyline of Puppet Master #4 and #5. There were some scenes in this movie that I found to carry on and have less action then they deserved, such as random fight scenes. If you're ever planning on watching the Puppet Master movies, watch this one first. This was actually the last Puppet Master film that Guy Rolfe starred in, which really is a shame; he portrayed the role of Andre Toulon better than any of the previous actors. Guy Rolfe passed away in the year 2003, so that means that if any more Puppet Master movies are made (other than "Puppet Master vs Demonic Toys"),an other actor will have to play as Toulon. Let's hope that person is as good as Guy Rolfe, although that will be impossible.

David DeCoteau directed 'Curse of the Puppet Master' (the sixth Puppet Master movie) as Victoria Sloan and here directs the seventh as Joseph Tennent. Not sure why a director of some of the most ridiculous movies ever made would replace their name on their more credible work but there we go. This seventh instalment is well made and excellently acted with the last actual performance of Guy Rolfe, not just as Andre Toulon, but ever. Rolfe is without doubt one of the world's greatest actors and as Andre Toulon the most fantastical performer of Full Moon Productions' entire catalogue. This film travels back to early 20th century Paris to find the origins of the Puppets, there are a few extra puppets here that - as yet unexplained - do not appear in other films. Our favourites here, such as Pinhead; Torch and Tunneler are more traditional wooden puppets, not yet fully developed and very low on personality and colour - their oak finish makes them seem far more sinister though. For the first time Richard Band's amazing Puppet theme does not appear and is ultimately the only major error of judgement in a fun and fantastically produced addition to the series. Watch the dead homeless man on the steps though (who first gives his 'life' to the puppets) - though dead and looking almost like a puppet himself he can't help blinking in full camera shot. The film is old fashioned and almost Sunday afternoon family fun (like an old detective drama or something). Surprising.

Incredibly cheep garbage made fun by the Rifftrax team. Without their commentary it would have been very tough to sit through this crap.

Greg Sestero from "The Room" has the lead, which must be the reason they picked this one, because most PM movies can be spoofed with ease. The fact that Sestero speaks with an idiotic French accent must have been an added bonus to choose this bad sequel as opposed to other bad sequels. This leads me to suspect that the reason he got this role is because he told the casting director that he is a fluent French speaker. (I read most of his autobiography i.e. The book about "The Room".)

The puppets look more horrible than ever, as opposed to horrifying, and the "Egyptian" bad guys are the least ominous supernatural demons in the history of cinema. Based just on this laughable trio I would slap this turkey with a G rating. 3 year-olds would laugh at this movie.

Retro puppet master This tale precedes the events of Puppet Master III, and explores the origins of the puppets themselves. Sadly, as grand a concept as this has- a story starting in Egypt in the late 1800's where the secrets of a God's power are stolen and then moving to a young Toulon running a puppet show in Paris in the early 1900s, the whole affair is a little too drawn out to fulfil it's potential.

It's a shame because director Decoteau has previously directed two of the stronger Puppet Master entries- part 3 (perhaps my favourite) and 6- a fun return to form after a couple of really bad sequels.

This is not to say it's a film without merit- any fan of the Puppet Master series will enjoy finding out about how it all began, the cronies of the god are fairly sinister in an Agent Smith/ Matrix kind of way, and there are a couple of new puppets to keep you entertained.

The film could be described as ambitious too, considering budgetary constraints. Creating a period piece obviously creates complications in filming, so this, as with Puppet Master III, is admirable- the simplest route was not selected.

On the downside, the puppets themselves move especially badly in this entry- it's a far cry from the beautiful stop-motion animation of earlier films- we really are talking about movement like a 4 year old's Barbie. Also considering these are meant to be early versions of the puppets we know and love, some of these wooden versions really miss the mark. Blade especially. When looking at the cover I actually assumed Dr Death's skeletal appearance was an early, and quite impressive, early version of Blade, when in fact he's this bizarre troll-faced puppet, with only the hair and costume in common. Quite sad really, as the puppets are after all the stars. And the male lead, Greg Sestero as a young Andre Toulon, is perhaps more wooden than the puppets.

Still, it's worth renting perhaps rather than buying, (I'm not sure how much replay value it has) for those who have to know how it all began. Just don't expect anything super special.