IHR induction #42: "Puppet Master" (1989, David Schmoeller)

Well, this marks a first for the International (National) Horror Registry - a direct-to-video film. Remember the days of rampant, brick-and-mortar video stores, loyal reader? Remember countless classic VHS covers looking back at you, often with words like "Massacre" and "School" screaming back at you along with the bloody images? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

To be sure, "Puppet Master" is some kind of revolutionary film. Not in the way that anything it does is minty fresh - you've seen a thousand "killer doll" movies before this one, and probably a thousand after. But "Puppet Master" was the proof that not only COULD a movie that didn't have any sort of theatrical release do gangbusters business, but that it could hold water among some stiff competition in the horror community, and be kinda-sorta recognized as a modern classic in its own right. In addition to that, it put its film studio on the map. Full Moon Pictures, which has gone on to produce approximately 9,000 low-budget doll-related movies since (including about 1,000 sequels to this particular motion picture), was in its VERY early days when Blade, Tunneler, Leech Woman and the rest came along. After that, it became a veritable factory. This movie was very much the project designed to make a name for Full Moon, with studio head Charles Band even penning the script.

Since this IS a DTVHS film, however, you probably know what you're getting. The actors may be decidedly non-Shakesperian, the budget may be nineteen leagues below anything Michael Bay has ever even THOUGHT about attempting, and some of the writing may be a bit...suspect, but who cares? You've got killer dolls, a couple sex scenes, some admittedly awesome kill scenes, and an intereseting twist on the slasher subgenre, and you indeed do have a movie that deserves the "modern classic" tag.

THE MOVIE!!

The first scene in this movie introduces us to Andre Toulon (William Hickey), creator of several bizarre "living" marionette puppets brought back to life via some very shady Egyptian magic, is putting the finishing touches on his newest creation, Shredder Khan (who is summarily never seen again). The time period: 1939, pre-war America (California's Bodega Bay Inn to be exact). Almost as if on cue, two Nazi spies burst into the hotel with hostile intent, prompting Toulon to shoot himself in the mouth before the Nazis are able to capture his creations.

Flash forward fifty years, where we meet our true primary characters in the movie. As opposed to having a group of teen/college students serving as fodder for the killer dolls, which would have been the wholly expected and wholly welcome thing, Puppet Master takes a truly bizarre turn and gives us a group of adult psychics as protagonists, or antagonists, depending on your point of view. I say antagonists because with the exception of Paul Le Mat's Alex character, every single one of these mentally gifted adults is a douchebag in some way or another.

Here's the The simple setup of "Puppet Master": the psychics are drawn to the Bodega Bay Inn because they all have disturbing dreams involving the place believed to have been sent from Neil Gallagher (Jimmie Skaggs, who is pretty slimy - as well as hammy - in this role). Little do they know that Andre Toulon's creations from half-a-century ago are still around, and are none too pleased about the master's home being invaded by these guys. As the script goes swimmingly along, the film takes on a very familiar "slasher movie" approach, as two of the characters - Alex and Megan (Robin Frates) - immediately stand out as the only two people in the movie that don't scream "kill me" within the first 30 minutes. Our big climax arrives after the puppets have disposed of all the secondary psychics, leading to a pretty predictable twist involving the Neil Gallagher character.

This flick's ace in the hole amidst all the tedium is the puppets themselves. In a movie with some pretty uninspired concepts and execution (even the direction by David Schmoeller looks drab), one would expect the puppets to be the same - but you would be very, very wrong. The little devils are designed well, the stop-motion photography is decidedly less than mock-worthy, and the ways that they dispose of their victims in the movie results in some pretty ingenious stuff, especially the death scene during the movie's climax. While I've significantly downgraded by stance on this movie over the years, one thing that hasn't fell off at all is my love for this one particular kill scene, which is still just as long, protracted and graphic even after 15 viewings. Awesome, awesome stuff.

The quick rundown on the cool killer dolls of "Puppet Master" for the uninitiated:
Blade - trenchcoat wearing master of stabbing weapons, with a knife for one hand and hook for another
Leech Woman - The group's only female, who vomits bloodsucking leeches onto her victims, which leads to another classic death scene
Pinhead - No, not Doug Bradley; this movie's Pinhead is the "brute strength" puppet of the bunch, ever-present in a lot of the movie's scarier moments.
Tunneler - Some of the movie's bloodiest moments are because of this guy, aptly named because he has a drill built into his head.
And, amazingly enough, there are several more, both in this movie and in the sequels.

Well, it's conclusion paragraph time. What more is there to know about "Puppet Master?" There's a pretty enjoyable performance by Paul Le Mat, some excellent special effects work from David Allen (with both the puppet and gore effects), and some pretty damn amazing kill scenes. In between, there's a whole heap o' tedium, but if you can get through this movie's more mundane moments, there's a pretty big reward to reap. For the record, if you want a "Puppet Master" movie that has a more satisfying story, go with the third entry, which focuses entirely on Andre Toulon during the days of World War II. That one doesn't just have some awesome new toys, but some genuinely GOOD actors to boot.