Search - Puppet Master 1 on DVD

James B. (wandersoul73) from LINDALE, TX
Reviewed on 6/22/2009...

Killer puppets, what fun!

Full Moon's Good Ol' Days

Stanley Runk | Camp North Pines | 07/12/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"All horror fans are familiar with Puppet Master whether they've actually seen any of the films or not. Full Moon's first and most popular franchise is also probably their best.

While Puppet Master will never be considered high art or pulse poundingly frightening, it's a fun movie. The first film is obviously the best of the bunch. It tells the tale of a group of psychics who are drawn to a hotel where puppet maker Andre Toulon hid his creations before his suicide many years ago. Seems that one of the psychic clan had gone out on his own to discover Toulon's secret of everlasting life and married the heiress to the hotel in order to find the puppets and discover the secret. Once at the hotel, the psychics-which consist of a feisty fortune teller, a horny couple who use their psychic gifts for more saucy studies, and the straight man who has dreams of the future-start falling victim to the evil puppets. Also roaming around is their old colleague who is now resurrected and in cahoots with the puppets.

The movie is definitely better than it probably should be. It's not scary but does manage some creepy atmospheric moments and has a good soundtrack. The puppets themselves are violent little critters. They don't speak, but utter sighs and groans and show emotion through subtle movements and facial expressions. Stop motion animation is used to show movement in the full body shots where the puppets have to run, walk, jump, etc. Some folks say it looks fake, but considering the budget, it really doesn't look bad at all. It's used briefly and sparingly, and in my opinion, looks quite good. Too many people are spoiled by the damn CGI anymore.

But any way you slice it, Puppet Master is a cheap, fun and entertaining little picture. It's just too bad Full Moon doesn't do films of this caliber anymore."