Monster of the Day #860

Updated on February 25, 2014 By Ken Begg 33 Comments

Nice design, although a bit redundant. The series already had a skeleton-faced knife-wielder. I never saw this guy, so he must come from a later entry. Jester was the last of the major puppets, but he never really did anything directly, so I couldn’t really find a picture of him that was all that menacing.

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  • Ericb

    This is what Michael Jackson would have looked like if he had reached old age.

  • Ken_Begg

    Well…not so brown, of course.

  • Flangepart

    So, the Red Skull started out as a small scale prototype. Neat.

  • bgbear_rnh

    paging Dr. Killdare

  • Wow. Guess he saw the new Godzilla trailer, too.

    or

    And Dr. Phibes thought HE had skin problems…

  • The Rev.

    Dr. Death here (how original) was, as far as I know, only in Retro Puppet Master. That was the one where I drew the line partly because the prior one sucked so badly (Curse) and partly due to Stomptokyo’s one-lamp rating. I’ll undoubtedly watch those newest ones set after the third, but probably won’t bother with this unless I feel a need for completeness.

  • Rock Baker

    I did run across a set of the first nine films (the ninth being the first of the two return-to-WW2 films) in a bargain bin for five bucks, so it’d actually be pretty cheap to be a PUPPETMASTER completest.

  • Rock Baker

    Zombie Joker?

  • Ken_Begg

    NINE films?! Good grief, how many are there?

  • Rock Baker

    Ten official, but I understand there’re a couple unofficial ones too.

  • Eric Hinkle

    Nine films for five bucks? Wow but the guys who sold them obviously had high hopes.

  • The Rev.

    Okay, I’d pay five bucks for the (almost) entire run easily. I’d pay more that, actually, but I’m not going to if I don’t have to.

    Rock is correct. We’ve got I through V, Curse, Retro, vs Demonic Toys, and those two newest ones with their further adventures taking on the Axis. I wonder what are considered the unofficial ones? I know there have been a few Full Moon killer puppet movies with other puppets that I assume are similar to the Puppet Master ones (I haven’t seen any of them); is that what they’re talking about?

  • Petoht

    My goodness. I’d buy that. Where on earth did you find that?

  • Petoht

    I think “vs. Demonic Toys” is an unofficial one. If you look on Wikipedia, they have a pretty complete breakdown of the entire Puppetmaster oeuvre.

  • zombiewhacker

    There are a number of Puppetmaster sets on the market. The high end one is the Charles Band PM Collection, which offers decent DVD transfers for the first nine films and will cost you around $30 on Amazon.
    On the other end of the spectrum is the Puppetmaster and Killjoy DVD set. That also includes the first nine PM films PLUS the Killjoy trilogy but only costs five bucks on Amazon. The kicker, of course, is the transfer quality for the movies is rock bottom.

  • Rock Baker

    There was a bargain bin at the supermarket where I went to cash a Western Union check. I figure they’re everywhere if they’re here!

  • Rock Baker

    Yeah, the Demonic Toys entry is an unofficial one to the best of my knowledge. The set I found (and traded to my Brother, who gave me the ones he had in exchange for a full set) had the first film, 2, 3, 4, 5, CURSE, RETRO, LEGACY, and AXIS OF EVIL. The first film is even scope!

  • Rock Baker

    And, per an earlier discussion, Blade is featured up front and center on the cover.

  • Rock Baker

    One film I know was intended to feature the puppets but for whatever reason it was decided to keep apart from the franchise. So, the guy who made the film created stand-in puppets very similar to the regular ones. The results were reportedly so good, Band decided to re-title the film to make it an actual PUPPETMASTER film. It’s absent from the official line-up, though. I don’t know if that was VS or another film, though.

    And yeah, there’s been notice in my family that Band has a real thing for killer dolls/puppets/miniatures. I can only hope we get a few more Dollman movies before it’s all over.

  • The Rev.

    Sure enough, my research shows Band doesn’t consider Vs. Demonic Toys official because it wasn’t actually a Full Moon production. It appears to have been a Siffy original, which makes me even more reluctant to watch it. The fact that only four puppets are in it doesn’t help, as does their leaving out Mr. Static but retaining that supremely annoying Baby Oopsy.

    I had completely forgotten about Legacy; I think I saw the cover art somewhere online once and then promptly forgot about it. Is it any good? By which I mean, is it at least better than Curse and Retro?

  • The Rev.

    I admit I’ve not seen it since high school, but I don’t remember Dollman being that great. Wondering if I should rewatch it.

    I won’t be rewatching Dollman vs. Demonic Toys; they immediately killed my goodwill by offing the heroine of Demonic Toys in the first couple of minutes in a completely offhanded manner. That was only the start of the problems…

  • Rock Baker

    She actually makes it about half way through, but I can understand your feelings.

    My biggest complaint was that they changed the really cool sound of Dollman’s gun.

  • Rock Baker

    I haven’t watched LEGACY, so I can’t say. My Brother tells me it’s largely a collection of clips from the earlier films, framed by a plot which tries to tie all the previous films into the same continuity. The very prospect seems incredibly problematic on it’s surface. It doesn’t sound very good.

    As for CURSE, while not great or anything, I at least found it interesting (mostly in terms of how it compared with SSSSSSS, and what they did with the same story, sort of like watching a Larry Buchanan TV movie, only with more originality to it).

  • The Rev.

    I didn’t remember her lasting that long. Am I correct that she seemed to not have a lot of use to the plot before getting kacked? I really have no desire to rewatch it.

  • Petoht

    How could you tell with Killjoy? It’s not like those movies had “production budgets” or “standards” anyway.
    Oddly though, much like old jazz sounding better on a scratchy record, I think movies like this are probably better with crummy transfers. HD 80s schlock just seems wrong.

  • The Rev.

    I seem to recall someone echoing that sentiment re: ’80s slasher movies, how a grubby transfer gave them a verisimilitude they otherwise lacked. It might have been Lyz re: the Friday the 13th movies? Anyhow, that’s probably true. I know seeing some of those movies more recently, in their new transfers, didn’t seem right compared to the old videos. I have a feeling it’d be the same for most (I can’t imagine My Bloody Valentine in a crisp, clean remaster, for example).

    I haven’t seen any of the Killjoy movies, but nothing I’ve seen or read has swayed me the slightest on changing that. They look and sound absolutely dreadful.

  • Rock Baker

    More or less. She gets things rolling by uncovering the new plot, and seeks Dollman’s help. Together they raid the toy factory where the evil toys are and she gets shot. As she dies, she asks Bardo to finish the job for her and he, honoring the request of a fellow officer, does. The film is fairly short, so even though she dies halfway through, she still doesn’t have just a ton of screen-time. The first third is more or less her movie, though, and the final act is Bardo’s.

  • The Rev.

    Yeah, I remembered her leaving it to Bardo after dying. Really did not remember her lasting that long.

  • Rock Baker

    It’s not a very good movie, obviously. All it really has going for it is Thomerson. He’s cool no matter what dreck he’s in.

  • Andrew Kidd

    Never let Rob Liefeld do your make-up.

  • Eric Hinkle

    Please, he looks too human and alive to be a Liefeld character. Not enough pouches either.

  • Wait a second wait a second wait a second.

    Liefeld’s trying to draw people?

    This changes everything!

  • Ken_Begg

    Nor does he sport a cool leather jacket or a scrunchie.