BA_Harrison

Retro Puppet Master, the seventh film in the Puppet Master series, takes us back to 1902 to show how Toulon came to bring his carved creations to life. Handed the secret of life by an ancient sorcerer, Toulon finds himself hunted by three mummies sent by Egyptian god Sutek, who wants his magic back.

Directed by David DeCoteau (who also helmed parts III and VI), I believe that this was the first in the series to be shot in Romania, and the film definitely feels cheaper than the others, not helped by the fact that it features a largely Romanian cast. Greg Sestero as the young Toulon and Brigitta Dau as Ilsa aren't great, but they're a damn sight better than the rest of the cast (Guy Rolfe aside, who appears briefly in the film's bookends).

The puppetry, make-up and special effects also let the film down: the wires controlling the puppets are clearly visible in many scenes, the make-up on the three mummies is amateurish (I've seen better face-painting at children's parties), and the manner in which people die is underwhelming: there's no gore to speak of, victims falling down dead when the mummies raise their hands. It's strictly PG-13 trash.

An unsatisfying conclusion, in which the mummies are easily defeated by Toulon's puppets, rounds off this thoroughly lacklustre offering.

Director Jeff Burr filmed parts 4 and 5 of the Puppet Master series back to back, which means that part 5 is every bit as bad as part 4, suffering from the same muddled storytelling, poor acting and less than impressive special effects.

In this one, miffed Egyptian god Sutek decides to take matters into his own hands, his minions having failed to kill all those who know about the secret of life, which was stolen from Sutek by puppet master Toulon (Guy Rolfe). Sutek transports himself to the 'upworld' in the form of a vicious gremlin-like creature to try and remedy the situation, attacking Rick and Susie (Gordon Currie and Chandra West), as well as Omega boss Jennings (Ian Ogilvy) and his hired hands (who include Duane Whitaker, Maynard from Pulp Fiction), who have broken into the Bodega Bay Inn to try and locate Toulon's puppets.

Very little of interest happens in part 5, the script offering nothing that we haven't already seen in part 4 - and that film was bad enough! At least this one doesn't have any laser battles, I suppose. After much tedious padding, the characters wandering around dark corridors and encountering Sutek, the film wraps things up in the same way as the previous film, with Decapitron popping on one of his special heads to save the day. Toulon has the last word, his head superimposed badly onto Decapitron, the old man passing the title of puppet master to Rick.

Director Jeff Burr takes over the reins for the Puppet Master series and the result is the worst one yet, with a badly-written, scattershot plot, lousy performances from its cast of twenty-somethings, and terrible special effects.

This one sees Egyptian god Sutek (who looks like a demonic Robert Z'dar) sending some nasty little creatures to try and reclaim the secret formula that was stolen from him by the puppet master Toulon. The formula has fallen into the hands of a young scientist and his pals, who use it to reanimate Toulon's puppets. When Sutek's vicious minions attack, the puppets come to their rescue.

Burr, a director whose earlier work I admire (From A Whisper To A Scream and TCM III are great), turns in a total mess of a movie, one that lacks focus, includes some truly embarrassing scenes involving lasers, and features really bad puppetry. None of the young cast can act, and Guy Rolfe, as Toulon, is only in the film for a few minutes, his head badly superimposed onto Decapitron, the film's new puppet, who lacks the charm of the other wooden characters.

The film is only 79 minutes long, but it is still a chore to sit through.

Part 5 was apparently shot back-to-back with this film, so I'm not expecting great things...