Jakoba
True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.
kosmasp
Someone else claimed this movie, that is I guess considered a classic of some sorts, and kicked off a movie series that is quite long and will get another offspring in 2018, which has quite some buzz surrounding it, a slow Cultclassic. Some may also want to add dull I guess to it. Especially if you watch the R-rated cut of it.There are some differences to the unrated cut, which takes things a bit more to the extreme (nudity but also violence wise). Still the opening minutes feel like a very weird movie in itself with dreams and whatnot. Almost 10 minutes in some kind of normal movie starts, which is all nice and decent. But has the usual holes in plot and more importantly logic. Of course having Puppets being alive takes logic in general almost entirely out of the equation. But having someone not crying for help and letting it play out like a "joke" during the leech scene for example is kind of ridiculous - up to you if that's fine or good rather than just plain bad.One of the things that I think works very well in its favor is the Puppet work. Or the effects in general if you take into account that this is a low budget 80s movie. So if you have a heart for movies like that - knock yourself out
SnoopyStyle
Puppetmaster Andre Toulon (William Hickey) was hunted by Nazis and shot himself at the Bodega Bay Inn 50 years ago. Present day Neil Gallagher invites his psychic friends Alex Whitaker, Dana Hadley, Frank Forrester and Carissa Stamford to the Bodega Bay Inn but they find Neil had already killed himself.It's too bad that the great William Hickey is dead in the first 10 minutes. This movie badly needs great actors. The acting in this is stiff and uncompelling. The production value never rises above B-movie level. The best thing about the entire movie is the great campy puppets. They are amazzzing.
John Tedrick
The Puppetmaster, the flagship picture for Full Moon Entertainment, was the start for a huge line of B-budget productions by Charles Band, some of them being cheap, Z-grade garbage, others being halfway-decent yet unmemorable quickie-films. Then there are the Full Moon films that stick with you despite their faults. The Puppetmaster belongs to the third group. To this day, this film has held a place for me where so many have fallen to the wayside. It's one of those few in its genre that has a lasting effect. The script is banal and FARRRRR from spectacular, and yet I can remember most every line of it even though I haven't seen it in six months. The special effects are indeed B-budget, but even so they capture my imagination in ways that some CGI movies today couldn't hope to; the puppets involve me rather than detach me. The theme, performed by Band's brother Richard, cannot be repelled from my mind, while many Big-budget show-tunes escape me only days after I hear them. There's something about this low-budget film that really grabs you. So is not to say that this film is without any flaws. In fact, it's rife with them. On the surface, there are many technical goofs in the film (the scene in the elevator, with Tunneler's arm rods being vaguely visible, is an example.)More internally, the script is weak in one major respect: its characters. None of the film's characters feel very real; each feels more like a caricature, made to cater to a certain stereotype or mold. For example,we don't learn much about the character of Dana Hadley, played by Irene Miracle,other than that she's an alcoholic witch. The same can be said about the characters of Frank Forrester and Carissa Stamford; we are led to believe that they are both brilliant minds and lovers, yet all we see are a couple of sex-crazed numb-skulls. The protagonist, Alex Whitaker, played by Paul Le Mat, is one of only two characters that doesn't quite ply into a stereotype. Instead, he's sort of an uninvolved character, who doesn't say much to reveal anything about his personality.And thus, he's sort of a weak protagonist. This is Puppetmaster's biggest problem: while the film has the air of mystery and spookiness, the scares aren't as strong because we don't care too much about the characters. The motives of these characters are fairly well-clarified, they're just missing something: emotion. I don't recall a single human emotion, other than fear or distaste, being shown to me. And the characters lack that third dimension because of it. If the movie had characters that you could like and feel for on top of its other elements, it would be better twofold because the scares would be more potent. The flaws in character don't mean that Puppetmaster is a bad film. In fact, I very much enjoy this film as well as the series as a whole, and I would recommend at least giving it a try, especially if you're a horror fan. After all, it's only 83 minutes long, and moves quickly. As for me, I'm actually in the process of finalizing my own script for a remake of The Puppetmaster, if only for my own satisfaction in doing so. A remake where you enjoy the puppet master atmosphere, that mystery it has about it, but also feel for the characters, scaring you even more when they are offed. I think that's what any knowledgeable fan would want.
