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Puppet Master In the mid eighties Full Moon Pictures brought us a brand new horror film using a well done frame by frame animation tactic, bringing to life a group of animated dolls. Our story opens a few years before the present where the old man Toulon is sought out by a pair of gestapo looking agents at an old oceanside hotel. We find that this old man is indeed The Puppetmaster. After he tucks his little dolls away he puts a gun in his mouth and blows his brains out, taking the secret of animation with him. A couple years later a group of psychics that are linked through their powers get a very strong feeling to seek out their old collegue at an old hotel. After they arrive they find that their old friend has since died and his wife is left behind to host them. She tells them a story of her husband's facination with the hotel. In the end he would spend day and night in the upper section of the building, allowing no one to enter. His work was kept a secret. Pretty soon the guests are being picked off one by one by the little puppets. There's Blade, Tunneller, Pinhead, Ms. Leech and Jester. These five puppets are now under the command of an evil residing in the hotel. I won't spoil it and tell you who. The original puppetmaster's find has now become corrupted, making the dolls killers. Will they be forced to kill everyone and accept their new evil master for eternity?
Watch the Puppetmaster movie trailer in QuickTime format by clicking here
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Puppet Master II A few years after our first Puppet Master flick came around we had a sequel, again by Full Moon. This sequel features the same hotel. A small paranormal investigation team funded by the government are sent to the hotel to check out the story of Whitaker (The surviving psychic from the first movie). Apparently he's gone crazy after the first film's events and no one in the paranormal research team believes him. But that's their downfall. The puppets are very much alive and have a plan of their own. The puppets use the last of their animating solution to revive their dead master, Toulon. With his help they can make a new batch of syrum that will revive them for another half century. Unfortunately, after a couple of decades in the grave Toulon doesn't look too good. He's forced to roam around the hotel wrapped up like The Invisible Man. Even though he's been dead for a long time, his love for his deceased wife is strong. After revealing himself to the research team as "Eric Charnee" his warped mind falls in love with Carolyn, a team member that resembles his wife. Toulon's tendencies become crazed as he believes that Carolyn is his wife incarnate. His plan is to enslave Carolyn's soul as well as his inside human sized mannequins. Using the puppet's animation syrum, his plan is to live forever with his new bride. He commands the puppets to kill everyone but her and then takes her hostage for the finale. Will the puppets mind Toulon using the rest of their syrum for his insane idealism? I guess you'll have to rent it and find out. On a personal note, I thought the performance of Steve Welles as Toulon/Charnee was superb. The mummified villain has some interesting dialogue and presents it in a creepy manner. His character is very entertaining.
Watch the Puppetmaster II movie trailer in QuickTime format by clicking here
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Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge This has got to be my favourite Puppet Master of them all. This chapter is a prequel set in Nazi Germany. It opens with Major Kraus of Gestapo headquarters pressuring Dr. Hess to finish his experiments so the men on the frontlines wil have a means to win the ground war. Dr. Hess believes that he can reanimate the dead so that they can be used as human shields on the front. So far his experiments have failed and time is running out. Herr Toulon and his lovely wife Elsa live their lives making the local children laugh with their magnificent puppet show. Unfortunately Toulon's subject matter concerns political satire, mocking Der Fuhrer. When Lieutenant Stein, a fellow puppeteer and stool pigeon for the third reich, confronts Toulon about his show's dangerous content, Toulon pays no mind. After Stein all but threatens Toulon to change his show or else, he stumbles onto the fact that Toulon's puppets are alive. You can imagine what happens when Stein reports his find to Major Kraus. Dr. Hess needs to talk to this Toulon before Kraus executes him. In a standard facist way, Kraus shows up to Toulon's residents, kills his wife and takes him and the puppets prisoner. Naturally, Toulon escapes and begins a mission of vengence against those who killed his wife. Of course, the puppets are more than happy to oblige his wishes. Kraus is now under pressure from his superior, General Mueller to find Toulon so Dr. Hess can extract the information that he possesses. Will the Nazis be granted the power of reanimation? Or will Toulon make them cry mercy with the help of his little minions? You don't want to miss this one folks!! Watch as our friend Blade is constructed out of hatred!!!
Watch the Puppetmaster III movie trailer in QuickTime format by clicking here
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Puppet Master IV Unfortunately the Puppet Master series takes a severe downfall after part 3. I was considering not even placing the next films in this gallery but I guess you could call me a completist. So here goes... This film takes place back at the old hotel in present time. A young genius named Rick Myers is working on an artificial intellegnce experiment and happens to stumble upon Toulon's puppets and the secret syrum. Needless to say he's flabbergasted by the puppet's intellegence. They represent everything he's worked very hard to achieve. But all is not well. An evil God who controls the power of reanimation sends his pawns into the earth realm, guised as small demonlike creatures. Their mission is to destroy Toulon's secret and the puppets, making everyone around them fodder for the body count. The puppets have the fun task of taking on life forms that are the same size as them. When the threat of the dark lord's demons is made apparent the puppets bring out a new friend, Decapitron. As described in the third movie each of the puppets harbour a soul of an individual who was killed but wished to go on living. Decapitron is no exception, but he is exceptional. The soul inside him is none other than Toulon's. Toulon manifests himself through Decapitron's flexible head and bids the new puppet master good luck as they set off to destroy the outworld invaders.
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