ironhorse_iv
From the mind from Charles Robert Band, writer & founder of Full Moon Features; a company known for its direct-to-video B-List horror & sci-fi movies, comes 'Puppet Master 4' AKA "Puppet Master: the Demon", a film so out-there stupid, that it makes the previous three film, seem tame in comparison. Directed by Jeff Burr, the film tells the story of Andre Toulon (Guy Rolfe)'s animated puppets, once again, serving as protagonists as they fight against demons avatar minions called 'totems', sent from hell, looking for the secret life formula. Without spoiling the directed to video, movie, too much, much like the previous entry, 1991's prequel, 'Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge', the timeline for this film is also mess up, and doesn't really follow any of the continuous, set for it, after the events of 1990's 'Puppet Master II: His Unholy Creations'. One, such example is the serum McGuffin. In the last movie, they were running out of it, and had to make more, or the puppets would cease to exist. In 'Puppet Master 4", the many writers, just avoid that conflict, in order to make a more confusing one. Instead of running out of vials, the formula is now, suddenly available unexplained, in order for out of place, robotic scientists who happen to be caretaker for murder houses, such as Rick Myers (Gordon Currie) to use it, to create artificial intelligence life; despite the previous movies saying the puppets are human souls trapped in puppet form, not inanimate objects given life. Also, why in the hell, would they need a lightning rod to reanimate one of the newer puppets, when they have the serum!? It's seems to me, that the writers don't know, the hell, they're talking about. Since they're writing for Rick. It makes young scientist seems like a total idiot for not knowing the different between spiritualism & basic science. To make it worst, the writers chose to have an odd whimsical moment of him, playing laser tag with the puppets; knowing full well, after reading Toulon's diary that these marionettes had killed people in the past. Rick would have to be, a major moron to give a gun to a murderer, and ask it to shot at him to prove artificial intelligence & then later, use a fake gun to try to combat a real threat! Are you sure, writers, that Rick is a scientist!? You wrote him, so stupidly. It doesn't help that the actor that plays him, is not that good of a performer. He never once seem like he belong in the same group of scientists at Bio-Tech, who has least, gave a fighting chance against the creatures. For the most part, he's pretty useless against fighting off the demons; making the puppets have to do, his dirty work, even if he's six feet taller than the totems. Also, the movie doesn't really explain, why the demons would send, little avatars versions of themselves over in the first place. Wouldn't it make sense, to send themselves since they're taller and more powerful than the humans!? Also, why did they kill, Rick's buddies at Bio-Tech in the opening of the film!? It's not like he open the trunk, containing the puppets, yet. I guess, the demons doesn't like, other people trying to create life. Also, another plot hole, the movie doesn't really explain, that good, is how in the hell, was the trunk in which, Rick pull the puppets out, looks like it hasn't been touched in 50 years, despite evidence that shows this film to take place sometime after 'Puppet Master I & II'. Also, what happen to one of the parapsychologist, Camille Kenney (Nita Talbot) that got her soul transfer into a woman-sized mannequin (Julianne Mazziotti), from the last movie? Better yet, how did the puppets get back to the hotel!? She drove off, with them, in the last movie. None of these things are really explained. Besides that, the other faults of the film, are the lousy visuals effects. The costumes for the demons, are really low budget and not well made. They really come off, as very fake-looking. Not only that, but the ventriloquism is really awful for them. The demons, don't really move right. Although, the demons are not great. The puppeteering for the totems & the puppets were a little better. However, the stop motion sequences kinda hit a down grade. You can really tell, that this movie had a budget cut, because the filmmakers reused previous small clips of stop motion footage from the other 3 films, a little too much. Even the gore effects have die down, since the last movie. Lots of off-screen kills & barely any blood use. I guess, Full Moon Studios tame the horror down to get a PG-13 rated, in order to get parents to buy the movie for their kids, but the plan backfired. Not only, did it, not bring that much, new viewers for this film and its sequel, 'Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter'; which were both shot back to back, but it also kinda irritation the original fans in how tame, the violence has gotten. Sadly, Full Moon retired the franchise after this, in order to try a spin-off trilogy 'Puppet Master Vs Demonic Toys', but it never got off the ground until 2004. It wasn't until the sixth entry, 1998's 'Curse of the Puppet Master' that the main franchise got revived. Nevertheless, this is the movie that almost killed the franchise. That's how disappointing, it was. Overall: 'The Puppet Masters' film series is always been one of my guilty pleasures. It is by no means a series of puppet masterpieces, but it did entertains me, as a kid of the 1990s. This movie is not one of my favorites. In the end, this is one movie, worth punching away with Judy. Not worth seeing.
MaximumMadness
If there's one thing to be said for Charles Band's long-running horror- franchise "Puppet Master", it's that it is a franchise that has proved to have a high degree of staying power, lasting near three decades thus far and with no signs of slowing down. Even now, there's talk of not only another sequel to the original franchise, but even a full- fledged theatrical reboot to the sometimes beloved series.Of course, the series has needed to change with the times to remain culturally relevant, and in no place is that more apparent than in 1993's "Puppet Master 4." (Also known as "Puppet Master 4: The Demon.) It's an entry to symbolizes a lot of change for the overall story, both in subverting expectations and also finally taking the steps to update and modernize the overall franchise by injecting it with that grand old 90's cheese that so many now nostalgically look back on with a big grin.It's also the first entry in the series to toy with the idea of the killer puppets being full-blown "heroes" in their own film. Whereas they typically had been previously portrayed as villainous and murderous (or at best as anti-heroes out for revenge at the call of their master as was the case in the third film), here they are finally at the hands of a decent master with no dark or selfish motivations who is merely seeking to survive and uses the puppets for good. It's a nice, refreshing change of pace... especially as it fulfills the typical audience desire to see the "villains" win (at least a little bit) without making us directly route for them to do terrible things.We follow Rick Myers, a caretaker at the Bodega Bay Inn who also happens to be working in a research project to create artificial intelligence. (90's Alert! Techno babble and bad 90's computer programming scenes imminent!) However, as the project is getting dangerously close to discovering the secret to life that had previously been found by the Puppet Master Andre Toulon, the demon lord Sutekh sends a group of evil diminutive "totems" to kill all involved. Once Rick and his friends discover Toulon's puppets, they are forced to bring them to life to battle this new threat! And they will also finally have to animate Toulon's hidden incomplete masterpiece of a puppet "Decapitron" in order to survive...Part of the fun of this entry is the subversion in finally making the puppets the good-guys, thus allowing a sort-of full-on "war" between two miniature factions. It supplies for a lot of fun moments and creative sequences. Our cast of human characters are also reasonably good leads for a low-budget horror feature, and you care just enough about them to keep you invested in the human drama. (Even if there are some clichés that will make you groan, like the "hot chick in glasses" scientist. Ugh.) There's also a lot of fun to be had looking back on it in that nostalgic "time capsule" way. This is very much the product of its time, with cheesy 90's style, cheesy 90's dialog and cheesy 90's effects running rampant. It's quite charming as a result, especially for those who grew up in that decade.That being said, this is a very uneven film and it does suffer quite a bit for its faults. Many aspects of the story are dated to the point of going beyond the nostalgic charm. The pacing is all out of whack. Certain major elements seem out of left field. And it all does feel just a bit silly, even for a "Puppet Master" sequel.Still, there's plenty of fun to be had. The series was never anything more than trashy, goofy B-movies with some blood and boobs and creepy puppets... And you certainly get that here for the most part.So I'm giving it a middle-of-the-road 6 out of 10. If you're a series fan, a Charles Band fan, or just a B-movie fanatic like me, you'll get your money's worth.
