31 Days of Horror(1)

puppetmaster2

The Original

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Sorry for the delay, folks, I had a crazy bad fever last night so I took the night off because I felt like I was dying.

So if you remember last year when I did this I covered 31 Full Moon Features in 31 days.  It was awful.  Obviously, I didn’t really want to do any Full Moon Sequels but I was curious to see how the second Puppet Master sequel held up. Last year I was surprised to find that Puppet Master was actually a very well-put together movie.  It delivered poorly on puppet murder but it was a very atmospheric movie about re-animation and well above the Full Moon house quality.  Director David Schmoeller made a pretty good movie and I learned a new respect for the film.

The Sequel

A group of investigators go back to the inn on Bodega Bay where the first film took place.  Later in the movie we’ll find out that Paul Le Mat’s charcter went insane and is in a mental institution and that Robin Frates’ character died on the way back to her home planet.  The puppets realize that they’re dying without more infusions of Andre Toulon’s reanimation liquid so they dig up the good doctor himself and bring him back to life.  The puppets then begin colleting brain matter from various people.  Tunneler and Leech Woman get destroyed (inexplicably Jester lives, since he’s worthless) and Toulon creates a firebreathing puppet with bullet teeth, a nazi helmet, and a flamethrower hand called Torch.

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Does It Hold Up?

The general consensus is that Puppet Master 2 is better than Puppet Master but I disagree.  There’s certainly more puppet murders in this movie and Torch looks cool as shit.  Toulon is a more iconic and interesting villain than Neil Gallagher and those mannequins featured in the climax are legitimately frightening.  But honestly, this movie is just a rehash of the first one with better effects but a worse story.

There are too many characters, most of whom aren’t terribly important and none which are terribly distinct.  One of Puppet Master’s biggest strength was the chilling atmosphere of the Bodega Bay Inn which is completely gone here.  It looks like any other Full Moon Movie and even though it’s the usual Full Moon length of appromixamtely 80 minutes it still feels padded out.

Torch is a great addition to puppet team but he really just highlights how ineffectual Blade, Leech Woman, Pinhead, Jester, and Tunneler are.  There are obviously much worse movies in the Puppet Master series, but this one is a step down from the first film nonetheless.

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Watch, Toss, Or Buy?

I’d say it’s worth a watch.

Where Can I Find It?

Amazon has it on Blu-Ray, DVD, and Amazon Instant.