Puppet Master Reviews

Providing a pointless variation on the killer-doll genre (best exemplified by the TV movie TRILOGY OF TERROR and popularized in the CHILD'S PLAY series), PUPPET MASTER offers up a quintet of homicidal marionettes that gruesomely dispose of their victims. A group of psychics visit an isolated hotel after one of their comrades commits suicide under mysterious circumstances. Once there, they fall prey to five lethal puppets created by Andre Toulan (William Hickey), a puppeteer who killed himself at the hotel back in 1939. Each one of the monstrous puppets has a specialized method of killing: "Tunneler" drills through his victims, "Leech Woman" transmits leeches with a kiss, "Pinhead" strangles, "Blade" slices with his hands (one a hook, the other a knife), and "Jester" plays sadistic pranks. As soon as these pint-sized horrors begin to run amok, it becomes apparent that the psychics, led by professor Alex (Paul LeMat), will have to rely on their special abilities to stay alive. As could be expected of a Charles Band (DOLLMAN, TRANCERS) production, PUPPET MASTER is on safest ground when it's emphasizing special effects. The puppets appear ludicrous at first glance, but quickly acquire an air of menace as they embark on a killing spree. But while the film does contain a handful of suspenseful sequences, it also suffers from poor pacing and an overall reliance on cliches. (Violence, nudity, profanity, adult situations.)