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~ Dissecting horror films

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Tag Archives: puppet master

Trash Night Tuesdays on Tubi: Demonic Toys

08 Tuesday Oct 2019

Posted by surgeons of horror in Trash Night Tuesdays on Tubi

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charles band, demonic toys, dollman, full moon features, puppet master, tracy scoggins, tubi

Demonic Toys is everything I loved straight to video releases in the late 80s and 90s and thanks to the online streaming platform Tubi, you can watch this little gem for free.

Brought to the local video store in 1992 by Charles Band’s Full Moon Entertainment who were fast making a name for themselves in the rental market (following Dollman and Puppet Master) for low budget, “high quality” pictures.

In this instance, the production team were smart in keeping the bulk of their shoot in one location (an abandoned warehouse) an old toy factory. 

It all kicks off with two undercover cops, Judith and Matt, who also happen to be dating, are about to snare a gun dealer. Before the deal goes down, Judith tells Matt that she is pregnant, always a bad sign and an indicator that all will not go well, particularly when Matt seems over the moon to hear this news. Cue botched gun deal and a very dead Matt. Judith takes chase after Lincoln and Hesse (the two dealers) into the afore-mentioned toy factory. 

At this time, we’re introduced to the other two players in the field, security guard Charneski and a chicken delivery guy without a cause, Mark. All of them are unaware that the factory contains a dormant demon, waiting to unleash mayhem and take on human form, and his heart set on Judith’s unborn child… naturally.

Hesse who was mortally wounded in the shoot out soon succumbs to his fate, and as he bleeds out on the factory floor some of the toys absorb his energy and spring to life with a swift and deadly act of putting Hesse out of his misery.

From here on out the antics run loose and the cheeseometer spins out of control with the crazed toys stalking and intent on claiming more victims and resurrect their master. And the would-be victims must team together and fight their way out of the factory if they are going to survive the night.

The Diagnosis:

Whilst some critics have come out and labelled this as a rehash of the Puppetmaster franchise, the toys are actually pretty nifty and ooze character, from Baby Oopsy Daisy: a grizzled man baby doll, Jack Attack: a jack in the box clown, Grizzly Teddy: a ferocious teddy bear with claws, and Mr. Static: a robot with lasers. 

Demonic Toys definitely won’t set your world on fire, but if you’re in the mood for a cheap as chips. fun ride packed into 86 mins, you won’t be disappointed. 

Roll on next week’s Trash Tuesday on Tubi movie

  • Saul Muerte

Catch Demonic Toys now on Tubi

Trash Night Tuesdays on Tubi: Dollman

01 Tuesday Oct 2019

Posted by surgeons of horror in Trash Night Tuesdays on Tubi

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charles band, dollman, full moon features, jackie earle haley, puppet master, tim thomerson, trancers, tubi

If you haven’t already come across Tubi yet, you’re missing out on some little gems from this online streaming platform. And best yet. It’s free.

We’re going to be looking at some of these movies in a regular feature that we’ll call Trash Night Tuesdays on Tubi with a weekly recommendation.
First up: Dollman.

When Charles Band formed production and distribution company Full Moon Features, he had one goal in mind: To create horror, sci-fi, and fantasy movies on a low budget with a quality look and feel. Surprisingly, one of their earliest films spawned a cult franchise in Puppet Master and tapped into the home entertainment scene. With its use of small scale figures running amok in a larger world, it was somewhat fitting that the movie would come to represent a metaphor of the production outfit. 

Using the same principles, Band then took to creating another film series that features intergalactic space cop Brick Bardo who whilst in pursuit of his greatest enemy, Sprug,  inadvertently travels through an electric band that shrinks him to 13 inches in height and transports him to planet Earth.

Bardo (played by Tim Thomerson who was already cast in another film series Trancers spearheaded by Band as the hard-boiled Jack Deth) is an archaic representation of testosterone-fuelled, no shit, full-attitude masculinity with the Dirty Harry vibes that was typical of action films from the time. For some, this may appeal to their appetite for action and adventure on a small scale, but possibly more interesting to me was the appearance of Jackie Earle Haley (A Nightmare On Elm Street) in one of his earlier roles and he certainly stands out as Braxton Red, a low-life thug who runs a group of degenerates in the Bronx, New York. Braxton is suitably unhinged and when on-screen adds enough menace to the fold to give Bardo a challenge and keep the pace of the movie going.

The Diagnosis:

It won’t set the world alight, but its short running time (79 minutes) ticks along nicely enough with and lifts it above your run-of-the-mill low budget flicks of its time.

  • Saul Muerte

Catch Dollman now on Tubi

Movie review: Puppet Master – The Littlest Reich

15 Saturday Sep 2018

Posted by surgeons of horror in Movie review, Uncategorized

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barbara crampton, puppet master

There are some films where the director and writer make choices that make you go: “These guys are invested. They are deliberate. They are proper film-makers, and they know what they’re doing”.
And then sometimes you realise “nope – it really was an elephant with a paint brush all along”.
And that was exactly what went through my mind when I watched Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich. Or Puppet Master 23 (or whatever number the franchise is up to now).
Although it IS easy to mock such a long-lived series, it does play on a sort of primeval fear of being sliced by a small sharp blade moving very quickly (and in this case – where the “monster” stands at a foot tall, it has to do a LOT of fast slicing). But that’s pretty much it for the scares.

As a horror fest it very much falls into the gore category – and not a lot of it clever. In fact, some of it is pretty tasteless in a “I bet you believed this was hardcore when you thought of it, but it’s really pretty effing stupid. And your execution is even worse” kind of way.

The movie does start off with an earnest attempt at dialogue between characters where the acting is decent and the direction very considered – everyone gets their own clean shot all the way through, no dirty frames or unnecessary camera movement.
But then you realise they are not being minimalist, they’re just being frickin’ basic.

Starring Thomas Lennon (a perennial “oh THAT guy” actor if there ever was one) as Edgar – a recently divorced lead character who decides to sell a creepy doll he finds in his recently deceased brother’s bedroom. You assume the brother was killed in the previous film, but it’s hard to tell as the order in which the films have been released don’t go in a linear in-film timeline. Plus, some of the sequels are considered “non-canon” and others re-boots…

Anyway – Edgar – a 45-year-old comic book artist is soon pursued by incredibly hot twenty something girl-next-door archetype Ashley (Jenny Pellicer), because if these films can’t be the deluded projections of middle-aged straight men, why make them? (We also get to see her breasts in a make out scene later, so in case you had any doubts…)

Together Edgar, Ashley and the best friend character – played by Nelson Franklin – go to a puppet convention to try and sell their doll at a hotel that was the site of a notorious Nazi murderer getting shot by police for reasons I can’t really remember (because – upon rewind – it wasn’t explained…)

Anyway, from there all the puppets come to life and blah blah blah, you can guess the rest. At one point one of the characters suggests to all the surviving hotel patrons (after the initial puppet attack) that they split up and lock themselves in their various hotel rooms until the authorities arrive. Not only did the writer write that, he also had every character think it was a good idea…

The movie also has great slabs of missing moments that forces you to fill in the blanks, NOT in a cool “we’re challenging the audience to be engaged” sort of way, but because the film-makers have no idea how to make a movie. Or they ran out of money. Or both.

Speaking of “oh that guy” moments – it also stars Michael Pare as a detective. For any child who grew up watching American film & TV in the 70’s, he is Eddie from Eddie and the Cruisers and the John Travolta wannabe from The Greatest American Hero. Yes, that’s how old he is. He was trying to be a knock-off of Saturday Night Fever John Travolta, not Pulp Fiction John Travolta. Truth be told it was his voice that gave him away. Although his face has had some pretty good work, considering he’s older than Tom Cruise!

Speaking of which Barbara Crampton is also in the film, who is no stranger to 80’s B-grade horror flicks, and appears to be making something of a comeback of late with this movie, Replace, and Beyond the Gates.

The Diagnosis:

The Littlest Reich is a 90 minute stretch you won’t get back, unless you’re into gore for gore’s sake, or teenagers wanting to have a sleepover/video night.
Apart from that – if you’re a fan of dolls in horror – be sure to check out the excellent podcast on the subject which can be found here!

– Antony Yee

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