GL84 Staying at an abandoned hotel, a man and his friends experimenting on a secret project find the discarded puppets being targeted for their secret life-giving formula by the demonic originators of the formula and must help them stop the vicious creatures.This one turned out to be quite a decent and enjoyable effort. Considering it's shortened length, this one offers up a lot of good will with the fact that the puppets are placed at the forefront of the film for a majority of the time here. This impressive amount of time gives the film a rather blistering pace here that starts off nicely here with the two separate, individual attacks against the scientists featuring the rather cool new demon puppet, the enjoyable game against the puppets during the blackout as he attempts to find out the true nature of their powers which leads into the rather fun search throughout the house with the puppets helping out as well as the lead-in to the fun and enjoyably cheesy attack inside the car outside in the rain. As that itself leads into the later scenes where the puppets are tasked with holding off several big action scenes by themselves, it gives this one an extra boost as there's so many vivid and impressive scenes that rely solely on the puppets fighting each other, from the impressive battle in the kitchen where they team up against the demon in a three-on-one battle or the race to get their lifeless leader reanimated while holding off brawls with several of the demonic creatures still after them gives this one a life and energy that's quite exciting and enjoyable. Along with the fun and utterly creepy demonic-puppet look, there's a lot to like here that makes this one good enough to hold out over the film's minor flaws. The main issue here is the fact that this one really belies it's purpose as being the first part of an origin story by really running through a lot of the unsure elements of the story as there's a lot to this one that doesn't get explained. From how they manage to tie in the events from the second film which is the true predecessor in the series, the introduction of the strange demon cult that protects the entirely different set of magic that was used to originally animate the puppets and the need for a new puppet master all go by with little information if any is given at all so that on the whole this one suddenly becomes quite confusing whenever it goes into the underworld which just doesn't make any sense. As this one was all about the action scenes anyway, it isn't a surprise that many of these would go unanswered but as a stand- alone film just before the answers are given in another film yet it's still a very noticeable facet about this one. It's really the main thing holding this one back.Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

gavin6942 A young scientist (Gordon Currie) and his friends, upon being attacked by demons, are protected by a gang of animated puppets.On Super Bowl Sunday 1993, Charlie Band called director Jeff Burr and asked him to come in for a meeting. Burr had previously worked on Band's "The Vault", but the film never came out. At this meeting, Burr was offered parts 4 and 5 for "Puppet Master" and two parts of "Oblivion". At this time, Full Moon was largely backed financially by Paramount.Someone concerned with the continuity points out: In "Toulon's Revenge", Andre Toulon escaped Berlin somewhere between 1942 and 1944. Toulon committed suicide on March 15, and the film mentioned the Eastern Front, whose conduct of operations didn't take place until summer of 1941. In this film, Toulon's diary recounts Major Krauss's death as being on April 7. Since in previously established timelines, Toulon made it to America almost one year after escaping, Toulon would have to had killed himself on March 15 either in 1943 up to 1945.Who is this concerned? "Puppet Master" may be one of the worst horror franchises out there. Possibly not the very worst, because "Hellraiser" (for example) has really gone downhill to low, low depths. But really, this is Charles Band cheese, luckily saved by Jeff Burr, one of the best directors in the genre.The film is not all bad. The casting is strange and the acting is poor, but the effects are decent. Not great, as they never are in the series, but the introduction of the demons is nice and they're way better than any of the puppets. Apparently Burr had only limited impact on the casting, as he wanted Judy Geeson for a role but Charlie Band overruled him and handpicked his own actress.If you love movies, especially these lower budget movies, pick up this disc with Jeff Burr's audio commentary. Burr really needs to write an autobiography, as his memory is incredible and he is an excellent storyteller. He finds a way to fit 200 minutes worth of discussion into a less-than-90 minute film. His reflections on Albert Band and puppetry and everything else are priceless.

lost-in-limbo I remember not particularly caring much for the rest of Full Moon's direct-to-video Puppet Master films that followed on after third instalment, but I managed to come across Parts 4 and 5. I had inkling to see if I still felt the same way and after getting through the fourth film it was actually better than I remembered. Nevertheless I didn't really liked how the puppets are turned into the good guys (although you could say that was the case in the third film, but I preferred that one's revenge angle) facing off against a Sutek the ancient Eygptian God and its minions that can control totems, but credit is due to somewhat (as some familiar staples do crop up) not completely repeating itself. Directed by Jeff Burr (a regular to the genre and to sequels… who would also direct the back-to-back made filth film), does quite competently polished if mechanical job, knowing that it's the puppets themselves that are the main attraction, as the animation is well-executed and the personalities of each one of them standing out with Blade taking centre stage. I always find something unsettling about the puppet Six Shooter and his laugh and again it's no exception here. The only two that didn't appear were leech woman and torch.The whole angle has the puppets finding a new master and protecting him from the demon who wants to destroy the late Andre Toulon's work and the tone has kind of changed, while some dark glimmers I didn't find it all that creepy (with nastiness mainly occurring off-screen) and even the cliff side hotel they occupy doesn't have that dominating presence either. Some instances fell on the funny side, but the change of pace and whole drama moves by quick enough. Also it looked like it had a little more money behind it and Richard Band chimes in with an airy, majestic score. Reasonable performances by Gordon Currie and Chandra West in the leads with Guy Rolfe returning as Andre Toulon.

barnthebarn A severe backwards step for the puppets in this mainly dull and tedious outing. Guy Rolfe, so fantastic as Andre Toulon in part three barely features this time and Richard Band's fantastical them tune appears with the puppets a fair few minutes in to the film. For the start of the movie we are introduced to the caretaker of Bodega Bay Inn (Gordon Currie) and some youth friends of his (many of the cast are Canadian and are all very good in unfortunately rather undemanding roles - Teresa Hill is quite yummy). Totems, minions of the Egyptian God Sutek want the secret of animation life back and the puppets (when they surface) act with a previously unseen cleverness to attempt to destroy the ugly and very computer game looking Totems. The Totems merely complicate the series and distract from the things that previously made the series so unique - they don't share the weird beauty of the puppets and thus don't really fit in. Top scene is Pinhead using a rag to clean blood from Tunnelers drill bit, classic and about the goriest this film goes. The fifth film was filmed concurrently with this one so expect similar sections of mediocre and a Toulon performance that seems to have been filmed in a different era (or even galaxy). Guy Rolfe deserved better and series fans certainly do. Grrrrrrr.