David DeCoteau is a talented microbudget horror director and he's directed some of the better, more artful Puppet Master films. Parts 3, 6 and 7 are some of the most competently directed, serious and beautifully shot Full Moon films. "Axis of Evil" fits in with them, but its the weakest of his efforts through no fault of his own.The problem with Pt 9 (since Charles Band disgustingly counts a "Best of" tape as Pt 8) is that its a much, much cheaper rehash of 7 which was a rehash of 3. The plot follows a young man fighting the Nazis in a dark urban setting, losing his loved ones and then getting revenge. Pt 3 is a good film but remaking it twice is twice too many. Worst of all is that the puppets have less to do with the story and they look shabbier in each film. Lets face it: the puppets are the stars.Its gorgeously shot, directed as well as a fast and cheap horror film can be and you have to admire the craftsmanship of a movie filmed for peanuts, but its not entertaining or original enough. This is the 1st of a trilogy and so you don't receive any closure but you do feel a rage at the cynical money-grubbing quality of Full Moon's lesser films. What a waste of DeCoteau and a modest Puppet Master premise.

Oh for the glory days to return! Alas notions of such high calibre and more importantly high concept ideas forever emerging from within out with the doors of full moon seem but a distant memory.The gradual decay with their output over the last few years has been seriously evident with the likes of Gingerdead Man and such like. Ofocurse many with disagree, but as I have been a slave to the Ryhthm of the works of Charles Band, I believe I have seen the best of what the legendary man has produced and it's safe to say that Puppetmaster - Axis Of Evil most certainly is not high calibre nor is it a startling concept.Longtime cohort David Decouteau has never been one to be adventurous when calling the shots as a director, just look at his Rapid Heart movies, just get the camera in focus and let the pretty things do their thing, and once again he shows a distinct lack of flair, but that being said, we do get a few visual set pieces, but these are primarily establishing shots.As for the acting, aside from the main players, Levi Fiehler essaying the role of Danny Coogan our on screen protagonist and his on screen love interest Beth, played by the very fetching Jenna Gallacher, the minor parts afforded screen time do not acquit themselves with any glory, the presence of Ada Chao as Ozu really is a curious one, now as to whether or not the actress in question could actually speak English doesn't bother me one bit, however the delivery of her lines and facial movements really made me question her actual acting ability.Of course the major crime committed on screen, or should that be off screen, was the lack of necessary puppets, if you take away the opening prologue, which was comprised of both new and old footage, which I'll be honest did click together really quite well, but I won't get too carried away with anymore plaudits, because none exist.As for that ending, I don't really feel like I want another helping of the same old thing, if you get to the ending and feel like I did, What just happened. If the rumour's are to be believed, and Full Moon will now be shifting their brand of band over to China, and as cheaply as these movies can be made, should we be shocked if Charles Band delivers another Puppetmaster movie, I will not be surprised, maybe he should take them into outer space, it worked for Leprechaun.Let's hear it for Puppetmaster in the Year 3000, then again let's not.A major dud, without hesitation - 1/10

I have been a fan of the PUPPET MASTER movies since I was kid watching them on the Sci-Fi Channel, have watched all of them, and have put up with a lot of crap from the more recent entries. After Full Moon Pictures broke off from Paramount, the quality of their movies became noticeably poorer and poorer and they started running out of good ideas. But I stood by the PM series, hoping for a return to the quality of the low budgeted but determined films I grew up watching. But after this entry, I quit. This has to be the worst PM movie ever...and that's saying something! For starters, the Puppets are absent for a large part of the story as the plot often plays like a WWII era drama about a cripple who wants to be a soldier but can't and then stumbles onto an Axis plot to blow up a weapons factory. When the Puppets are around their movements are stiff and lifeless like someone playing with dolls.There is also awful acting, a character who looks older than the actress playing his mother, painfully cheap production values (if the other PM movies Had small budgets, the one for this entry is just microscopic), and even an insult to our intelligence by having WWII be central to the plot while having the setting be 1939...TWO YEARS BEFORE America ENTERED THE WAR!! And to top it all off, the early scenes feature footage from the original PUPPET MASTER that are superior to the rest of the movie and the DVD features trailers for all the other PM movies, which shows how better the older movies were and the unfortunate decline in quality as the series went along.I am now done with the PUPPET MASTER movies. If there is another one I won't watch it, but I doubt there will another one. I imagine this may be the final nail in the coffin to kill the series for good.

I'm a huge fan of the Puppet Master series and have been praying for a sequel worthy of making me forget about crappy sequels such as Curse of the Puppet Master and Puppet Master: Legacy.UNFORTUNATELY, my prayers were NOT answered and was presented the antithesis of what I wanted.Why this movie SUCKED?1. God Awful acting. Yes, I know it's a B-movie and not to expect Oscar worthy performances, but this was VERY sub-par for a B-movie or a Full Moon production in general. The actress who played Ozu did one of the WORST Asian accents ever. She sounded like a constipated Bernadette Peters. The Nazi's kept falling out of a German accent into a VERY American sounding accent. Actually, I don't think they were ever speaking in a German accent. The actor who played Don was VERY annoying and I was kind of glad when the character died and became a silent puppet.2. NO Respect to History and NO Effort in Writing. The writers clearly did NOT pick up a history book. This movie is set in 1939 and yet Pearl Harbor, Nazi Death Camps, and Kamikaze pilots have already existed. These things did NOT happen until after 1941. This movie was just an excuse to spew out every anti-Japanese/German sentiment said during WWII. In addition to the poor attention to details, the movie sounded like it was written by an elementary school student.Bottom Line: Watch it online for free!