Dave DeCoteau directed the latest entry of Charles Band’s never-ending Puppet Master saga. DeCoteau also directed the highlight of the Puppet Master series, PUPPETMASTER 3: TOULON'S REVENGE. So one would expect part 6 to hold up to that film. I always thought that the original Puppet Master was an awful film with some interesting concepts and casting. These concepts were later used in the superior part 2 (which introduced the nasty Nazi-looking Blaze puppet) and part 3 (which added elements from REANIMATOR and set the story in WW2 Germany), 4 and 5 suffered from bad plotting, acting, and casting, but benefited from stop motion animation sequences and monster/puppet battles.

Now part 6 comes around and ignores the previous storylines, no more stop motion animation, and only a few of the puppets are fully utilized (Pinhead, Tunneller, and Hook). The script, the acting, the human characters, and the direction are paint-by-numbers. The pacing is weak, you swear they made up the story as they went along. I’m usually the type of person who finds something good in every bad movie but there is nothing to be found here. The only interesting element is the puppets and they are used so sparingly (and cheaply). I thought 4 and 5 was bad, but this one makes them look classic.

The story pillages the Jobe character from The LawnMower Man. The lead named Tank (Josh Green) is a complete imbecile and the entire town makes fun of him. Like Jobe’s talent for lawnmower repair, Tank’s only ability is that he can carve wood like a madman. A backwoods scientist Dr Magrew (George Peck) stumbles across the living puppets and for some unexplained reason they obey him like he was Toulon. Dr Magrew’s has plans for Tank’s sculpting ability (can you say new puppets?) and uses his hot daughter to convince Tank that he should come join them and the living puppets.

The 3 puppets mentioned above aid Dr. Magrew’s plans by killing the obnoxious town sheriff and the drilling the genitals of the town bully (in the films only bloody sequence). Dr Magrew has some twisted motivation to create an army of puppets, and Tank succeeds in creating a ridiculous new puppet which is part Tank and part TV set (it only appears in the last 90 seconds of the movie). This movie ends abruptly with a pseudo-twist ending that is so anti-climatic you’ll be scratching your head for days thinking how could anyone end a movie so stupidly?

Full Moon entertainment releases Curse of the Puppet Master in a full-frame only version as their films are primarily shot with VHS and cable TV in mind. The transfer is good. The scope of the movie does not lend itself to picturesque scenery; all scenes (even exterior ones) look like they were filmed inside a large studio. The color is right on and blacks are true, but the video quality is nothing special.

Audio is a good stereo mix. There is little sound field activity on the rear speakers, but the film is mainly dialogue driven with the patented Puppetmaster score by Charles Band coming through loud and clear.

FEATURES

There are theatrical trailers for this film and other Full Moon films not worth mentioning. There is also a behind the scenes documentary for the film (oh joy!). And of course, plenty of Full Moon merchandising material (toys, videos, comic books, etc.).

CONCLUSION

If you are a dedicated fan of the Puppet Master series (and if you are I pity you), you may be interested in the film as a curiosity piece. All others are encouraged to stay far away from it. To be fair, Full Moon has done a good job in the DVD mastering process, and the sound and video quality are above average for a low-budget release. The problems are the film itself. Someday if Full Moon is ever to get around to producing quality horror flicks (yeah right!) they could have some interesting DVD releases. Full Moon is not afraid to go the distance and produce lots of ancillary material for their films (which us DVD fans crave), but this has little value if their films suck. The problems are probably budgetary; instead of releasing say, 6 poor movies a year, they should put the funds into 2 good films. Just my 2 cents.

CURSE OF THE PUPPETMASTER is available from DVDEmpire.com

PUPPETMASTER THE DVD COLLECTION is available from DVDEmpire.com

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