While Puppet Master 5 was intended to be the last film, Charles Band had other ideas for the franchise. He wanted to do an epic trilogy of films known as Puppet Wars, which would see Toulon’s puppets fighting monsters. They would be going up against the likes of The Mummy, Frankenstein’s Monster, and Dracula, and Guy Rolfe would’ve returned. Unfortunately, Full Moon had ended their deal with Paramount, and they were struggling financially, so those plans fell through. David DeCoteau, who previously directed Puppet Master III, wasn’t getting much work when he got to direct Shrieker for Band. DeCoteau was given a script for a new Puppet Master movie, but he didn’t like it. He decided to take inspiration from 1973’s Sssssss and have a female puppet master, but he was overruled. After an 8-day shoot, Curse of the Puppet Master was released in 1998.
%
Rating
Synopsis
Dr. Magrew (George Peck) runs a puppet show/museum called The House of Marvels and recently acquired Toulon’s puppets. His daughter Jane (Emily Harrison) has just returned from college to help him with running the puppet show. At a gas station, Robert “Tank” Winsley (Josh Green) is getting harassed by local bully Joey Carp (Michael D. Guerin). After Joey and his friends leave, Jane finds a statue that Robert carved, which impresses Magrew enough to offer work. He invites Robert to their home and offers him a job to help create a living puppet similar to Toulon’s. Meanwhile, Sheriff Garvey (Robert Donavan) and Deputy Wayburn (Jason-Shane Scott) are questioning Magrew about his last assistant’s whereabouts. Soon enough, the puppets are set free and kill Joey, which paints a bigger target on Magrew. What does Magrew have planned, and what will become of Tank and Jane?
Review
Compared to the last five entries, Curse of the Puppet Master is a major step down in quality. Say what you will about 4 & 5, but they had the potential to further expand the series. You know you’re in trouble when the opening credits are padded out with stock footage from the previous films. In fact, there’s hardly any original puppet footage included, and they’re just pushed along and barely move at all. Sadly, by this point, stop-motion animator David Allen had left Full Moon and would succumb to cancer in 1999. This is also the first film since the original Puppet Master where the puppets hardly have any screen time. It doesn’t help either that the film itself is pretty boring and moves at a snail’s pace. Admittedly, the concept sounds interesting, but in execution, it falls flat. Granted, these movies were never known for their deep stories.
Acting-wise, everyone does the best job they can given the somewhat anemic material they’re given to work with. George Peck does a decent job as Dr. Magrew, but he doesn’t quite have the same charisma as Guy Rolfe. On top of being pretty cute, Emily Harrison is likable enough as the female lead, though she doesn’t do much. Josh Green is alright as Tank, but he doesn’t quite pull off the idiot savant quality they were going for. He comes off somewhat bland and wooden, which I suppose is fitting given his character’s ultimate fate at the end. There are maybe one or two kill scenes altogether, but they are plenty bloody and gruesome. The ending is pretty ridiculous, but by that point, it comes a bit too late following an otherwise dull entry. Overall, Curse of the Puppet Master has its moments, but it’s a pretty subpar entry.
Buy Curse of the Puppet Master from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3gW5Ks2
