Puppet Master 1

She's perfect...gorgeous face, great figure, porcelain skin, raven hair down her back. She has only one flaw. She has a habit of gagging up thick, mucous-covered leeches while making deep, retching noises. Personally, I'd just think of England and avoid kissing her.



She's Ms. Leech, and the major delight of Puppet Master I is watching her and her other pint-sized companions, Blade, Pinhead, Jester and Tunneler do their stuff. We meet them in the Bodega Bay Inn when a small band of psychics arrive to learn why they seem to be getting strange mind messages from a former colleague, a man named Neil Gallagher. But it turns out Gallagher is dead...we see him in his casket. We also see him sitting in a chair and waltzing wearing white mask. We see him at the head of the table when his friends gather for dinner. Could it be that Gallagher discovered the secret formula an old puppet master named Andre Toulon used to bring life to his puppets? Hmmm. All we know for sure is that 50 years ago, at this very same Bodega Bay Inn, Toulon hid his puppets in a secret compartment, then fired a bullet into his mouth as Nazi agents burst in his room.



And now, in 1989, in the dead of night and in this deserted Inn, Blade, Pinhead, Jester, Tunneler and Ms. Leech seek out the visiting psychics and the Inn's lone maid to slash, smash, strangle, burrow and regurgitate them to death. Only Alex Whitacre and Megan Gallagher, Neil's wife, will survive that night. They find themselves at that same dining table, this time with the bodies of their friends slumped in chairs...and with a live Neil Gallagher maniacally announcing his hideous plot to bring life, not just to puppets, but to corpses.



But what's not to love about murderous little dolls? If a cult film requires a silly but amusing plot, home-spun acting that brings smiles, a stuffed pekinese that shows a lot of talent and death charging at you at ankle level, then Puppet Master is one of the best of the cult films. Among my favorite characters were Irene Miracle as Dana Hadley, a whiskey-swigging voluptuous psychic; Jimmie F. Skaggs as Neil Gallagher, a thin, prancing actor with a face like one of his puppets; Ms. Leech, of course; and Tunneler. When Tunneler goes to work on your face you'll wish you were back in your dentist's chair having a root canal done.

Overall, this is rather one of the pathetic B-horror movies of the late '80s along with "Night of the Demons" and, let's not forget, the ouija board film "Witchboard", a film made by Kevin Tenney who also produced "Night of the Demons" and "Witchtrap".
Now, I'm obviously a male and one in his prime when I go into the next topic of this film. The erotic sex scene, played by Kathryn O'Reilly and a male actor that I care nothing for, is incredible. I have to admit that I have never seen a woman so sexually charged in front of a camera. It is obvious that it was all fake just by taking a quick glance at the bedsheets when she is on top of him. But, regardless, I'm sure that most heterosexual men that view this part of the film think one thing: "How come my girl doesn't do me like that?"
Maybe, that could be a cue for women who complain about never getting any from their mates. Well, some of the best tips are actually in these B-horror films. They may have been rediculous regarding acting abilities and authentic appearances of the physical matter. But, the ideas for eroticism are actually more enticing than Playboy or your local Barnes & Noble psychology section of sexuality books.
Anyways, if you're looking for some legitimate scares from a horror film, Puppet Master does not hit the spot unless you're seriously paranoid about dolls coming to life. THEN, maybe there's a shot for a few frights. But, if you are seeking inexpensive ways to induce your lover into more foreplay without the overly explicit material of pornography, B-horror films are an optional source. Some scares, kinky scenes of imagination, and some actors to laugh at and wonder "how the %&*% they got on the set in the first place", then it's a date!

Low-budget horror movies are often unwatchably bad. A lot of thought and effort went into this one, however. The result is that it's something of a classic in the killer doll/killer puppet genre. Of course, it's meant to be funny, but not in a self-consciourly ironic or over-the-top way. It still has elements of genuine horror. The sequels seemed to get progressively worse, but 2 and 3 aren't bad.

The creeps that are selling this and saying that it is hard to find are lying..............Go to www.fullmoondirect.com and the Puppet master 1-3 is avaliable. They covers are in spanish but the movies play in English.........with optional spanish subtitles that you could turn off. The covers are basically the same. But they are authentically distriubuted by fullmoon...............

Since there are a limited amount of reviews for this movie series, i'll give a quick synopsis for the first film:

Back in the late 1930's puppet-maker Andre Toulon (played by William Hickey) found the secret of life and has instilled it into his creations - various puppets with uncanny abilities to kill. Nazis are out to find out his secret but they are unable to (sorry, don't want to spoil it), and then the movie flash forwards to present day 1989. A group of psychics attempt to figure out Toulon's secret by staying at the hotel he was at in the past, but come to find themselves stalked by the puppets that he created!

A great and wonderful movie if you like this kind of thing. If you like movies like Dolls, Evil Dead 2, Night of the Demons, and Tales From the Darkside episodes, then chances are, you will love this film. It would be wrong of me to bash this movie like other reviewers because I cannot hold it up to the same criteria as I would other movies. It's just not fair. These movies are for b-movie horror fanatics. As a result of which, you likely enjoy a movie with a little extra cheese - and this one delivers! It also has a fair amount of gore and gruesome deaths. Often times, movies of this caliber pick up the pace as the series goes on, and i'd definitely say that the series gets better. Part 1 sets the groundwork, and as a result, you may have to be a little more patient with it. To it's credit, the dolls come out in the beginning. But there is a considerable amount of down time in between then and the time their killing spree begins again. This is the story setting itself up and I, at least, feel that it's worth it to get to the point of the story's cooler parts.

The dvd itself is from the now defunct Full Moon pictures. They did a great job on these dvds considering the fact that these are b-movies and often times all we get is the presentation, a menu, and a trailer (as was the case with Dolly Dearest). With this dvd, you get a behind the scenes featurette (the same one found on the vhs), cast bios, trailer, and some Full Moon ads for other movies and Puppet Master Toy Products. Although the latter is useless since the company isn't around anymore, it was fun for me to look at, if nothing else, to waste a little time.

It's a shame these dvds aren't in production anymore. If you want one movie, you'll pretty much have to buy the whole set. On here, the prices for these are outrageous. As of present day, you can get the whole set on www.fullmoondirect.com Nevermind the huge fees from sellers on here and ebay. You can purchase it directly from the company for a far cheaper price. The whole series is very fun to watch if you are a b-movie horror fan, and it's not fair that major studios haven't gotten their acts together and made this film series readily available. The series itself has their own fans and could welcome newer fans if they were easier to find.

My final verdict: If you like killer doll movies or cheesy horror flicks, then do whatever you can to view this set. If you are unsure about spending an extraneous amount of money for something like this, then go down to your local mom-and-pop rental store and pick up a vhs copy of the first. If you like it, chances are, you'll have fun with the rest of the series and can go from there to obtain the set for a reasonable price at fullmoondirect.com