PUPPET MASTER (1989)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical, sociological*

With trepidation I consider the possibility of delving into Full Moon Pictures' incredible durable PUPPET MASTER series, with at least fifteen DTV films thus far (only one of which I've reviewed previously). I've seen most of them over the years and they all follow a very limited formula. About the only creative question I can address is to wonder why the franchise became successful in the home video market.

Though producer Charles Band had touched on the "tiny horror" motif with 1987's DOLLS, PUPPET MASTER seems to have also tapped into a sort of carnivalesque mood by focusing on the sheer variety of its killer puppet-monsters. A prologue in the first film establishes that the seven puppets of Film #1 are created by an aged puppeteer named Toulon (William Hickey), who kills himself to keep his secrets from the hands of Nazi agents. The Nazi subplot later becomes increasingly important to the series, but in the original film Toulon and his secrets are a side-issue. 

Before Toulon dies, he hides his manikins in his house, where they will remain concealed until a bunch of psychics descend on the domicile. The exact reasons they have for coming are not memorable, nor the reason as to why one of their number activates the puppets to kill his colleagues. The human characters are largely victims to be knocked off as in the average slasher flick, though Paul LeMat and Irene Miracle probably do the best job of enlivening their nothing characters. 

One small asset of the first film that I don't think persists in the overall series are a few touches of perverse sexuality. But the variety of the puppets-- apparently animated by some vague "Egyptian magic"-- is surely the selling point. Instead of having one slasher who has to change his murder-method with each killing to keep from being boring, each puppet has a specialized function. One carries the archetypal slasher-knife. Another has a drill-head. The only female one vomits up leeches that can choke victims (are the leeches magical creations or what?) At the climax all of the manikins turn on their evil puppeteer, using their abilities in tandem like a tiny superhero team.

Producer Band experimented with many other tiny terrors, but none of them took off the way PUPPET MASTER did. I give the original flick a "fair mythicity" rating just for being able to meld the appeal of the slasher with that of the "tiny terror," abetted by the use of the eerie carnival-music score.