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Badmovies.org Forum  |  Movies  |  Bad Movies  |  Puppet Master: Axis of Evil « previous next »
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Author Topic: Puppet Master: Axis of Evil  (Read 843 times)
Jim H
Frightening Fanatic of Horrible Cinema
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« on: July 15, 2010, 03:08:14 PM »

So, Puppet Master: Axis of Evil came out.  I saw it yesterday.  For those not in the know, this was directed by David DeCoteau, the man who did Puppet Master III.  And this one is basically a follow-up to both Puppet Master 1 and Puppet Master III (it shows footage from the first film, and references events in the third). 

Well, in brief, it's a big step up from the films after part 5, but that's not really saying a whole lot.

When I first heard the concept of the film, I was really looking forward to it.  I was thinking it'd follow the boy who was apparently going to become Toulon's apprentice in part III.  If memory serves, that boy as an old man is the main character in a late entry in the series.  I figured that boy would see Toulon dead, ala the opening moments of the first film, and get revenge on Nazis or whoever.  But no, it follows a new character.  A young man, named Danny, who wants to fight for his country in World War II.  As you may recall, Toulon, the creator of the puppets, had his wife killed by Nazis and reeked revenge on them, only to flee the country later and kill himself - just as Nazi agents were closing in.  Try to forget that the suicide took place in 1939 and his revenge on the Nazis took place in 1941.   TongueOut

But, in this version, after Toulon commits suicide, Danny rushes up to see what happened.  He was friends with Toulon, and himself is a skilled carpenter and tinkerer.  The Nazi agents smash into him, and he gets a good look at the pair.  Fortunately, Toulon revealed where he had hidden the puppets, so Danny takes the case home.  As it turns out, he had polio and thus a limp, and can't serve in the army.  But, eventually, he sees the Nazis again and uncovers a plot by them to blow up a munitions factory.  And he enlists the puppets aid.  Complications ensue.

That probably sounds alright, but here's a few other things to consider.  First off, there is some truly awful acting in this one.  It makes some of the loonier characters in the first couple films seem great.  It's especially sad when you consider the film this is most directly a sequel to, part III, which had genuinely good performances from a few actors (yeah, there was some bad acting in it also), particularly Guy Rolfe as Toulon.

Second, the pacing in this is slow.  The film is only like 70 something minutes long, and it still takes a while to really get going.  Related to this, the puppets hardly do anything in the film.  I mean, they literally don't do anything until halfway through, and then once again at the very end.  That's it. 

Third, the puppets themselves kind of suck.  The sculpts are OK (better than the ones in the most recent films), but they're animated poorly.  This is especially obvious with Pinhead, where apparently making his sweater bulky was difficult - I mean, really?  Foam is too hard to figure out?  I find this baffling, as it can't really be THAT expensive to make a friggin' rod puppet look right.  On the plus side, there's no CG animating them anywhere.  Sadly, no stop motion either.

Fourth, the villains (a Japanese lady, her two men, and two Nazis) stink.  They just aren't ever really a threat, the Japanese ladies accent is ludicrous, it's just..  Bad. 

Fifth, there are a number of really stupid character decisions.  For starters, why doesn't Danny just tell people about the Nazi plan?  Are we supposed to believe that in the middle of World War II, at a MUNITIONS PLANT, no one would take him seriously?  There's a reference to him being "the boy who cried Nazi" but it's never explained - maybe a deleted scene? 

So, that sounds like a lot of negatives, and it is.  What's good?  Well, not a whole lot really.  Probably the best is the look of the film.  While this still doesn't look as good as the first three (which have fairly sizeable budgets, good lighting, and were shot on 35MM) it looks a lot better than the super "digital video" look of the latter entries and some other late Full Moon films.  In general, this one is competently shot and edited.  Second, I appreciated the attempts at continuity with the first film, and the greater explanation of who the two men were. 

Third, even though the film is slow paced, its consistent at least.

I dunno.  Maybe I'm just trying to think of it as better than it was.

Overall, a 5/10.  And I think I'm being generous here, as a fan of the series.
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