Puppet master 3

Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge is easily the best of the series. Of course that's not saying much, and the film definitely has its flaws, but if you watch the films in order you will be amazed at the jump in quality from the awful first two movies to this third installment .The third entry of the straight-to-video series in producer Charles Band's Full Moon's "Puppet Master" goes for a prequel set-up in outlining the origins of Andre Toulon and his animated puppets in the backdrop of a war-torn Berlin through the Nazis up rise in WW2.

During WW2 the Nazis led by Dr. Hess are conducting experiments on life and death, which involves reviving their dead to increase their manpower. However Hess is having trouble controlling his test subjects and the animation doesn't last for long. But Andre Toulon and his life-like puppets capture his eyes, but also that of the Gestapo's Major Krauss who sees Toulon and his puppet show negative propaganda against Nazi regime. They raid his theatre and in the process Toulon's wife is murdered by Krauss. Toulon manages to escape custody and then seeks revenge with the help of his puppets while on the run from the Gestapo.

"Puppet Master 3 is a straightforward (puppeteer of revenge), but effective low-budget b-picture that's a tad more ambitious and constructively complete in its narrative's vision than its formulaic, but playful predecessors. I would tag it as the best of the lot, so far. There's excellent performances stemming from the likes of Guy Rolfe (who sympathetically fills the role as Toulon), Ian Abercrombie and a suitably nasty, cold hearted villain turn by Richard Lynch as Nazi Major Krauss. Rolfe and Lynch simply standout, giving it a little more professionalism and class. What also makes their acting noticeable is that they have a better than average script, which is suggestively tailored and tightly projected in letting the plot evolve and giving space to provide a back-story to the puppets (especially that of Leech woman and Blade). Director David DeCoteau's compact handling is quickly paced and uses the obvious back-lot sets quite well where he crafts lasting tension, seamless excitement and atmospheric imagery of the artistically etched puppets (which once again are expertly engineered and brought across) as they gleefully hand out violently nasty and bloody attacks on the Nazis. Richard Band's recycled score is still as racy, but consisting of an edgy kick within the darker moments.

What amazes me is how well the movie handles a topic as sensitive as Nazi Germany. It's certainly not Schindler's List--the "Germans" are obviously not German, most of the acting is sketchy at best, and some scenes are very, very boring. But the movie actually seems to respect the time period, and never pokes fun at the Nazis or what they did. Indeed, Toulon's explanation of how he makes his puppets gives everything a much more poignant significance. Too bad it all conflicts with the rest of the series, where Toulon is usually a monster and occasionally fights his wooden creations. Everything would have been so much better if only they had used this story for the entire series. Even more amazing is how the film manages to deliver the comedy and inventive death scenes Puppet Master fans expect without ever cheapening the time period or feeling like a different movie. The demise of the main Nazi is easily one of the most gruesome deaths I've seen on film. I bet it took them days to come up with it.

Puppet Master III isn't a classic, but it is one of the better ones. If your a fan of the series, then don't pass this one up!

7.5/10

6.0/10 IMDB