Puppet Master X: Axis Rising

Although it wouldn't really matter where you look with this particular doll (or rather puppet). So this is a direct sequel to the ninth entry to the franchise. And the second part of a trilogy. We get the surviving members of the previous movie and they get new enemies and so forth. Who'd have thunk it? I know everybody - you can't kill this franchise.

You could have done with less movies to tell the whole story of course, but whaever. So good puppetry again, not so good acting as with almost all of them, and a lot of puppet violence and death and all that. One more until the much praised "Littlest Reich" is on the horizon ...

Okay Puppet Master were never exactly good films, but compare the first movie for example to these more recent efforts and there really is a clear deterioration.

Campy, not scary, not funny, not interesting.

The second movie in the Axis trilogy it tells the story of..............every single other Puppet Master movie. More people teaming with the puppets to fight the Germans during world war two.

You'll have literally seen it all before, no originality, no advances in lore or sfx. Just a pitiful recycling of the same ideas they've been peddling since the 1980's.

One thing that did stick out however was the female antagonist, her costume, her awful German accent. Was I supposed to take her seriously? When she came on I questioned whether I'd acquired a porn parody of the film, she was ridiculous.

If you like Puppet Master films and have low expectations then you'll likely enjoy more of the same, because that really is it all is.

The Good:

Follows on well from the previous movie

The Bad:

Recasting

Some questionably bad audio quality

Cringe inducing

Stephanie Sanditz

Puppet Master movies are serious -Nobody ever.

If you are expecting this to be gritty or suspenseful, this is not your movie. Since the second one (and there are MANY Puppet Master movies) they just are not meant to be taken seriously.

They are campy, over-sexualized and goofy. And that is exactly why you watch them. Nazis with bad accents? Check. Gratuitous boobage? Check. Puppets that kill? Check check check.

This movie is what it is, a good movie to laugh at with your friends. It's made by the same folks who made Demon Toys and who have their own Roadhouse line. That should tell you what type of movie you're in for. It's worth the rental.

Blade, Jester, Tunneler, Pinhead, Six Shooter, and Leech Woman are back! Okay, maybe that doesn't really warrant an exclamation mark, but this is the tentpole franchise of Full Moon Features, now reaching ten films in all (eleven if you count "Puppet Master vs. Demonic Toys"). Writer/director/producer Charles Band is also back, but I was kind of disappointed by this sequel. Our WWII era heroes from the previous films, Danny and Beth, are back as well, though played by new actors, and find a post-WWII Nazi plot to create an army of their own evil puppets to do their bidding, using a Re-Animatior like green serum extracted from our puppet protagonists. Not that any of the films in this franchise are exactly brilliant, but this one felt too jokey. I did like it when the franchise introduced the Nazi storyline and had our homicidal puppet heroes fighting the Axis Powers, but this entry was just silly and also continued the unfortunate recent trend of Full Moon Features including casual racism, seen in this film with in addition of an evil Japanese puppet named Kamikaze. However, I do still enjoy watching little things fighting big things (i.e. "Attack of the Puppet People" "Dollman" "Child's Play" etc.) when it's not CGI, so even though this entry wasn't all that good, it did still entertain.

The movie kinda works. Sure, the recasting is annoying, but the new actors aren't THAT worse. I can even work with the lore, although if you planned a trilogy, please plan it proper, and don't forget where your characters are, or even what characters you have (pointing at Kaaaahn! to start with).

The problem is 20 minutes wasted on pure softporn between the Mad Scientist and Big Boob Bertha, followed with that another 20 minutes ungrounded medal ceremony. If that 40 minutes would be rewritten, I could even go with the nazis staying in chinatown, with an SS-car, guarding their secret door with obvious henchmen. Lesson to be learnt: if you don't have a script, you don't start shooting. Especialy if you're part of a long running franchise.