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Released by: Elite Entertainment
Released on: 2/4/2003
Director: Jurgen Heimann
Cast: Woodrow J. Larchbottom III, Douglas Fir, Peter Feidwood, Leif Applebaum
Year: 2002
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The Movie:
What the Hell are The Puphedz? That's a question I asked myself when I first received this DVD. I'm still not sure I'm really able to answer it, but essentially they seem to be a troupe of puppets that perform 'Grande Guignol' style plays in a cart dragged around by a hunchback guy. It's kind of a strange concept, but I've seen animated horror comedy work before - The Nightmare Before Christmas is a perfect example of just how good it can be.
This episode finds the Puphedz re-enacting one of Edgar Allen Poe's best stories, The Tell Tale Heart, here re-titled The Tattle Tale Heart. The story is narrated by the perpetrator of the crime, as he recalls for us his experiences living with an old man with a trick eye who slowly drives him to kill, only to be drive to confession by the sound of the dead man's heart buried beneath the floorboards of his home.
There are some nice moments of atmosphere and the puppet design is kind of interesting in that it's less conventional than normal and doesn't try to hide the fact that it is indeed a puppet and not a stop motion animated creature. Some of the sets are also nicely designed, particularly the padded cell where the narrator ends up. What brings the movie down though is the humor, which more often than not falls flat on its face. Now, I know humor is subjective and all and far be it from me to try and dictate to you what is funny and what isn't, but the jokes here are just plain awful. Most of them are corny puns, or juvenile attempts at body humor and the failed attempts at humor really do the movie a lot of harm.
While this had a lot of potential, the failed attempts at humor ruined what could have been an otherwise interesting and atmospheric little project had it been played straight instead of for laughs.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The 1.33.1 video transfer is pretty decent. There is a certain amount of grain present, though this appears to be on purpose to give the film a more dated look. Colors are pretty good and although there are a few darker scenes that exhibit some compression artifacts and video noise, for the most part it is quite clean and easy on the eyes.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track is muffled and at times, quite difficult to understand. The problem is more to do with the actors voice than with the actual clarity of the track, but it is still grating.
The main extra is a fifteen-minute documentary on the making of the project featuring interviews with the creators and cast. They seem quite passionate about the project and obviously put a lot of effort into their work and this documentary is actually considerably more interesting than the feature itself. There are also some unfunny biographies of the puppets featured in the movie, a couple of trailers, and a stills gallery.
Also worth noting is that there are two versions of the feature included on the disc. The first runs twenty-seven minutes and the second runs thirty-four minutes. They are identical except that some scenes have been taken out in the shorter version to tighten the pacing.
The Final Word:
Well, the humor didn't work for me, and the presentation is merely average. It does have moments of interesting atmosphere, but for the most part, I can't recommend this.