Puppet Master Series - 1989-2016

Puppet Master Series– 1989-2016 – Full Moon Pictures

Alright, so instead of just talking about one movie, what we are going to talk about is a series of movies, because I can't talk about just one. (They are like Lays chips to me.) Full Moon Pictures have been releasing these underrated gems for the last 27 years, with the last due for release sometime this year. One of the things that makes this series different than most is that it was not released in chronological order. Now as cool as this is, it has caused some problems because one film that was released first might have an event happening during a certain date and a film that was released later might change the date. And sometimes the backstories of the puppets might be a little bit different. But really, we can all look past that right?

The human actors and actresses that play the “lead roles” in these films are just supporting characters for the true stars, which are the puppets. They are brought to life by powerful Ancient Egyptian magics and are completely sentient, they think, feel, and react all on their own. (However, this is not always a good thing.) Throughout the series, the puppets go through changes in their demeanor as well as their motivations for what they do. And this is usually credited to the will of whoever is the “Puppet Master” at the time. In this, it is easy to really see them as not really good or evil, just sort of there in between. They have their own moral code that is special to them.

None of these films were theater releases, they were all straight to video. But that has not stopped them from having a cult following that has spawned numerous sequels, one crossover film, and a bunch of merchandise. You can find all of these goodies at fullmoondirect.com. (Shameless plug for my favorite production company). These films are considered “Low-Budget” “B-horror” movies. But even in this category, they are in a class all their own.

Ok, so let's find out a little bit about the story of these little guys and girls. Not going to spoil anything, just a brief overview of what the series is about. So. Andre Toulon, (Played by Guy Rolfe, Greg Sestro, Steve Welles, though you never actually see his face, and my personal favorite, though he is only in one film for less than 10 minutes, the wonderful William Hickey.) was a puppeteer in the early 20th century. He works doing a show with dear friends, each of who has a puppet they portray. He meets the woman that will become his wife, Ilsa, in Paris in 1902. Later in life, he attracts the attention of the Nazis due to his portrayal of the Fuhrer as well as having puppets that move without strings. This gets the attention of the Nazi Occultists as they are looking to make super soldiers from dead soldiers. And that magic is what is at the center of all of the movies, whether it is during WWII or the present day, there seems to always be someone who wants the magic for themselves, usually for their own sake. Andre and his wife never have children of their own, so they love to do shows and interact with children and treat the puppets as their children.

So would you like to meet their children? Well, I would love to introduce you.

First up is Blade. He is considered the leader of the puppets through it is unspoken, the puppets seem to look to him for guidance when they are unsure. He is one of 3 puppets to appear in all of the films as well as he is the only puppet to be featured on every cover of the films as well as the box set. His appearance is a bit haunting with his gaunt white face, seemingly empty eye sockets, long white hair, and completely black clothing. Blade has a hook for his left hand and a knife on his right. (Hrmmm name is Blade and he has blades for hands..... go fig.) He is, in my opinion, the most bloodthirsty of the puppets and has the highest kill count of all. He is fiercely loyal to whoever is the “Puppet Master”, as long as you adhere to the puppets' moral code. His eyes are not actually empty, he has spear-shaped “bullet eyes” that “pop” out when he sees something that shocks him or makes him really angry. He also does not speak but does make small noises depending on his mood. SO in his case, if you see the points in his eyes and hear him hiss..... you should run.

Next up, my personal favorite, Jester. It is hard not to fall for this little guy. He is the most expressive of the puppets, mainly to do with his face, which has 3 sections that he can rotate to express whatever he is feeling at the time. The sections of his face are his forehead, middle face, and chin. He can look happy, devious (this one is pretty creepy), sad, angry/surprised/scared (these three all look the same). He does not speak either, but he does make sounds to express his feelings. Jester is more of the heart of the group. They tend to take care of and watch over him as he is not as powerful as they are. He has the lowest kill count of all the puppets. He is also the puppet that has the most costume changes throughout the movies. He is the second of the three puppets that have appeared in all of the movies in the franchise. Jester seems to prefer to be the lookout or decoy for the others to do whatever needs to be done.

Lastly, for our purposes, is the strongest of all the puppets, he is known as Pinhead. This is for two reasons, first of all, His head is the smallest of all the puppets, and he is not very bright. He is a prime example of all brawn and no brains. He is unnaturally strong and can use his huge hands to punch really, really hard as well as move or drag a full-sized human with ease. He is the third of the puppets to be featured in all of the films. He is also the tallest at 1'7”. Under the right circumstances, he is a gentle giant and would prefer to have affection lavished on him then to have to hurt people.

Many other puppets are important to the series but I am not going to list them all as we would be here for the next few months. I encourage everyone to watch the series and decide for themselves who their favorite puppet is. I would love to hear who you love and why.

If you can find and watch all of the films in this series, they are a great Saturday Afternoon Binge series. They aren't really that scary, or gory, and the nudity/sexuality is pretty low key or hinted at. The development of the puppets is pretty cool because when the series was first started in 1989, the puppets were mostly stop motion, stick, and string puppets and now they have evolved into CGI characters, though the dolls are still used for interaction with actors. And even with them becoming CGI, they didn't sacrifice any of the personality or individuality that the puppets have.

Let's talk a bit about the best order to watch the films in. You can watch them by release date, but you are going to do so much bouncing back and forth in time that you will be left confused and frustrated. Trust me, since I am have been a fan of the series since the beginning, I have done this...... Oh, the brain hurts... The best order to watch the films and the way to enjoy the movies the most is as follows:

Retro Puppet Master

Puppet Master 3: Toulon's Revenge

Puppet Master: Axis of Evil

Puppet Master X: Axis Rising

Puppet Master: Axis Termination

Puppet Master

Puppet Master 2

Puppet Master 4

Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter (Cause every good franchise needs a “Not-so” final chapter)

Curse of the Puppet Master

Puppet Master: The Legacy

Now there will be things that you will see that are inconsistent, but they are pretty small and are easy to look over. As I have said before, these are great Saturday afternoon movies when you just want to have some fun.

Alright now to the important stuff... Ratings:

1 out of 5 – there is a sex scene that is a bit “intense” in the 1989 movie and another in the second film but other than that, there is more hinted at sexual comments than actual nudity and sex.

3-4 out of 5 – this is for the entire series, mainly because in each movie there are at least 3-5 deaths.

3 out of 5 – There are quite a few bloody deaths, like a drill to the head or being burned alive. Again this is for the series as a whole.

2 out of 5 – This is not really a scary series, there are a few jump scares, not many and some of the death scenes could be scary to little ones. But overall, I would say this is not nightmare-inducing unless you have a fear of dolls.

3 out of 5 – As I have said before this movie is not overly terrifying but there are death scenes that might bother younger viewers or viewers that are not the biggest horror fans.

Recommendations:

Blood Dolls

Demonic Toys

Puppet Master vs. Demonic Toys (This is not actually part of the series, it was made for the Sci-Fi channel, please keep that in mind when you watch it.)

Dead Silence

Subspecies – This is another series made by Full Moon Pictures.