Excellent but underrated film

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I loved this to death as a kid and I've still got a big soft spot for it nowadays. I still remember how the VHS cover art gave me major chills just to look at! It was the coolest most scariest thing, right there on the shelf of "Rent-A-Tape", the puppets in their crate just dripping with menace and the promise of grisly puppet death, and for me this was always one horror movie that actually lived up to its awesome box art. The tiny terrors are definitely an iconic and lovably horrid bunch. Blade is the slick little death assassin and is probably everyone's favourite, the teeny-headed bald guy with the strangling human-sized hands is the muscle, Leech Woman is the doll-sized deadly temptress, good lord, how could I have never clicked-on as a kid as to what the symbolism of her nauseating trick actually means!? I find the Jester interesting. He may not kill anyone, but he's the only one that can really display emotions. While it's very artistic and beautiful to watch, I fail to see how his expression changing is physically possible, unless of course it's a part of the magic process that gave him life in the first place.. And the Driller is the one I find the spookiest because what he does is downright mortifying and messed-up! And while they may be creepy as all hell, I like the rule that the puppets aren't actually evil, they just do evil things if commanded to do so by the Puppet Master... I dearly love the excellent music which is very memorable and really does add a ton of depth to this movie all by itself and gives it a completely unique feel. Eerie atmosphere and tone is where it really does come out on top, and a lot of the unnerving quality of it is the classic kind of things.. What's hiding under the bed, what's scuttling around in the shadows that you only just miss as it rushes by.. It builds up the suspense and tension really well. But that said the plot is irritatingly hazy, convoluted and barely makes sense, and it gets boring and surreal at points. The focus is mainly on the people and not so much the puppets, and it does feel more like a mystery than a horror. Yet for me, overall it still works. It's hard to follow what's going on for a lot of it, especially if you don't pay attention during the opening sequence. So there was the real villain, the Puppet Master, who when he was alive was a greedy rapist asshole who wanted to live forever so he married some girl just for the money and worked together with a group of psychics of various kinds to help him find the hidden lore of the late Andrei Toulon and he got what he wanted, and then he lures the psychics to the foreboding Bodega Bay Inn by their dreams to have his new puppet servants slaughter them one by one so that no one will ever know his secret. It's just very sloppy and confused storytelling, I think they should have dropped the psychic nonsense as a flick about killer puppets is bound to be pretty weird however you go about it. However, it's really gotta be the highlight of the whole thing and is mighty gratifying when the grimacing villain eventually ticks off the puppets when he hurts one of their own by contemptuously throwing it across the room - which then for him spells disaster, as the puppets turn on the master! Oh you know he was in for it after harming poor Jester, never mind that four people are already dead because of the guy! The madness reaches such a magnificent crescendo in that scene, I love it, it's so gruesome! And then there's more vague oddness at the ending which sees the dull as dishwater woman staying at the inn as its new owner, and judging by her dog she's figured out a few tricks. They never say what happened to the puppets, which is annoying, and then it ends on a weak note, but I still find it a very worthwhile movie. Most of the actors like the Beethoven- looking fella with the huge head are just boring, the only one I liked was the sassy fortune teller who foresees her own death, she was the only one to me that seemed to be trying to have a little fun with it. I think the best thing about it is the special effects, the puppets, both model and stop-motion animated look really good and hold up surprisingly well, I hadn't seen this for several years until recently and I think they still look impressive, you can feel it when they're attacking somebody. I love how much individual detail and scariness is put into each one. I do hope they never remake it, because there'd only be like ten thousand CGI puppets, they'd all be ten feet tall, and Marvel superheroes would appear to defeat them. So while it may not be essential viewing to everyone, I consider this movie and its sequel to be real distinctive gems of the horror genre and they're both really close to my heart! There's a certain charm there that always makes me love it, flaws and all. It isn't trying to be anything else than what it is, which as far as I'm concerned is pure, unadulteratedly entertaining schlocky horror magic. So let's hear it! Three groans for Puppet Master!!!

I have seen half of it this before, Cause I found at little slow back then and turned it off half way in as I got bored a few years ago , this movie dose have some very some slow parts.Which can be a bit boring, it did take me while before the movie really get me in, I wasn't really into the movie until after the half away mark of the movie.I did like Puppets were really good and creepy, really well made, Creepy Puppets and like how they moved, There were some decent plot however this movie dose seem a little out dated.the acting was little cheesy then I thought it be,I found some parts a bit too silly even for this kinda of movie, Yes, I know it's was meant to be Silly but i expected something else silly, like Dolls or Child Play, which I really liked.5 out of 10

Before I start the official review, I'd like to congratulate Charles Band. Over the past thirty years or so, he has made a name for himself and his film companies by making some of the most memorable cult flicks. And his work ranges from horror and sci-fi to fantasy and even children's movies. Amazingly enough, he must have inherited those marvelous traits from his father Albert Band, who made the wonderfully creepy I BURY THE LIVING. Even his brother, Richard, has inherited some of those traits. In particular, he's provided nifty music for many of Charle's films. Anyway, when talking about Charles Band, you'd have to include the PUPPETMASTER series, the DEMONIC TOYS series, the PREHYSERIA series, as well as the incredible adult BEAUTY AND THE BEAST retelling called MERIDIAN. And that's just to name a few. At this moment on IMDb, under PRODUCER credits, he has a total of 244 films under his belt. If that's not a monumental achievement, I don't know what is! Now the review. Back in the 1940s in a hotel, a brilliant puppet master named Toulon learned how to bring his creations to life. However, when Nazis come to seize his discoveries, Toulon kills himself. Flash forward about fifty years and now a team of psychics come to the old hotel. What they discover is grisly as one by one, the aforementioned puppets come back to life and start claiming lives. The stop-motion puppet effects are seamless and lifelike. Each individual puppet is so unique. Some sport hooks and one even has a drill on the top of its head. Though I find the plot meandering, it holds your attention. From this modest little production would spawn ten movies to date, including PUPPET MASTER VS DEMONIC TOYS. Clearly Mr. Band is taking a cue from Universal Studios, having two successful movie monsters battle it out. Not to mention the numerous Godzilla and Gamera movies. Acting is pretty good, though a couple performances are a little wooden. No matter, the real stars are the puppets and special effects. So I advise you to sit back and enjoy, with or without popcorn and/or beer!

i love this movie! puppet master has great stop motion effects and a sense of fun. this is one of the best entries in the puppet master series. it start out with a man named Andre Toulon putting the finishing touches on a puppet named Jester(One of my favorites)a puppet who spins his head a lot to decide which expression he wants. then Blade(the most popular puppet)tries to escape two Nazi men and heads to Toulon's door. Toulon picks him up in time to commit suicide by shooting himself in the mouth with a gun.a group of scientists goes to the hotel where Toulon killed himself. they meet a woman named Megan Gallagher who's husband shoot himself as well.then havoc starts to unwind when the puppets come to the hotel. the scientist are kill off one by one, leaving only Megan Gallagher and Alex Whitaker(one of the scientists)then they meet Mr.s Gallagher's husband who killed himself to learn about Toulon's secret for making life after death. then he abuses one of the puppets (Jester) this angers them and they start to betray him with Tunneler drilling a hole in his jaw, Pinhead holding his head for Leech woman to vomit a leech in his mouth, and blade cutting his fingers off with green blood coming out. one part that really make me wonder is how that dog came alive. all and all it's a good movie of the 80's. and a fun movie to watch. 8/10