Movie Info
Movie Name: Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter
Studio: Full Moon Entertainment
Genre(s): Horror/B-Movie
Release Date(s): September 21, 1994
MPAA Rating: R
I’m trying to kill the series!
Rick Myers (Gordon Currie) is under arrest and suspected in the murders of his partners after the attacks at the hotel and the laboratory. Unfortunately for Rick, the demon Sutekh still wants the secrets that were stolen from him back and is sending new demonic agents to retrieve the puppets. Rick’s new boss Jennings (Ian Ogilvy) wants what Rick has discovered and bails Rick out of prison to seek out the secrets to Toulon’s animation process…and the puppets could be Rick’s only hope against Sutekh.
Directed by Jeff Burr, Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter marks the end of the “first storyline” of the Puppet Master series. Following the events of Puppet Master 4 in 1993, Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter is more directly tied to the previous film than some of the other sequels.
Demon decorating tip #1: More demons on the walls
Full Moon Entertainment was the king of cheap back in the ’90s. It felt like they were spitting out films left and right due to the many franchises they had going on. Of the movies, the Puppet Master series was my favorite, but Puppet Master 4 and 5 were some of my least favorite of the franchise.
The story of Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter is heavily tied to Puppet Master 4. The demon Sutekh is sending more agents after Toulon’s secrets since the previous totem demons were killed by Rick and the puppets. Here, the story just seems to continue to with Rick and more people returning to the Bodega Bay Inn where the horror of Puppet Master 1, 2, and 4 all took place. When the final battle comes, Decapitron (possessed by Toulon) once again saves everyone…it is as repetitive as it sounds.
Why can’t we have more of this and less of the lame demon?
The cast of course is a cast of a B-Movie. The acting is pretty low quality and leaves you yearning for the relatively strong cast of Puppet Master III: Toulon’s Revenge. This film marks the end of Guy Rolfe’s run as “The Puppet Master” and Rolfe officially hands off the title to the boring Gordon Currie. Currie just can’t carry a film and the movie also doesn’t hire very good supporting actors and actresses to help him out.
The puppets still are the stars of the movie and you find yourself just waiting for scenes with them. The giant Sutekh puppet is pretty weak and not very frightening. I rather wish that the writers had stuck with the puppets as evil rather than turn them into agents of good.
Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter is of course not the final chapter in the series. The movies continue but lose their numbering following Puppet Master 5 and dropped Rick and the storylines set-up here. Puppet Master 5 was followed by Curse of the Puppet Master in 1998.
Related Links:
Puppet Master III: Toulon’s Revenge (1991)
Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter (1994)
Curse of the Puppet Master (1998)
