Puppet Master Week: Puppet Master II

Salutations everyone and welcome back for Day 2 of Puppet Master Week. When we last left our maleficent marionettes, they held quite a party for the psychics and that may have ended all in tears. Now, we find the mischievous little monsters breaking into Shady Oaks Cemetery uncovering the grave of Andre Toulon, Pinhead working diligently to clear off the dirt to find his dearly departed master.  This is Puppet Master II.

I still don't see your ball.  just take the penalty so we can play!

With Blade, Leech Woman, Jester and Tunneler by his side, Pinhead pours Toulon's formula over the decaying skeleton giving it life again. Why they waited a year before raising their beloved master, coupled with the fact he has been dead for 50 years, shouldn't he almost be dust?

Months later, a group of parapsychologists, led by Carolyn Bramwell (Elizabeth Maclellan of Friday's Curse, Jake and the Fatman, Santa Barbara, Puppet Master 2 and Crash and Burn) is trying to discover there is any truth to the ramblings of Alex Whitaker from the previous movie. Claims and accusations of a formula raising the dead does perk some ears up. With that logical conclusion, our brilliant shrinks head for Bodega Bay Inn, to investigate. Along with Carolyn is her brother Patrick (Gregory Webb of Boone, Falcon Crest, Running Mates and It's a Living), Camille (Nita Talbot of Search for Tomorrow, Girl Happy, That Funny Feeling, Night Shift and Spider-Man: The Animated Series) and Lance (Jeff Celentano of American Ninja 2: The Confrontation, Puppet Master II, The Player, Windfall and Moscow Heat) as they just move into to the hotel. Permits, contacting a landlord or executor of the estate is not a big issue apparently.

Medieval Darkman misspoke the words.

Camille is nabbed by the puppets with no hide nor hair of her left to be found. Plot device convenience brings Camille's son, Michael (Colin Bernsen of Double Trouble, Future Shock, Savage Land, The Glass Cage, Sliders and Cover Me) to visit the hotel. As luck would have it a bandaged fellow Eriquee Chanee' (Steve Welles of Biohazard, Shooters, Solar Crisis and Baywatch) standing about the same height and build of Andre Toulon, claims to have inherited the house and was in Bucharest prior to their arrival, graciously allows them to stay and find whatever it is they are looking for. A mystery indeed.

Odd things and deaths occur when it would appear that Toulon resurrected after all these years has gone completely unhinged, claiming that Carolyn is the reincarnation of his late wife. Yeah, that old chestnut that horror gets WAAAAAAAAAAY too often. Will Carolyn's soul and body survive? Are we going to see the book of the dead somewhere in here? And what of Scarecrow's brain?

Just some notations on the film now. David Allen Productions, once again show their capabilities in stop motion animation and animatronics. Creating a new puppet Torch, 4 versions had to be made for safety on the set as he flambes people in different scale and shots. Their puppet could shoot flames as long as 10 feet. When still linked to Paramount for distribution, the studio executives disliked the puppet Leech Woman and demanded it be destroyed because they didn't want her for future sequels. The funny thing is, she has made a comeback for Puppet Master III.... or did she?

With brief nudity, the gore has kicked up a notch but no more than the previous film.

Hey that's not Tom Servo!

Puppet Master Week: Puppet Master

Well let's get this started and welcome to Day 1 of Puppet Master Week. Logically we will begin with the first film but first I wanted to give a little detail on the creator of this bizarre series Charles Band. Less than thrilled how distribution occured in the states and overseas, Band formed Empire Pictures in 1984 to produce and distribute his films and make sure of return on the profits. As the VHS market was just being its mass allotment, Empire Pictures had allied itself with Wizard Video for their contacts and they only became a power in the industry for producing two horror games on Atari 2600 in 1982, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween. Imagine the scandal of horror games pre 8-bit. As Italy had its fluctuation or many economic issues, most of the low budget films Band was making hailed from the region causing him leave and return to the US of A. Forming the company Full Moon Pictures. Aside from ambition behind the scenes, Band started developing scripts of horror genre ranging from period pieces, guy in rubber suits and the love for inanimate objects doing horrible things to people. This is Puppet Master.

Just a little work under the chin and around the eyes please.

Written by Charles Band, our movie starts in 1939 in Bodega Bay, California with an elder man, a puppeteer name of Andre Toulon (William Hickey of Mikey and Nicky, Wise Blood, A Stranger Is Watching, Prizzi's Honor, One Crazy Summer and The Maddening) who has discovered a secret, a formula that brings life to where there was none. A true alchemist whose secrets were handed down to his ancestors for generations. This goes without saying the Nazi party would be very interested in this... you know, the remaining few that did not go after the Ark of the Covenant or the Holy Grail or virtually any other religious artifact. Wonder how that tesseract business went for them. Moving along, a pair of goose-steppers are looking to cease Toulon and his prized puppets when Toulon locks them away in a secret compartment and ends his life with a revolver.

50 years later a gathering of psychics Alex Whitaker (Paul Le Mat of American Graffiti, Melvin and Howard, Wishman, Lonesome Dove: The Series and American History X), Dana Hadley (Irene Miracle of Midnight Express, Inferno, Puppet Master and Walking Thunder), Frank Forrester (Matt Roe of Puppet Master, Child's Play 2, My Blue Heaven and Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult) and Carissa Stamford (Kathryn O' Reilly of Married with Children, Jack's Back, Saturday the 14^th Strikes Back and Top of the Heap) get in touch with some college colleagues Neil Gallagher (Jimmie F. Skaggs of Lethal Weapon, Cutthroat Island, Hollow Man and Catch Me If You Can) who is not melon crazy but has found Toulon's hidden treasures.

Meatloaf looks on confused as ever.

The four agree to meet him at the late Toulon's home, already envisioning fortune and glory but don't count your Sankara stones yet, folks. There is bound to be more than a few problems. No sooner do they arrive that all the psychics recieve premonitions of death or death still to come and meet Megan (Robin Frates of Puppetmaster, The Arrival, Man's Best Friend, One Night Stand and The Round and Round) who is apparently Neil's wife has news that Neil shot himself. Yeah you can see that being an issue. Alex and the gang were attempting to find the secrets of Toulon's alchemy that hails from Egyptian practitioners...when they were putting hot pokers up nostrils and preserving organs in jars. With each psychic having a unique gift it is their hope to unlock these secrets. Frank and Neil's research has almost pinpointed everything they need but now the party seems taken back by all of this. Meanwhile unaware of this, our cast is being haunted by tiny puppets that seemingly have been animated by Toulon's formula as they stalk their late master's would-be grave-robbers. Will any of our psychics get out alive? Can these dastardly dolls be burned and destroyed?

A few comments about the movie now. The practical effects for the puppets from David Allen Productions was amazing. From stop motion animation and animatronics these killer puppets are maiming in style. Originally slated for a theatrical release, our movie had to go with a straight-to-video instead due to Band feeling it would do better in the rental market which given its popularity gave it cult status and the grounds for a sequel or nine in this case.

I got no strings, to keep me down!