Puppet Master 4

PUPPET MASTER IV

🌕🌕🌕🌘🌑 3.2

I thought this was entertaining enough. Not as good as the third, but fun. And the puppet FX were good once again. Th whole puppet vs. Puppet concept works great on providing action and effects, and the demon-puppets are a good villain. I found there is plenty of clever stop motion here, all done very well. The acting ain't to bad either, but the psychic girl is a tad annoying. There are three issues I had with the film. The first, a small bug, is the buildup, which like in 1 or 2 takes a bit. The second, a much larger issue, is that the plot seems to feel very scrapped together, like a bunch of little pieces of a script. So when it's all patched together it feels a little disjointed. The third, another problem, is the lack of blood. I don't mean gore I mean blood. Other than a severed finger the action is never violent or bloody enough to be horror-y. Even so this film is entertaining and I recommend it to fans of the series ('sept for gore hounds) and the younger horror audience too.

The notorious Bodega Bay Inn is now inhabited by a whiz-kid science major named Rick Myers who is working for an elite team of scientists in hopes of finding out the secret of artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, in Hell, at the EXACT SAME MOMENT, a legion of evil rubbery demons send a horde of minions to the surface to kill anyone who has anything to do with Andre Toulon's elixir of animation. It certainly would be bad luck if Rick just happened to stumble upon a vial of the damning potion, now wouldn't it? Even though the plot of this particular chapter in the Puppet Master series is razor-thin and the acting stays consistently mundane throughout, it has a certain flair that most of the other entries don't. The puppets are much more likeable this time around, and their movements, although not as detailed or complex, are a lot more amusing and believable.

The ancient demon God Sutek is finally angry enough that Andre Toulon (Guy Rolfe) stole his life-giving formula that it sends some demons (tiny, of course) to the "upperworld" to get those responsible. Somehow that means scientists from a Government company, despite them having nothing to do with it. Who is involved is kid genius Rick Myers (Gordon Currie), who has discovered the puppets while doing his experiments at the Bodega Bay Inn while acting as a caretaker. Running only 75 minutes, this mess of a film actually has 5 screenwriters credited with the nonsense plot. The main point seems to be about resurrecting new puppet Decapitron (a hold over idea from Band's Empire days) and Toulon telling Rick he is the new puppet master. About the only good thing in the film is the stop motion work by Dave Allen and his crew, but it seems to be less and less with each entry. This marks a turning point with the tiny terrors being full blown good guys now. This was also the first in the PM series to feature no nudity. PUPPET MASTER 4 came out in November 1993 and the fifth entry, despite being filmed back-to-back, came out almost a year later in September 1994. Felton Perry has two scenes as a murdered scientist.

A brilliant super-nerd Rick Myers (Gordon Currie) who likes to play laser tag while rocking out to metal is conducting some experiments and doing research in the Bodega Bay Inn while he is caretaker. He feels he works much better in this environment while no one is looking over his shoulder. THE SHINING anyone? Three friends come over including his girlfriend Susie (Chandra West) and they find puppets that have been locked away since maybe some time around 1941. So, forget about parts 1 and 2 now. The puppets are brought back to life, but a demon named Sutekh (whose appearance is like a puppet as well. The biggest problem I had with this character is he wasn't scary and you just wanted to hug him) has sent three servants to get Toulon's secret.

Now, one thing I will say is the effects are getting better by 1993 and are actually getting quite effective in my eye. There is also a new puppet called Decapitron who can have different heads placed on his body. It is also through this puppet that Toulon (Guy Rolfe makes his return) appears to Rick. Strange to say the least and while the effects are getting better, this effect well wasn't a highlight I would say. Also starring Felton Perry in an almost useless role as Dr. Carl Baker.

Anyways, if you do watch it and in fact enjoy it perhaps PUPPET MASTER 5 will be for you as well as Jeff Burr directed it and is a complete sequel to this movie.

This is strange and unlike the other puppet master movies in the series. But it is funny in many ways, for instance take Cameron's high pitched shrieking of obcenities, and the Head monster at the Beginning is Hilarious looking HA HA HA. I was very pleased the girl who plays Lauren, man is she attractive or WHAT? The puppets are good guys who have to fight off Evil? What happend to the Evil gene and the lust to get brain chunks HUH? Well it's pretty cool that they are good though. The soundtrack by Quiet Riot and Joker is the icing on the cake for me. Watch this movie it's not that long. and its pretty GOOD.