Arriving at a rural estate, a team of researchers studying the psychic connection of the facility learn that the series of strange deaths surrounding them are the responsibility of a group of malicious puppets working for their master and must stop his deadly plans.This one proved to be a rather enjoyable sequel. One of the better elements here for this one is the fact that there's quite a lot of material here with the puppets being featured which is what really sells this one heavily. Once again, there's a multitude of screen- time shared here with many of the puppets being given equal time throughout the film so that not everything is centered around one or two. Some show up more frequently but there's enough on display here that it manages to let nearly everyone have a moment to shine quite brightly so that in the end it really lets the group as a whole show off their wares into being formidable and imposing. This is played out over the course of several rather enjoyable action scenes here where they get into several rather fun moments, from the first abduction in the bedroom to the encounter with the psychics in their own quarters which gives away their presence to the others when they capture it after the brutal kill involved, though the film's greatest set-piece is the encounter in the couple's shack which is a great deal of fun with the shock kill being committed before the whole thing gets started, the chillingly suspenseful stalking scenes against the first puppet before bringing in the newest creation which gives this a strong action- packed moment. Even the finale, from the race to get to the girlfriend held captive by the doctor and going against the different puppets to make his way to the room where it has the great confrontation with the puppets coming into play for a nice twist ending that serves this one nicely while providing all the fine gore in the kills that's required to give this some enjoyable moments. There is a few flaws to be found with this one, which mainly stems from the fact that there's a rather sizeable portion of the film that doesn't really get anything of much interest going for it as this here is filled with the couple's romance that isn't in the slightest bit interesting or enjoyable as they go about their brief and rather flat escapades that take up time away from the killer puppets. With the concurrent investigation into the mysterious figure who just shows up out of nowhere which really drags the film down at this point, there's a sense that the film isn't really building to the big finale. It just drops the puppets in after going on another thread entirely and makes this part feel pretty drawn-out and overall uninteresting. Likewise, the film running through the same motions for the ending doesn't really make a whole lot of sense as there's no real need to be that way at this point since it's the exact same twist and takes a lot of the shock out of what happens. Still, there's enough to like that it does hold up enough to be enjoyable.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity and sexual situations.

I think this is an improvement over the first movie, I find the characters to be moderately more likable and the plot to be much more coherent and it just flows better. It takes what was established in the original movie and builds on it, and I find it an all-round more entertaining and scarier picture. Man I love the score! That is such a beautiful piece of music by Richard Band that never fails to get my inner cogs turning! I find that it greatly enriches the movie's tone and gives it an added depth, as does the tremendously effective setting. To me the desolate inn by the sea is itself very much a character in the first two films of the series at least. From its gaudiness, to the marble floors and the angles on all of the empty dark corridors, it's like your really traditional haunted house. In my own unflattering way I'm trying to say that for the time it was made, this movie was scary! Never scarred me for life or anything, but there's some very freaky stuff in it, once it starts with the creepy stuff it doesn't let up. You don't have to wait for the last act for everything to really pay off, there's effort done to keep folks entertained and unnerved. There's a lot more focus on the puppets this time around, there way more out in the open right from the beginning. I love the fantastic style of the opening scene with them all engaging in a little necromancy, the macabre image of the zombie arms reaching out of the grave is such a classic image it's like it's taken straight from the cover of an old E.C. horror comic! Also the violence is more graphic and chilling, with the diminutive terrors ambushing people in the dark and in their sleep, as a kid I almost wet my pants when the Driller gets that Patrick guy! And the scene where the puppets assault the hillbillies is a blast! The hefty woman might just be crazy enough to take them on if only they didn't have a freshly-constructed little walking furnace friend to help them out who promptly torches the bitch in the first of two impressively done full body burns! A puppet of iron, Torch is a great addition, I like the design of the Kaiser helmet head and bullet teeth. He's always so mad and ready to scorch at the slightest provocation! It's probably mean, but I love when he charbroils that kid who somehow manages to make himself so completely unsympathetic in his few minutes of screen time that you frankly can't wait! By far my favourite thing about this flick and what I personally feel holds it all together is the performance of Steve Welles as the reanimated Andrei Toulon who, while the spiteful and demented version of the character is a world apart from the kindly old man in other entries, is one that I enjoy tons more. He's way more interesting this way, he's an insane Toulon! Maybe half a century of being dead will do that to a guy.. I think the Puppet Master should be as frightening as the puppets themselves. I love all the scenes where it's just him and puppets. They can't talk back, but he does a great job of working with them and conveying all the back and fourths of it. I like the moment where he looks around his eerie chamber and settles on the old "Faust" poster and remembers the past. It captures the bizarre hell that this 'man' has wrought upon himself and is trapped in forever. He's so spooky just to look at. He's like a mummy, but also the Invisible Man, and he's looks like a zombie underneath his wrappings to boot - and he uses the fake name "Chainey"! I still find it downright mortifying when he puts his spirit into the horrifying dummy man! Jesus, those frozen blue eyes and that waxy skin, and when he makes that horrible noise still sends a chill down my spine to this day! I enjoy the plot of how he believes the woman to be the reincarnation of his long-dead wife and how at the end it turns out that he hasn't been quite entirely honest with his 'beloved' creations and betrays them. He's certainly making the alchemy that keeps them alive, but it won't be for them. To hell with the puppets, he wants his Ilsa again! And of course when they realise this the puppets rightly turn on their master in another scene of violent madness that sees him set on fire and sent plummeting to his third and hopefully final death! You look back on these kinds of horror movies and yeah they're 'cheesy' and 80s and all of that, but also with the ones that I like at least, they're still fun and they work, and I think this is because back then it was just about trying to make the best movie that you could with what you had, and this will always be a little classic to me, this and the first one are two of my favourite horror movies of all time. Thank you, you've been a wonderful audience!

While the creepy atmosphere still remains from the previous film there was an extreme drop off from the first Puppet Master. This sequel just didn't live up to what it could have possibly been. Nearly all the characters besides the main lead, Elizabeth Maclellan who was decent, all fell terribly flat and were uninteresting. The puppets didn't seem involved either in the movie as much as they should be. The new puppet Torch is a weak addition in my opinion too, he's basically unfair to deal with. The storyline was accurately tied into its predecessors and successors and Blade had a couple good scenes but that is pretty much it had going for it. Charles Band dropped the ball on his second sequel and I would advise not to watch this movie as a casual horror fan. Stick to the first and third movie those being the hands down best of the franchise.

An inevitable simple rehash, which is probably a little more expansive and wicked in its visions. Not as fun as the original, but nonetheless a respectable b-grade sequel by Full Moon productions. Which I believe, would be followed up by the best entry of the series "Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge", as after that film I didn't particularly care for the rest. The second film of the franchise keeps pretty much the same structure of the original, as a group of government paranormal researchers head to the ocean facing cliff top hotel to look into Alex Whitaker's stories (the survivor of the original now in a mental hospital) and soon become targets of the puppets and the resurrected Andre Toulon (dressed in bandages) from the dead in the quest to collect enough brain fluid for his reanimation serum to keep them alive. But when Toulon encounters Carolyn, he's quickly reminded of his dead wife Elsa and the plans seem to change.Director / visual effects wizard David Allen does a resourceful job with his low-budget, instilling a clean-cut Gothic atmosphere with an underlining eeriness and donning sensational puppet creations (a newly added one too -- Torch) and stop motion effects. This gimmick is where the film's personality arrives from, outside a dementedly compulsive performance by Steve Welles (under some bandages and heavy make-up) as the cracking Toulon. Welles is the life of the party (getting plenty of screen time --- where a little more is explained about his character), as the rest of the cast (Elizabeth Maclellan, Collin Bernsen, Gregory Webb, Jeff Celentano and a perky Charlie Spradling) are immensely one-note. Also showing up in minor, but fruitful parts are Nita Talbot, Sage Allen and George 'Buck' Flower. When it came to the puppets doing Toulon's dirty work, while ominously nasty it just lacked the imagination found in the original's death set-pieces, but the meaty, if dark narrative seemed a little more fuller in its angle of dementia, betrayal and revenge. The pacing can have its stuffy moments too (being rather slow to get going), but the location for the developing macabre fits and Richard Band's brooding score is reused with that striking playful carnival arrangement.