Amazon.com Customer Reviews
 Rated 1 out of 5
Glutton for punishment? Check out RETRO PUPPET MASTER.
The Puppet Master series, definitely tired after Part III, drags terribly in this, the seventh installment, less a movie than a commercial for more Puppet Master toys. Basically a prequel, an aged Toulon tells his puppets the story of the origins of his powers and the puppets themselves, introducing a few new puppets and "retro" versions of those we already know. Fans of the Puppet Master series are a forgiving bunch. As an owner of the box set of all seven films (so far), I must admit that my standards aren’’t too high when it comes to horror films, especially these Full Moon creations. This time, however, there was no gratifying gore or over-the-top characters (a la BLOOD DOLLS) to make up for the downright terrible acting and lack of action or compelling story. I’’m sure the budget for this production was ultra-low, but even the traditionally bad animation of the puppets was especially stilted in this chapter. There are zero scares - and zero blood for that matter. The puppets merely slash at reanimated mummies sent to retrieve Toulon’’s secret--and they barely manage to scare up some sawdust while dispatching the villains. The film’’s ending in itself is a reason to celebrate, save for the fact that yet another sequel is set up with a last line of "that’’s another story for another time." In the accompanying VideoZone feature, Charles Band assures the viewer that a full line of action figures will be marketed for this film. No kidding. If you’’re a Puppet Master fan, though, you’’ll need to own this. There’’s just something about a film that’’s so bad as to make it irresistable. In the end, I don’’t know what’’s worse: this film or the fact that I know I’’ll be first in line to buy Part 8 when it’’s released...and Part 9...and 10...  Rated 5 out of 5!
JULIAN JAYNES WOULD HAVE LOVED IT
I hadn’’t heard of the ’’Puppet Master’’ series at all when this came on the SFI channel recently. ’’Retro’’ has craftsmanship from the very start, with good acting and well-done scene-setting. Nonetheless I was startled at the high quality of the depiction of the evil followers of Zutek, a forgotten god of Ancient Egyptian times. They spoke and comported themselves exactly like the ’’Bicameral Man’’ of Julian Jaynes book ’’Origin of Consciousness..’’. When Zutek spoke to them, the hypnotic power of that voice was excellently rendered. I don’’t know if the producers had read Jaynes, but the highly expert way they did the villains is typical of the entire movie. The puppets themselves, mere pieces of painted wood bobbing up and down, became powerful beings just via a few grunts and some very effectively rythmic music. This is one of the few movies I wanted to see again right away, and to own on DVD.- Rated 1 out of 5
Are They Crazy???
Retro Puppet Master had to be one of THE worst movies ever. It’’s not even worth watching unless you like watching hot guys crash in burn in such a horrible movie. I feel awfully bad that the lead cast as Andre Toulon as a young man had to make his first lead in such a bad film. Don’’t even waste your time and money on this movie. Full Moon Pictures really know how to drag a movie series untill it really burns!
|
|
