Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Puppet Master: The Legacy

Collapse
X
Collapse
  •  
    C.D. Workman
    Senior Member

  • Puppet Master: The Legacy



    Released by: Full Moon Features
    Release date: August 22, 2017
    Directed by: Robert Talbot (Charles Talbot)
    Cast: Kate Orsini, Jacob Witkin, Guy Rolfe, Ian Abercrombie, Brigitta Dau, Richard Lynch
    Year: 2003
    Purchase From Amazon

    The Movie:

    It's easy to be defensive of Full Moon Entertainment's films in general and of the company's Puppet Master movies in particular. Made on miniscule budgets, Full Moon's productions make up for a definite lack of money with creative storylines and an old-fashioned approach that harkens back to the Universal horror films of the 1940s. The films take an almost childlike glee in their various monsters, whether demonically realized dolls or Eastern European vampires, though their childlike nature is belied by moments of very adult violence. Unfortunately, Puppet Master: The Legacy isn't the company's finest hour. Rather, it feels like little more than a cynical cash grab, an amalgamation of past movies with only the threadbare components of a 'new' story to pull it all together (much like Universal's stock-footage-laden The Mummy's Tomb, 1942). Ostensibly the eighth in the Puppet Master series, it begins with a new puppet master, Eric Weiss (Jacob Witkin), taking up where original puppet master Andre Toulon left off. Little does he know that he isn't alone; an agent named Maclain (Kate Orsini) has her sights on him and his secrets. After she bursts into his workshop, he tells the story of the sinister puppets and how they came to be, revealing in the process that his real name is Peter. As a boy in the 1940s, he was saved by Toulon's dolls. Maclain reveals that she knows much already, having murdered the possessors of Toulon's diary, which she has read. In fact, she's seeking the secret of the puppets so that she can kill them for all time.

    Puppet Master: The Legacy certainly has a fitting title, given that it's little more than a compilation that pares down several of the films that came before it into their most exciting moments. As a result, we get to relive Guy Rolfe and Richard Lynch's best parts from those works. They certainly hand in terrific performances, even if we have seen them before, something that can't exactly be said of Legacy's original cast members. Witkins is serviceable if not great, but Orsini hands in a weak performance bordering on embarrassing. Therein lies the biggest problem with most Full Moon films. While the effects are generally excellent, the scripts good, and the direction considerably better than expected, the acting is variable. There's usually a cast member or two hired for his or her name-brand appeal, but the lesser roles are populated by actors of more dubious ability. Not that it ultimately matters; most people watch these films for their effects, and those cannot be faulted. It's easy to imagine these films being remade with bigger budgets, with the puppets brought to life by more fluid and far less realistic CGI. What makes the puppets so effective here is the use of practical effects. Animatronics bring a touch of realism to the proceedings, while the occasional stop-motion animation is used sparingly for more difficult shots and more often than not work beautifully. Occasional period costumes and surprisingly good use of location shooting add class to the average Full Moon production. The only problem is that there's little that's new in Puppet Master: The Legacy. Rather than being a legitimate eighth film in the series, it's content to provide some minor filler between more suitable entries.

    Video/Audio/Extras:

    Full Moon Features brings Puppet Master: The Legacy to Blu-ray with an MPEG-4 AVC encode in 1080p high definition. The film itself is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. When the disc is popped in, a promo for Full Moon's streaming service on Amazon immediately plays, after which the menu screen appears. Before the film itself can be played, the following note pops onto the screen: “Note that Puppet Master: The Legacy master is presented totally uncut in HD using the original 35mm negative but, due to the fact that some of that negative was lost over time, the original SD release and Digit-Beta videotape master were also used in order to fully restore the film. This release stands as the definitive version.” The weaker footage comes from the wraparound story, which also interrupts the flashbacks on occasion. Clearly upconverted from an SD source, these scenes contain jagged edge lines and a distinct lack of detail. The colors tend toward amber, in part because of the lighting, though the low-grade source of the materials doesn't help. The footage that comes from past movies is culled directly from the transfers used for those films' Blu-ray releases. Anyone who has seen a Full Moon Feature on Blu will know that the company's transfers tend toward terrific, and the Puppet Master movies are no exception. The result is that most of Puppet Master: The Legacy looks fantastic, very filmic with an organic layer of grain and an excess of detail. Colors are strong; just look at the dark red—almost black—blood that flows during the ample kill scenes. The film is placed on a BD25, but given the relative lack of extras and the short length of the feature, there are no compression issues to report.

    Full Moon has opted for an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack that's a little more than adequate. Dialogue is consistently clear, even when sound effects or the score are in full play, and the mix is decent enough, if a little underwhelming. Unfortunately, there are no subtitle options provided for the deaf or hearing impaired, nor are there any commentaries. Strangely, the disc's onscreen info mislabels the soundtrack as Dutch, but make no mistake about it: It's definitely in English with no other language options available.

    There are a few extras, including a short featurette, “No Strings Attached,” which runs a little over seven minutes, is in full frame, and is in standard definition. Billing itself as “a behind the scenes look at Puppet Master,” it was originally included on the Puppet Master (1989) Blu-ray. It traces the beginnings of Full Moon's most popular franchise and features interviews with various members of the crew, from the director to the men working on the special effects.

    Finally, a round of trailers includes Evil Bong 666 (2017), Ravenwolf Towers (2016-2017), Puppet Master (1989), Puppet Master II (1990), Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge (1991), Retro Puppet Master (1999), Puppet Master: Axis of Evil (2010), Puppet Master X: Axis Rising (2012), Puppet Master: Axis Termination (2017), and Specters (2012). These trailers can be accessed individually.

    The Final Word:

    Puppet Master: The Legacy is the worst film in the Puppet Master series, thanks in no small part to the fact that most of its running time is made up of past films, all of them superior to what we see here. Still, the transfer on the parts of the film culled from other sources look fantastic, even if the new footage does not. Completists will want to add the film to their collection; casual viewers would do better to stay away.

    Christopher Workman is a freelance writer, film critic, and co-author (with Troy Howarth) of the Tome of Terror horror film review series. Horror Films of the Silent Era and Horror Films of the 1930s are currently available, with Horror Films of the 1940s due out in 2018.

    Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!



















      Posting comments is disabled.

    Latest Articles

    Collapse

    • Hot Spur (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Severin Films
      Released on: April 30th, 2024.
      Director: Lee Frost
      Cast: Joseph Mascolo, Virginia Goodman, John Alderman
      Year: 1969
      Purchase From Amazon

      Hot Spur – Movie Review:

      Director Lee Frost and Producer Bob Cresse's film, Hot Spur, opens in Texas in 1869 with a scene where a pair of cowboys wanders into a bar where they call over a pretty Mexican waitress and coerce her into dancing for them. She obliges, but
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:53 AM
    • Death Squad (Mondo Macabro) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Mondo Macabro
      Released on: April 9th, 2024.
      Director: Max Pecas
      Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
      Year: 1985
      Purchase From Amazon

      Death Squad – Movie Review:

      Also known as Brigade Of Death, French sleaze auteur Max Pecas’ 1985 film, Death Squad, opens with a night time scene outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne Forest where cars pass by a small gang of transsexual
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:46 AM
    • Roommates (Quality X) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Quality X
      Released on: February 28th, 2024.
      Director: Chuck Vincent
      Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
      Year: 1982
      Purchase From Amazon

      Roommates – Movie Review:

      Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:10 PM
    • Night Of The Blood Monster (Blue Underground) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Blue Underground
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Jess Franco
      Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Dennis Price
      Year: 1970
      Purchase From Amazon

      Night Of The Blood Monster – Movie Review:

      Directed by Jess Franco, The Bloody Judge (or, Night Of The Blood Monster, as it is going by on this new release from Blue Underground) isn't quite the salacious exercise in Eurotrash you might expect it to be, and while it
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:07 PM
    • Phase IV (Vinegar Syndrome) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Saul Bass
      Cast: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
      Year: 1974
      Purchase From Amazon

      Phase IV – Movie Review:

      Saul Bass’ 1974 sci-fi/thriller Phase IV is an interesting blend of nature run amuck stereotypes and Natural Geographic style nature footage mixed into one delicious cocktail of suspense and
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:02 PM
    • The Bounty Hunter Trilogy (Radiance Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Radiance Films
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
      Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
      Year: 1969-1972
      Purchase From Amazon

      The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:

      Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this
      ...
      03-13-2024, 11:30 AM
    Working...
    X