Tweet
Released by: Full Moon Entertainment
Released on: September 18, 2012.
Director: David De Coteau
Cast: Guy Rolfe, Richard Lynch, Ian Abercrombie, Kristopher Logan, Michelle Bauer, Sarah Douglas
Year: 1991
Purchase From Amazon
The Movie:
Made hot on the heels of the success of the straight to video Puppet Master II at the request of Paramount who were quite impressed with the way the franchise had been performing, Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge was directed by David De Coetau and written by C. Courtney Joyner, who had just finished Class Of 1999.
The storyline takes place a few years before the events in the first place and goes back in time to the Berlin of the Second World War. Here we meet a puppeteer named Andre Toulon (played this time out by Guy Rolfe who replaced William Hickey in the role) whose puppets are discovered by a Nazi soldier named Eric Stein (Kristopher Logan) to be able to live and operate on their own. He reports back to Dr. Hess (Ian Abercrombie) and Major Krauss (Richard Lynch) who send in some soldiers to steal Toulon's creations. Hess figures he can use whatever it is that Toulon has discovered to reanimate dead Nazi soldiers to further the war effort.
A fight breaks out and in the ensuing chaos, Toulon's beloved wife, Elsa (Sarah Douglas), is killed in the crossfire. Andre is understandably devastated by this but manages to escape with his creations, at which point he sets unleashing his latest creation, a six armed cowboy puppet with a gun in each hand, to help him avenge his wife's death. Along the way we also learn how Blade and Leech Woman were created as Toulon slowly but surely kills off all of those he deems responsible for Elsa's death…
You can't really go wrong with a movie that involves crazy killer puppets taking out high ranking Nazis, especially when one of said Nazis is played by Richard Lynch. While his accent may come and go and his hair may look completely wrong for the part, it's fun to see him in the role and his back and forth with subordinate Ian Abercrombie is periodically a blast to watch. Of course, you don't come to a movie like this for the acting so much as you do the puppet mayhem and the film delivers plenty of that as well, some of it quite gory. Each of the key puppets gets a good scene or two here, and while new recruit Six Shooter may not look as eerie as some of the other ones, when he climbs up the outside of a wall it's bizarre enough to be more than a little unnerving.
Production values are pretty solid here, with lots of fun WWII era costumes on display. There's a bit of welcome female nudity here for those who keep track and the makeup and gore effects are handled fairly well. The camera work is quite nice and the lighting even better while De Coteau keeps a good hand on the pacing and ensures that it moves along at just the right speed. If this isn't quite as good as the original film it's damn close and a lot of fun in its own right - definitely one that those who enjoyed the original will want to check out.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The first Puppet Master didn't look amazing on Blu-ray, though it did offer a noticeable upgrade over the DVD release. This sequel though? Much like the Puppet Master 2 remaster, it fares much better and shares the same positive qualities. There's a lot of really nice detail here and color reproduction is pretty much perfect. Black levels are strong and there are no problems with noise reduction, the film grain is left intact. There isn't any serious print damage, just a few tiny specks here and there, while skin tones look nice and natural. Close up shots look very good, texture is impressive and all in all this AVC encoded 1080p 1.78.1 widescreen transfer is a very big upgrade over the previous DVD release.
Audio options are provided in your choice of English language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound or Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. While the 5.1 mix does some nice things with the score and with some effects work, the foley effects sound very thin and hollow here and the levels aren't quite as consistent. As such, the 2.0 track sounds more natural and fits the movie better, offering better levels, stronger effects and cleaner dialogue. No alternate language options or subtitles of any kind are provided.
The best extra on the disc is a full length commentary track with director David De Coteau and C. Courtney Joyner who speak quite candidly about their work together on this project. There's some great information in here for fans, including who they had intended to cast over Richard Lynch (who wound up being cast at Charles Band's insistence after working with him on Trancers II), what was shot on a Universal lot and what was shot elsewhere, how the script gives some interesting details on the origins of the various puppets seen in the movie, and other details such as the rushed production schedule, script ideas that didn't make it into the final film, how all those authentic vintage vehicles wound up in the movie and more. Both men come across as quite grateful for the opportunities they had with this picture but are also quite realistic about the film. A very informative and well paced track that fans of the franchise should certainly enjoy.
Also of interesting to fans is another vintage twenty-minute Videozone featurette in which Band gives fans the run down what Full Moon projects were in production at the time it was made. Like the one included on the Puppet Master II Blu-ray, this was originally included with the VHS release of the film and it'll definitely provide a nice nostalgia rush to those of us who remember it and similar Videozone offerings from the company. Rounding out the extras are some of the same extras we saw in Puppet Master 2, those being an optional video introduction to the movie from Charles Band, a highlight reel featuring the movie's kill scenes, a vintage television commercial advertising a line of Full Moon action figures, a trailer for the feature and trailers for a few other Full Moon releases.
The Final Word:
Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge is a lot of fun. It's got some interesting actors, some impressive puppet effects and a few notable kill scenes and it manages to shed some welcome light on the origins of Toulon and his diabolical creations. Full Moon's remastered Blu-ray release won't floor the audiophiles out there but it does offer up a very nice transfer and some good extras highlighted by a very enjoyable commentary track.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
