Puppet Master II (1991)

Movie Info

I’m really trying hard not to look at your disfigured face

A group of psychic researchers go to the Bodega Bay Hotel to determine what happened to the previous psychics that caused the death of the group and the insanity of Alex Whitaker.  When they discover a man living in the hotel who claims to be Eriquee Chaneé, they don’t realize that he is really the resurrected Andre Toulon (Steve Welles).  As Toulon seeks the all-important brain matter needed to keep his puppets alive, he grows obsessed with Carolyn Bramwell (Elizabeth Maclellan) who resembled his deceased wife.  As Andre secretly plots against his own creations, the puppets might not be too happy to find out his real intentions.

Directed by stop-motion animator Dave Allen, Puppet Master II is also sometimes called Puppet Master II:  His Unholy Creation.  Following Puppet Master in 1989, it was a straight-to-video release and at the beginning of the Full Moon Entertainment boom that helped fill video stores with Full Moon films. The movie often can be found in multipacks containing other Puppet Master and Full Moon films.

Don’t trod on me!!!

I was a big Full Moon fan.  It was the cheap, Saturday night double feature style film of the ’90s.  It felt like a throwback to earlier films that with low budget, weak scripts, and poor actors still managed to entertain.  Puppet Master was probably Full Moon’s primary line of films with the most name recognition and this film really started the trend of pumping out the sequels.

Puppet Master II also began a rather annoying habit of the Puppet Master series to not line up their sequels.  The movie portrays Andre Toulon as evil and a killer…something that Puppet Master III contradicts.  The movie also introduces Torch as one of Toulon’s puppets, and Torch wasn’t in the first movie.  I know the films are cheap, but I wish that they could have ironed out little inconsitencies in the scripts to at least compensate for the changes.

Lady, I’m a flame throwing puppet and you’re even weirding me out

As always, the acting is pretty awful.  The scenes involving the hillbilly couple in particular almost make you cringe, but the other actors play their scenes so blasé that the energy level is very low.  Only the Toulon actor seems to be having any fun with his role (and maybe the psychic woman Else played by Julianne Mazziotti), and it is because they are both hammy roles that allow a lot of overacting which is probably fun if you are an actor.

The best parts of Puppet Master movies are of course the puppets.  Despite the rather low budget approach, some of the stop motion animation is quite good, and the puppets through the course of the series are beginning to develop personalities.  The large costumed “puppets” what are created by Toulon at the end also have some creepiness to them and once again are effective.

The Puppet Master series one of those things that is kind of fun, but not the best.  Despite this, they were cheap entertainment and you could always take home a different film or two every weekend.  Puppet Master II was followed by Puppet Master III:  Toulon’s Revenge later in 1991.

Related Links:

Puppet Master (1989)

Puppet Master III:  Toulon’s Revenge (1991)

Puppet Master 4 (1993)

Puppet Master 5:  The Final Chapter (1994)

Curse of the Puppet Master (1998)

Retro Puppet Master (1999)

Puppet Master:  The Legacy (2003)

Puppet Master:  Axis of Evil (2010)