Movie Info
Movie Name: Puppet Master III: Toulon’s Revenge
Studio: Full Moon Entertainment
Genre(s): Horror/B-Movie
Release Date(s): October 17, 1991
MPAA Rating: R
Oh Hitler puppet, how I loathe you…
Andre Toulon (Guy Rolfe) has a gift with puppets. When members of the Third Reich learn that the anti-Nazi Toulon seems to be able to animate his puppets without strings, Dr. Hess (Ian Abercrombie) and Major Kraus (Richard Lynch) are ordered to bring him in by General Mueller (Walter Gotell). Toulon’s beloved wife Elsa (Sarah Douglas) is killed, and Toulon goes on the run with his magically powered puppets…and seeks revenge against the Third Reich which ruined his life.
Directed by David DeCoteau, Puppet Master III: Toulon’s Revenge continues the low-budget horror films of Full Moon Entertainment. Following Puppet Master II also released in 1991, the movie has been released on Blu-Ray with some of the earlier Puppet Master films and is also often available in multipacks.
Draw!!!
Full Moon Entertainment in the 1990s was the B-Movies master. They could pump out movies quickly onto VHS and get the movies into the video stores with such frequency, that you could almost always find a “new” Full Moon movie to check out. With such a glut of films, they were often cheap and cheesy, but Puppet Master III: Toulon’s Revenge is one of the better entries.
Following the “modern” setting of Puppet Master II also from 1991, the story in the film is one of the better and more developed plots. The film is essentially the origin of the puppets. The only problem with this is that the movie continues the trend of not really matching up with the other films. Toulon is portrayed completely different in this film than in the previous entries and the time frame really doesn’t match up very well. Despite this, the movie is a bit better past and does have a better cast.
Toulon’s revenge…hey, I get the title!!!
Guy Rolfe steps in for Toulon in this outing and replaced Steve Welles (who replaced William Hickey). Rolfe holds this role for the next few films, and does a decent job of it, but it does feel very similar to the role he played in Dolls. Richard Lynch always plays a good bad guy and Ian Abercrombie is nice as the scientist trying to unravel Toulon’s formulas for the Nazis. The movie also features one of the last roles of James Bond baddy General Gogol as the sex crazed General Mueller.
The visuals feel like a step-up in Puppet Master III with more animated scenes and the addition of the fun Six-Shooter puppet (plus the origin of many of the puppets). Despite being better on the puppets, Full Moon movies always seem to lack sets that feel “real” and tangible…something this movie still suffers from.
Puppet Master III: Toulon’s Revenge is a step-up, but also is a bit of a letdown in that the films just don’t get any better. If you are watching the series, be warned, that this is as good as they get so the movies after this might be harder to stomach if you don’t like this movie. Puppet Master III: Toulon’s Revenge was followed by Puppet Master 4 in 1993.
Related Links:
Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter (1994)
Curse of the Puppet Master (1998)
Puppet Master: The Legacy (2003)
Puppet Master: Axis of Evil (2010)
