Puppet Master (1989)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Jeff "

  
  The first Puppet Master film is a fairly decent horror film that glimpses of great ideas, but never is fully realized. This first entry in the Puppet Master franchise is by far the best. This is a strange horror film, the premise is quite intriguing and there's some good ideas… More
  The first Puppet Master film is a fairly decent horror film that glimpses of great ideas, but never is fully realized. This first entry in the Puppet Master franchise is by far the best. This is a strange horror film, the premise is quite intriguing and there's some good ideas explored with the concept. However things could have been done a lot better, but this is a straight to DVD film, so you can't expect really anything that great. Puppet Master is a fun film that delivers a decent plot, but it's a very bizarre film too. The film manages to an entertaining film, but Puppet Master has limitations in its script and the acting is standard B movie acting. There's nothing special about it. Puppet Master is the only one in the franchise that really is worth watching and is a fun little horror film to check out. This is the best Puppet Master film, and despite the fact that it's somewhat lackluster, it still is a fun film despite its limitations. The best way to enjoy Puppet Master is with an open mind, this is a harmless film meant thrill, and it most certainly does that. Although not great, this first film is still much better than the ten other abysmal sequels that would continue the series the subsequent years to come. Director David Schmoeller who directed the classic Tourist Trap directs this film with good enough flare to keep you interested. Although far from his best, this is still a worthy film to watch. If you want my opinion, only watch this film, and stay away from the sequels as they offer nothing good for the viewer. However definitely give this one a shot if you want an eccentric viewing experience. This film is a worthy Sci Fi tongue in cheek horror film.

• Lee ?

  
  Disappointingly slow-moving and talky comic horror about a Puppet Master who has given life to a bunch of insane looking puppets who turn murderous. The puppets themselves did look pretty cool and menacing but they weren't given enough screentime to create havoc, their time comes… More
  Disappointingly slow-moving and talky comic horror about a Puppet Master who has given life to a bunch of insane looking puppets who turn murderous. The puppets themselves did look pretty cool and menacing but they weren't given enough screentime to create havoc, their time comes far too late on in the film - the first 50 minutes were tedious.

• Alexis N

  
  This movie is really boring and kinda confusing. There's some gore, but not nearly enough. In fact there isn't enough of anything. I didn't even find this scary or cringe worthy at all. I'm curious to watch the others, how they made 37 movies off this one pile of… More
  This movie is really boring and kinda confusing. There's some gore, but not nearly enough. In fact there isn't enough of anything. I didn't even find this scary or cringe worthy at all. I'm curious to watch the others, how they made 37 movies off this one pile of cheesy is beyond me, but we'll see.

• Kylie B

  
  One of the strangest premises for a horror film I've seen, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

• Luke B

  
  How does one be convincing as a psychic? I'm not to sure but what I do know is that Cate Blanchett managed it in The Gift. Here however we have a bunch of 2D emotionless vessels whose only characteristic is how their psychic powers work. The film is also slow, even during the… More
  How does one be convincing as a psychic? I'm not to sure but what I do know is that Cate Blanchett managed it in The Gift. Here however we have a bunch of 2D emotionless vessels whose only characteristic is how their psychic powers work. The film is also slow, even during the murder scenes, editing and camera angles adding nothing to create suspense. The film does however have some excellent stop-motion animation giving the dolls an eerie unnatural set of movements. In the film they are brought to life and they just about bring the film to life.

• Lafe F

  
  A classic Full Moon film, as a group of psychics are attacked by a group of living puppets with different abilities in gorey fashion. The backstory of the puppets concerns their master surviving the Nazi troopers. It's a good balance of story, gorey effects, frightening scenes,… More
  A classic Full Moon film, as a group of psychics are attacked by a group of living puppets with different abilities in gorey fashion. The backstory of the puppets concerns their master surviving the Nazi troopers. It's a good balance of story, gorey effects, frightening scenes, and stop-motion puppet effects. A classic which begins the Puppet Master saga.

• Dr Blood  

  
  "Puppetmaster" is badly directed/poorly edited, the acting is below average, there are huge plot holes where things are not explained at all, and the stop-motion puppet effects are not just really dated but were actually pretty archaic when the film was new too. Watch this… More
  "Puppetmaster" is badly directed/poorly edited, the acting is below average, there are huge plot holes where things are not explained at all, and the stop-motion puppet effects are not just really dated but were actually pretty archaic when the film was new too. Watch this to see how not to make a horror film.

• Lady D

  
  Absolutely awful, not scary a really dated film, I'm not sure how I lasted until the end, this is one for the bin

• Chris B

  
  While when I was a child I wad terrified of the murderous puppets in both this and the subsequent (and inferior) sequels. The film is more like a direct to video B-horror film with terrible production values, barely passable performances, and some cheesy effects. While "Puppet… More
  While when I was a child I wad terrified of the murderous puppets in both this and the subsequent (and inferior) sequels. The film is more like a direct to video B-horror film with terrible production values, barely passable performances, and some cheesy effects. While "Puppet Master" has an intriguing and scary premise, unfortunately the budget and special effects weren't enough to bring the plot to a good enough level. while the puppets themselves are extremely creepy and wield various dangerous objects, you can't help but think if the people weren't idiots and paid attention to their surroundings, they may still be alive. As a horror fan, I grew up with the Puppet Master franchise, but nostalgia can go but so far.

• Sylvester K

  
  Technically speaking, the puppets looked great, quite impressive really. However there is nothing scary in this film, the bad acting scared me a lot along with the bad script. It has a promisingly start but didn't continue for the rest of the film. The powers of the psychics… More
  Technically speaking, the puppets looked great, quite impressive really. However there is nothing scary in this film, the bad acting scared me a lot along with the bad script. It has a promisingly start but didn't continue for the rest of the film. The powers of the psychics could have been developed further but they didn't use those ESPs properly. Overall the film needs to work on the acting, not the technical aspects.

• Lord N

  
  I'm not sure what this film was going for, but boy did it fail...unless it was going for boredom. Acting/characters: zzzzzz...zzzzzzz....zzzz. Can anyone say boring? everyone in the film was blank and I got the feeling that the actors hardly cared about being in the film at… More
  I'm not sure what this film was going for, but boy did it fail...unless it was going for boredom. Acting/characters: zzzzzz...zzzzzzz....zzzz. Can anyone say boring? everyone in the film was blank and I got the feeling that the actors hardly cared about being in the film at all. They only had two expressions to work with. Three at most. As for the puppets, if you thought people were inept around Chucky these people are worse. These murderous puppets are half the size of Chucky and people are still inept at escaping. The only puppet that I can see being a problem for anyone is Blade. I mean, he has a knife for an arm so that's okay (he's the best character in the film anyway). The characters are flat and inept and that never makes for interesting characters. .5/10 Plot: It could have worked. It had some decent potential but it just didn't. No one working on the film seemed to care at all about making an exciting film. They didn't even try any scares and this is a horror film! When it started out it looked like it could be interesting. I wondered a bit where it was going. But as the film went on it just got more and more boring and predictable and I cared less and less. They never gave me a reason to care about what was going on so I just decided not to. It had some potential but it ultimately failed completely. 2/10 Screenplay: The funny thing is is that I don't remember a word that anyone said outside of a few minor bits and pieces. It just kind of went in one ear and out the other. I can hardly remember if there was one that's how forgettable it was. I don't know what else to say because I don't remember much. It was that boring and uninteresting. 0/10 Likableness: It had an odd moment where it was interesting and it had minimum potential, but the whole tone of the film was just boring and flat. The characters don't even act like they are in danger at all. Plus, the puppets are so small and weak the whole movie could be solved in minutes by them just kicking the dolls and pulling their heads off. They are sronger than the dolls (except for Blade who would be hard to kill I imagine). It was just a dull film. 1/10 Final Score: 3.5/40 8% (S) Current Tomatometer rating: 20% Tomatometer rating if my review was added: 17% TRIVIA TIME: 1. Inspired by an earlier Charles Band production about killer toys, Dolls. 2. The puppet, Blade, is based on one of David Schmoeller's favorite actors, Klaus Kinski. 3. Originally intended to be released into theaters in the summer of 1989 and onto home video in September 1989, it was then pushed to 12 October 1989 as a direct-to-video release, as producer Charles Band had stated in an interview that he would make more money in the DTV field than he would in the theatrical market. 4. In the finger-slicing scene, the blood was dyed green to avoid an "X" rating.

• Donna D

  
  The dolls were a bit creepy, me not being a killer doll lover, but it was ok. My late hubby loved the lead puppet Blade so much and had to talk me into watching this movie a few years back. The story was ok, and the dolls were cool.

• Marcus W

  
  Such awesome potential and yet it never really delivers. There are some classy moments - leech woman is freaky as hell - and some of the stop-motion is pretty cool, but the puppets motives and characters are not explored enough and by the end it's impossible to tell whether… More
  Such awesome potential and yet it never really delivers. There are some classy moments - leech woman is freaky as hell - and some of the stop-motion is pretty cool, but the puppets motives and characters are not explored enough and by the end it's impossible to tell whether they're evil or just vigilantes of a sort. Great score though.

Read all 13 featured audience ratings