Puppet Master
I remember finally being able to rent Puppet Master when I was a kid. I was on the waiting list for what seemed to be forever. I brought it home and watched it immediately. And then watched it again. The next time I was able to rent movies I grabbed all the Full Moon movies I could find. I was hooked. To the point that I saved all my babysitting money in order to pay for the club membership.
Released: 1989
Runtime: 90 mins
Director: David Schmoeller
Writer: Charles Band, Kenneth J. Hall, David Schmoeller
Actors: Paul Le Mat, William Hickey, Irene Miracle
MY THOUGHTS
We have 6 kills in this movie (with an additional 2 being told to us but we don’t see it). The main bad guy, Neill (Jimmie F. Skaggs), doesn’t even do the kills. He has the dolls do it for him. We do get a throat slit and a couple of suicides by gun to the head. I find the couple's death and Neill’s final death the most interesting. Poor Carissa gets the drill to the head by Tunneler. And Frank gets the leeches by the Leech Woman. When Neill does get it we don’t see red blood, the director had to change the blood to a green liquid to keep from getting an X rating.
The acting is, well, it’s a Charles Band movie. It can be hit or miss. But I didn’t mind the acting in this movie. I have to say I liked Irene Miracle as the White Witch Dana. Jimmie F. Skaggs plays the vile and sleazy Neill really well. Just looking at him you know he’s the antagonist. But the dolls are the best for me. They don’t get a lot of air time but when they do, it’s great. My favorite has to be Blade, with the prerequisite knife as one hand and a hook in the other. But he’s also a little voyeur watching Frank and Carissa having sex. We do get Pinhead, with a little head but a muscular body and Tunneler with a drill on his head. Leech Woman regurgitates leeches from her mouth. And finally Jester is a Jester that has a spinning head. Not really a killer though.
Considering Full Moon Features has low budget movies, the practical effects and animatronics are pretty good for the time.
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If you like watching movies with killer puppets, or slasher type movies, definitely watch this. I’m a big fan of the early days of Full Moon Features so I may be a little biased. Also, who doesn’t like a movie with a quick role as a carnival patron, the great scream queen, Barbara Crampton. Nice seeing her in this movie.
And now for your Forever Final Girl Exclusive…Did you know?:
Leech Woman's mouth is made of foam latex, which makes the mouth appear to be more flexible whenever Leech Woman "coughs" up a leech. Only three quarters of the leech mechanism comes out of the puppet, and then a simple camera cut creates the illusion that an entire leech comes out of Leech Woman's mouth.
Pinhead's fists during the punching scenes are actually the fists of little person stunt woman Cindy Sorensen, who had to wear the same fingerless gloves and sweater sleeve to make it appear that it's the fist of Pinhead. Cindy cited the most difficult part of those scenes was to keep her head ducked the whole time while holding the Pinhead puppet on her shoulders and give off false punches at the same time.
The film was inspired by an earlier Charles Band production about killer toys, Dolls (1986).
The Blade puppet required five puppeteers to operate.
William Hickey was Paul Le Mat's acting teacher and they both reunited on the set of the movie.
Blade is the only puppet to have appeared on all of the VHS, DVD and Blu-ray covers of the Puppet master Movies.
Have you seen the other Puppet Master movies? Check out my other reviews here: Puppet Master Franchise.
Let’s get into the rankings:
Kills/Blood/Gore: 3/5
Sex/Nudity: 3/5
Scare factor: 3/5
Enjoyment factor: 5/5
My Rank: 3.5/5
IMDB: 5.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes: critics: 4.3/10 audience: 4/10
Letterboxd: 2.7/5