DVD Review: THE PUPPET MONSTER MASSACRE (2010)

THE PUPPET MONSTER MASSACRE (2010)

Distributor: MVD Entertainment Group
Label: Dustin Mills Product
Region Code: 0 NTSC
Rating:Unrated
Duration: 70 mins
Video: 16:9 Widescreen (1.78:1)
Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo
Director: Dustin Mills
Cast: Ethan Holey, Jessica Daiels, Steve Rimpso, Dustin Mills, Bart Flynn, Erica Kisseberth

In Dustin Mills' DIY horror-comedy THE PUPPET MONSTER MASSACRE a
group of five teens receive letters challenging them to spend a night in a creepy old mansion on the edge of town, yeah sure why not, right? At stake is one-million dollars for anyone brave enough to remain in the mansion for the duration of the night. It's a classic horror premise right outta William Castle's THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (1959). What they don't realize is that mansion is owned by a former Nazi scientist Dr. Wolfgang Wagner (Steve Rimpici) who has bio-engineered a carnivorous creature that he plans to unleash upon 'em as soon as the door closes behind them. That's the very simple set-up to the film, now throw in some kinky Muppet-styled hand puppet fornication, copious amounts of splatter, 400 soldiers battling a Godzilla sized creature and what you get is a splatteriffic horror-comedy that's a great watch.

There's a small cast of fun  characters here which perfectly suit the film's 80's inspired cartoonish carnage and splattery mayhem. Our main character is an Jesse Eisenberg type wimpy kid by the name of Charlie Hawkins (Ethan Holey) who is joined in the scary mansion challenge by his best-friend Gwen, a Brit-punker named Iggy (Bart Flynn), his girlfriend Mona (Erica Kisseberth) and an awesomely pervy horror nerd appropriately named Raimi (Dustin Mills) named of course after EVIL DEAD 2 (1987) director Sam Raimi. It's perhaps a sad reflection upon myself  that Raimi was definitely the character I could most relate to here. Also thrown into the mix is Charlie's ultra-ornery WWII vet Gramps (also voiced by Flynn), he's the second most quotable character after Raimi. Our antagonists are the aforementioned Nazi scientist Dr. Wagner, his evil-penguin sidekick Squiggums and the flesh-crazed toothy creature.

The director keeps it fairly simple with a pretty well familiar set 'em up and knock 'em down creature feature/slasher narrative. The unwitting teens arrive at the mansion, meet the mysterious Dr. Wolfgang Wagner and the bio-engineered creature quickly begins slaughtering puppets one by one right from the get-go, it's inspired in it's simplicity. The kills are not only surprisingly bloody but very well executed as puppet massacres go anyway, it's pretty crazy fun stuff.

I love the medium Mills has chosen to work with, it seems a completely novel and gimmicky conceit to use hand puppets set against 3D digital backgrounds and some South Park style animation flashbacks to WWII but it mostly works. The potential for disaster here would seem overwhelming, there are so many shitty DIY horror films and a hand-puppet splatterfest doesn't immediately spring to mind as horror-comedy gold but the film is well-written with some snappy dialogue and well executed right down to some great atmospheric lighting and shadowplay.


Like some of the best 80's horror film's this is deeply infused with a strong comedy element but it's character driven and not too absurd, it's really spot on. Probably not the best parenting decision I've ever made but I watched some of this with my 11 year old and we were both in hysterics, like we were watching The Three Stooges, there's no small amount of fart humor here but it complements the film's sensibilities as well as my own.

The major drawback to the film for me was that I just didn't care for the films main protagonist Charlie, he was very weak character in my opinion and my man Raimi was slighted to early on in the film, I just wanted more of the pervy horror nerd.
 At only 70 minutes the film flies by in a flurry of fuzzy carnage, it's the perfect length, not too short and not long enough to wear out it's welcome. Mills obviously poured his 80's horror loving soul into this project and it oozes awesomeness at every turn.

DVD: THE PUPPET MONSTER MASSACRE is presented in anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen and looks mighty good upscaled to 1080p on my screen. Colors are vibrant, black levels are strong and overall it's a very slick looking feature that one wouldn't assume cost $3500 to make. The English language Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track suffices, it's not fantastic or particularly dynamic but it's clean and the dialogue sounds crisp.

The disc's special features include two scrapped ideas for the creature design presented in short video clips, what Mills decided to go with in the end is definitely the right choice for the film. There are also two commentaries, one with the director and another with both director and assistant direct Brandon Salkil. I only listened to the director's commentary thus far but it was quite informative with lots of talk about his love of 80's horror, making the film, the voice actors, creating the puppets and even critiquing the film a bit.

Special Features:
- Scrapped Monster 1 (0:10) 16:9
- Scrapped Monster 2 (0:30) 16:9
- Audio Commentary with Director Dustin Mills
- Audio Commentary with Director Dustin Mills and Assistant Director Brandon Salkil

Verdict: THE PUPPET MONSTER MASSACRE is pure 80's splatter inspired puppet carnage with some fun kaiju elements. If you dig TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE, Peter Jackson's MEET THE FEEBLES or Bill Zebub's DOLLA MORTE there's definitely something here for you to enjoy, worth a rental at the very least, recommended.
 

 http://www.puppetmonstermassacre.com/

THE PUPPET MONSTER MASSACRE decimates DVD on July 26th

THE PUPPET MONSTER MASSACRE (2010)

Label: Dust Mill Productions / MVD Entertainment Group
Release Date: July 26th 2011
Duration: 70 mins
Video: Unknown
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Director: Dustin Mills

A wild and raucous love letter to the monster films of the 1980s!

This is The Puppet Monster Massacre, a wild and raucous love letter to the monster films of the glorious 1980's. Heads will roll and felt will fly in this visually rich splatter-fest.

A group of teens are challenged to spend a night in the Wagner mansion on the edge of town. Little do they know the owner (Dr. Wolfgang Wagner) has concocted a monstrosity in the basement and plans to make the hapless teens the creature's first big meal.

Thrill as an army of over 400 soldiers is helpless against a monstrous menace... Chill as a man collapses from the aroma of a thousand bunny farts... Shriek as puppets make sweet monkey love in a spooky graveyard! This is the low budget film you have been waiting for!

http://www.puppetmonstermassacre.com/

DVD REVIEW: Puppet Master (1989)

PUPPET MASTER (1989)

DISTRIBUTOR: Full Moon Features
RATED: R
DURATION: 83 Min.
DIRECTOR: David Schmoeller
CAST: Paul Le Mat (Alex Whitaker), Jimmie F. Scaggs (Neil Gallagher), Matt Roe (Frank)Irene Miracle (Dana Hadley), Kathryn O'Reilly (Frank)Robin Frates (Megan), Barbara Crampton, William Hickey (Andre Toulon)
TAGLINE: A box of little toys has just become a gang of little terrors. This is not child's play...


SUMMARY: Psychics investigating Andre Toulon battle his five killer puppets—each one uniquely qualified for murder and mayhem: Tunneler, who has a habit of boring holes in flesh; Ms. Leech, who sucks her victims dry by regurgitating killer leeches; Pinhead, a professional strangler; Blade, who's armed with razor-sharp, killer hands, and Jester, the ruthless brains of the bunch. Together, they're an army of skilled assassins, diabolically programmed to guard the deadly secrets of the Puppet Master. Enjoy this original cult classic in all its bloody glory.

FILM: Puppet Master (1989) opens at the Bodega Bay Inn, California 1939. Puppeteer Andre Toulon is putting the final touches on a puppet called Jester. Toulon is played by the great William Hickey whom you may recall as Drogan from the "Cat from Hell" segment of the Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990) or as the voice of Dr. Finklestein in Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). I recall him most fondly as the cantankerous Uncle Lewis from what I consider one of the top 3 Christmas films of all time - National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989). Toulon performs a short incantation and the puppet springs to life. At the same time there are two puppets keeping a watchful eye on the Bodega Bay Inn; an unnamed oriental puppet (that never reappears during the film) and the menacing Blade who notices two Nazi operatives arrive at the inn. Blade makes a mad dash to Toulon's room to let the puppet master know he may be in danger. We get some great point-of-view cinematography as Blade traverses the lobby and hallways of the inn climbing over baggage and furniture. It seems that the Nazi's are after Toulon's secrets which is later expanded on in the prequel/sequel Puppet Master 3. Toulon takes his puppet and places them into a chest which he then hides in a hidden wall panel. Just as Nazis break down his door Toulon blows his brains out as blood splatters the wall behind him. That's the last we see of Hickey, a far too brief appearance in my opinion but a memorable one at least. Flash forward 50 years later and four psychics are being psychically summoned to the Bodega Bay Inn by their colleague Neil (Jimmie F. Scaggs) who's been searching for Toulon's alchemy secret for years, his investigations have led him to Toulon's last known whereabouts. As the psychics converge at the inn they meet Neil's wife Megan (Robin Frates) who informs them that he has committed suicide in a manner eerily reminiscent of Toulon's own death 50 years earlier. The psychic friends are Alex (Paul Le Mat) a Yale professor, Dana (Irene Miracle) a white witch fortune teller and lovers Carissa (Kathryn O'Reilly) and Frank (Matt Roe). Also in attendance is the nosy inn keeper Theresa (Mews Small). As the group settles in for the night several among them have visions foretelling of their own or other's deaths. The dream/vision sequences are well done, particularly those of Alex. As night falls the psychics and the innkeeper are killed off one by one by Toulon's puppets. But to what end? I won't spoil the rest of the film as it's definitely worth a watch.

The puppets featured in the film are the aforementioned Jester - an emotive clown. Blade - a knife and hook wielding puppet with a face modeled after actor Klaus Kinski. Pinhead - the muscle of the bunch with a head that's too small for his body. Tunneler - a Nazi-uniformed puppet with a drill-bit head. Ms. Leach - a lady puppet who can regurgitate deadly leeches. Oddly, he oriental puppet from the start of the film is never seen again. The marionettes do not get a lot of screen time in the film until the last 3rd but their sequences are well shot and their interactions with the actors are believable and eerily effective. I love stop-motion animation and rod puppeteering and there's some really great work here in that respect, and even more so in future installments.

Puppet Master is a bit slow in spots but is permeated by that peculiar Full Moon atmosphere that is so evident in most their films. The puppet design and articulation is very good and the psychics make for interesting characters. Alex is the most likable character of the bunch. He seems good natured while the others have selfish agendas. The films eroticism comes from the character of Carissa whose particular psychic talent is to channels past events. Throughout the film she becomes aroused while channelling trysts that have occurred at the inn. Dana as played by Irene Miracle is the bitch of the bunch. Genre fans may recognize her as the character Rose Elliot from Dario Argento's Inferno.


The gore effects of the films are handled well, nothing too bloody mind you. This film was Full Moon Entertainment's first offering and was intended for theatrical release until Charles Band realized there was more money to be made in the home video market. The rest is Full Moon history.

DVD: The remastered PUPPET MASTER is presented in a very clean looking anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio with  5.1 surround sound. The print looks great with only minor blemishes. The image appears a bit soft in places but otherwise very good image quality.


Special Features:
- Special Introduction by Charles Band
- Promo for Puppet Master: Axis of Evil
- No Strings Attached Original Making Of Featurette
- Original Trailers for the First 12 Full Moon Features


VERDICT: The long running PUPPET MASTER franchise has been good to Full Moon Features and this initial film is quite enjoyable. While watching I was reminded of another Charles Band production, Stuart Gordon's DOLLS (1987) which was a Empire Picture's production, a  precursor to Full Moon Features. DOLLS has better direction and is a superior film but Puppet Master is not without its 80's charm. Great puppet design, interesting characters, creepy atmosphere and a fairly good premise and finale. It definitely made me want to watch the other films in quick succession.
***1/2 (3.5 out of 5 stars)


- McBASTARD