Because I don't know when to leave well enough alone, I also went ahead and watched Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge (1991). This is the origin story to the Puppet Master franchise. Puppet Master Andre Toulon runs afoul of the nazis because of his political satire puppet show which mocks Hitler. Even worse, the nazis are trying to create a serum that will reanimate dead soldiers with lacking results, and have become aware that Toulon's puppets are imbued with an animating serum which he has created. They want the secrets of the serum for themselves but make the mistake of killing Toulon's wife while arresting him. Toulon escapes and uses his puppets for vengeance against the men who killed his wife.
This movie benefits from some well done production design and a group of good actors. Unfortunately the script and the slow pacing of the film hinder it in the same manner as the previous two installments. There is simply not enough story here to merit the running time, so the viewer's patience is tested waiting by repetitive scenes of nazis arguing, nazis searching for Toulon, the puppets striking against them, and the nazis being informed that so-and-so has been found murdered, and even features an excerpt from the exact same flashback from the previous movie, only without any context or purpose here. The editing is bland, and again the film lacks any suspense. Richard Band's laid back, hypnotic circus music theme music from the first movie seems to be played on a continuous loop throughout (or at least that's my impression) which doesn't help matters. This movie also contradicts several elements presented in the previous installments, and features some amusing anachronisms as tiki torches and breast implants in WWII Berlin.
The puppets also don't have much to do here, even though they are being used as instruments of vengeance. Their attacks are monotonous. It seems as if for every victim, they stab in one of their legs causing them to fall to the floor where the puppets can get at their head. Only the new puppet Six-Shooter, a lecherous looking cowboy with six arms, adds anything new to the attacks.
Okay, if you have nothing else to watch and you have some patience.
1 comment:
Even as someone who admits to loving more than my fair share of clunky, stupid horror movies I have never been able to bring myself to like any of the Puppet Master movies. They are all just so dull and slow and unimaginative. And the puppets just annoy me to pieces for no particular reason that I can put my finger on.
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