Castle Vanian Halloween Special: Demonic Dolls and Creepy Toys: Puppet Master (1989)

Puppet Master is such a fun movie to watch – but why do you like it?

What isn’t to like? It’s an endearing movie. Not really scary… just fun. Puppet Master just kind of makes you smile. Like you said, it’s fun to watch.

The production quality isn’t what you’re used to seeing these days. Not terrible, just you can see a difference. Do you have any thoughts on that?

Yeah, well, it was Full Moon Entertainment, bless them. They’ve made some entertaining films but production quality? They’ve never had massive amounts of money behind them. They were kind of like the Hammer Horror of their time.

Puppet Master came at the end of the video boom, in a time when there were a lot of bad horror films – and there were some truly horrendous horror films. At a time when they were churning out so much crap, Puppet Master was a real gem. It stood out because it was so good, so clever.

I mean… you know it was good because there have been so many sequels. Not all of the sequels have been good, but the most recent ones have been excellent.

What about the actors/acting? Did that live up to your expectations?

Full Moon movies never really had A-list celebrities in them – with the exception, maybe, of Udo Kier. I don’t mean that in a disparaging way… some horror movies just got lucky with the stars they landed. (I don’t think Return of the Killer Tomatoes! ever dreamed of having the likes of GeorgeClooney in it!) There’s nothing wrong with the acting in Puppet Master… it was good! There just weren’t massively well-known actors in it.

So… why this movie, over the rest of the series?

This was the introduction, the start of the epic journey. From the beginning of the movie, when you’re seeing through Blade’s eyes and he’s dodging the dog, you really get into it. I was about twenty the first time I saw it and still a massive collector, so you know I fell in love with it straight away.

And, yeah, I still have my Blade doll.

You find out so much more of the story in later films, about how and why Toulon (William Hickey) learned to bring the puppets to life but you don’t need any of that for this movie to work.

Blade is so much fun.

But Six Shooter is your favourite.

Yes! But he isn’t in this movie. I do like the way Blade’s eyes pop open when he’s surprised. It always makes me laugh. Why do you like Blade?

The originals (Blade, Leech Woman, Pinhead, Jester, and Tunneler) were always my favourites. Don’t forget… the dolls were never really evil, never really the “bad guys.” They were just protective.

Blade was my favourite because of how sinister he was to look at. You find out later that he was modelled after a Nazi, an SS agent, so maybe that had something to do with it. You can’t get any more evil than that, right?

What do you like about the dolls?

They were clever with the way they animated the dolls, it made them very lifelike in a believable way. Plus, they were little bastards, peeping in keyholes and setting up nasty traps. Just all kinds of fun.

Any final thoughts on Puppet Master?

Well, we went through all of the Puppet Master movies… what? Last year? But it was still great fun to sit and watch this one again. They’ve been going over thirty years, gotta be, and the franchise is still just as good as it was then. It’s impressive.