Puppet Master (1989)

This is a very scary movie Puppet master II is better. Puppet master III is also better. Puppet master 4 is better. Puppet master 5 is better. This movie has a great story line. This movie also has great acting. This movie also has great special effects. This is better then The Shinning and that is not easy to do. This is a very scary movie. If this movie doe not scary you then no movie will. This a very scary movie. 5.6 is a good ratting. But this is such a great movie that 5.6 is underrating it. See this movie. It is a great movie. I give it 9 out of 10

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.

Puppetmaster (1989) ** (out of 4) A group of psychics gather at the former house of a puppet maker (William Hickey) who killed himself back in 1939. In the present day, the psychics try to figure out some of the mysteries inside the house but they're soon attacked by his puppets who are alive and well. Charles Band and his Full Moon Pictures released quite a few movies straight to video back in the day and I think it's safe to say that this here is one of the few that managed to gather some mainstream attention. The film would eventually set forth a ton of sequels and even a few rip-offs but watching the movie I was a left a little curious as to why. There's no doubt that there's some minor appeal to this thing but for the life of me I didn't see anything overly special that would make me think that we needed a ton of sequels. I think the best thing the film has going for it is the low-budget because this manages to help build up a nice atmosphere that runs throughout the film. I thought director David Schmoeller did a nice job at building up this atmosphere that at least made you feel as if you were in some sort of fantasy land where these puppets could actually be alive. With that said, that's about the only positive thing to say about the picture. One of the biggest problems is that the so-called "mystery" is so poorly done that you're bored within the first ten-minutes and it's nearly impossible to build up any excitement in regards to what's going on. Another problem with the screenplay is that it really doesn't develop any of the main characters and in the end you have a very hard time caring for any of them and you really don't care if any of them live or not. I thought the special effects were fairly decent considering how low the budget must have been but there are a few moments where the puppets just seem to be much bigger than they actually are. There's one scene with a puppet whose head is ultra-small has its small hands around the neck of a woman and for some reason the hands are big enough to fit around her large neck. This scene doesn't work because it's obvious the hands belong to someone else but the biggest issue I had with all of the puppets was the fact that they simply weren't scary. The R-rated film offers up some brief sex scenes, some nudity and some blood but nothing overly memorable. The performances are decent at best but it's always nice to see Hickey but sadly he isn't around for long.

Before I start the official review, I'd like to congratulate Charles Band. Over the past thirty years or so, he has made a name for himself and his film companies by making some of the most memorable cult flicks. And his work ranges from horror and sci-fi to fantasy and even children's movies. Amazingly enough, he must have inherited those marvelous traits from his father Albert Band, who made the wonderfully creepy I BURY THE LIVING. Even his brother, Richard, has inherited some of those traits. In particular, he's provided nifty music for many of Charle's films. Anyway, when talking about Charles Band, you'd have to include the PUPPETMASTER series, the DEMONIC TOYS series, the PREHYSERIA series, as well as the incredible adult BEAUTY AND THE BEAST retelling called MERIDIAN. And that's just to name a few. At this moment on IMDb, under PRODUCER credits, he has a total of 244 films under his belt. If that's not a monumental achievement, I don't know what is! Now the review. Back in the 1940s in a hotel, a brilliant puppet master named Toulon learned how to bring his creations to life. However, when Nazis come to seize his discoveries, Toulon kills himself. Flash forward about fifty years and now a team of psychics come to the old hotel. What they discover is grisly as one by one, the aforementioned puppets come back to life and start claiming lives. The stop-motion puppet effects are seamless and lifelike. Each individual puppet is so unique. Some sport hooks and one even has a drill on the top of its head. Though I find the plot meandering, it holds your attention. From this modest little production would spawn ten movies to date, including PUPPET MASTER VS DEMONIC TOYS. Clearly Mr. Band is taking a cue from Universal Studios, having two successful movie monsters battle it out. Not to mention the numerous Godzilla and Gamera movies. Acting is pretty good, though a couple performances are a little wooden. No matter, the real stars are the puppets and special effects. So I advise you to sit back and enjoy, with or without popcorn and/or beer!