Staying at an abandoned hotel, a man and his friends experimenting on a secret project find the discarded puppets being targeted for their secret life-giving formula by the demonic originators of the formula and must help them stop the vicious creatures.This one turned out to be quite a decent and enjoyable effort. Considering it's shortened length, this one offers up a lot of good will with the fact that the puppets are placed at the forefront of the film for a majority of the time here. This impressive amount of time gives the film a rather blistering pace here that starts off nicely here with the two separate, individual attacks against the scientists featuring the rather cool new demon puppet, the enjoyable game against the puppets during the blackout as he attempts to find out the true nature of their powers which leads into the rather fun search throughout the house with the puppets helping out as well as the lead-in to the fun and enjoyably cheesy attack inside the car outside in the rain. As that itself leads into the later scenes where the puppets are tasked with holding off several big action scenes by themselves, it gives this one an extra boost as there's so many vivid and impressive scenes that rely solely on the puppets fighting each other, from the impressive battle in the kitchen where they team up against the demon in a three-on-one battle or the race to get their lifeless leader reanimated while holding off brawls with several of the demonic creatures still after them gives this one a life and energy that's quite exciting and enjoyable. Along with the fun and utterly creepy demonic-puppet look, there's a lot to like here that makes this one good enough to hold out over the film's minor flaws. The main issue here is the fact that this one really belies it's purpose as being the first part of an origin story by really running through a lot of the unsure elements of the story as there's a lot to this one that doesn't get explained. From how they manage to tie in the events from the second film which is the true predecessor in the series, the introduction of the strange demon cult that protects the entirely different set of magic that was used to originally animate the puppets and the need for a new puppet master all go by with little information if any is given at all so that on the whole this one suddenly becomes quite confusing whenever it goes into the underworld which just doesn't make any sense. As this one was all about the action scenes anyway, it isn't a surprise that many of these would go unanswered but as a stand- alone film just before the answers are given in another film yet it's still a very noticeable facet about this one. It's really the main thing holding this one back.Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

A young scientist (Gordon Currie) and his friends, upon being attacked by demons, are protected by a gang of animated puppets.On Super Bowl Sunday 1993, Charlie Band called director Jeff Burr and asked him to come in for a meeting. Burr had previously worked on Band's "The Vault", but the film never came out. At this meeting, Burr was offered parts 4 and 5 for "Puppet Master" and two parts of "Oblivion". At this time, Full Moon was largely backed financially by Paramount.Someone concerned with the continuity points out: In "Toulon's Revenge", Andre Toulon escaped Berlin somewhere between 1942 and 1944. Toulon committed suicide on March 15, and the film mentioned the Eastern Front, whose conduct of operations didn't take place until summer of 1941. In this film, Toulon's diary recounts Major Krauss's death as being on April 7. Since in previously established timelines, Toulon made it to America almost one year after escaping, Toulon would have to had killed himself on March 15 either in 1943 up to 1945.Who is this concerned? "Puppet Master" may be one of the worst horror franchises out there. Possibly not the very worst, because "Hellraiser" (for example) has really gone downhill to low, low depths. But really, this is Charles Band cheese, luckily saved by Jeff Burr, one of the best directors in the genre.The film is not all bad. The casting is strange and the acting is poor, but the effects are decent. Not great, as they never are in the series, but the introduction of the demons is nice and they're way better than any of the puppets. Apparently Burr had only limited impact on the casting, as he wanted Judy Geeson for a role but Charlie Band overruled him and handpicked his own actress.If you love movies, especially these lower budget movies, pick up this disc with Jeff Burr's audio commentary. Burr really needs to write an autobiography, as his memory is incredible and he is an excellent storyteller. He finds a way to fit 200 minutes worth of discussion into a less-than-90 minute film. His reflections on Albert Band and puppetry and everything else are priceless.

Puppet Master is one of those franchises that every horror fan knows, and has a peculiar fondness for despite the fact that it isn't very good at all. Here, in the fourth instalment we see a demonic creature out to destroy anything associated with the eponymous puppet master, Anton Toulon himself. The subjects of his wrath? The lethal and animate toys Toulon created, as well as an improbably young scientist working on a project to bring life to the inanimate and a clutch of his witless friends and associates. Sound dreadful? Well, it's not. Harking back to the glory days of American horror, this is retro stuff that feels as if it was made ten years before it actually was. And that's a good thing, kids. Trust me, if the only horror you have seen is 'Shrooms, Thir13en ghosts and other such nonsense that gets the green light in modern horror cinema, you really are missing out and would do well to check out pretty much anything pre 1989 as an educational experience. Whilst the production levels and acting are bordering on the inane, this has atmosphere by the bucket load. In truth, the Puppet Master movies feel like really dark kids films, as there is next to nothing in the way of gore or violence, though this one at least has an entertaining death scene near the start which is relatively tense. Special mention must go to the metal soundtrack, which was great, as well as the device used to end the demonic menace: The Decapitron, a puppet with the power of mimicry. Entertaining enough horror yarn.

This one and the one prior "Toulon's Revenge" and the next one seem to be completely different from the first two movies where the puppets were not so nice. It is basically choose your series, the first two go together and paint the puppets as killers, while the next three are a series of them being the good guys. This one plays out to much like some cheesy television series episode to be as good as part three was and I never really had the urge to try and watch part five of the series. Basically, a kid gets the puppets while some strange dark lord or something sends his evil puppets out to kill, this dark lord looks like some sort of enemy from one of those live action Japanese shows like Ultraman. The movie is over before you know it though so it has to get credit for not inflicting you with a very painful to watch movie. Just to many plot holes and things in it for it to be considered an okay movie. You do get to see the guy who played Toulon in the last movie though then you have a very anti-climatic battle and wham the movie is over before it really begins.