Puppet Master: Blitzkrieg Massacre (2018)

AKA: Full Moon's Bunker of Blood: Chapter 1

A random collection of death scenes from the Puppet Master series thrown together haphazardly and slapped on with a new title to make a quick buck. It doesn't even make an effort to try and tell a cohesive story like The Legacy; it's a cheap entry that serves as a "greatest hits" package wrapped in a comic book framing device meant to evoke Creepshow. Despite the title, it doesn't just focus on the Nazi years, it covers the whole spectrum of the series. This was so awful, I went back and retroactively raised my rating on the last film.

0 dollars spent out of 5

Retro Puppet Master (1999)

The seventh film in the Puppet Master franchise is also a prequel to Part III, which confuses the muddled timeline of this series even more. This entry attempts to explain how young Toulon (Greg Sestero) first came upon the spell to animate his puppets, and features early prototypes of the characters we would all come to love. While there's not much new here for fans, this series remains charming simply because of how low-tech and no fuss it is.

This ended up being Guy Rolfe's last role, poor guy.

1½ Egyptian sorcerers out of 5

Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter (1994)

The final chapter my ass. They've milked this cash cow for all it's worth. However, this was the last one to be released under Charles Band's original Full Moon banner. (Full Moon lived on in other shapes and forms, but never as good as the period between '85-'95.)

Charged with the murders from the previous film, the young scientist (with puppets in tow) seeks to destroy the demon monster once and for all. I really soaked up these movies when I was younger because they were so anti-mainstream. The animation is top-notch; it almost feels real to me. In addition, the classic theme by Richard Band does a fantastic job of lulling me into this world. These movies may not be the greatest, but they hold a special place in my memory and I had a lot of fun revisiting them.

2.5 "And all the rest..." out of 5

Puppet Master 4: The Demon (1993)

A young scientist working on a top secret government project for artificial intelligence stumbles upon Toulon's old trunk and discovers his ancient Egyptian secrets of reanimation. At the same time, a demon is trying to stop those secrets from being released to the public and so unleashes its own evil army to finish off the puppets. Ends on somewhat of a cliffhanger, as 4 and 5 were shot concurrently.

2.5 Decapitrons out of 5

Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge (1991)

Flashback to 1941 where Toulon is a famous puppeteer who's caught the interest of the Nazis who are trying to perfect their reanimation formula for Hitler's Reich. This prequel is probably the best thing since the original and we have a new Toulon (Guy Rolfe) who nails the part just right. This time we have enemies that deserve to die, so these movies shift the puppets from the bad guys to the heroes, which proves to be a much better fit.

3 Six-Shooters out of 5